Why Pre-Seed Works Better Than Series A - Gisle Østereng (StartupLab Ventures)

What if the best returns in venture capital come not from picking winners, but from building a portfolio large enough to ensure at least some succeed? Gisle Østereng from StartupLab Ventures argues that even the most skilled and ambitious founders will fail — so success depends on volume, not prediction.

Norway's ecosystem faces structural challenges: a small home market of five million people, limited venture capital, tax policies that discourage founders, and a historically weak commercialisation culture. Yet StartupLab has achieved top-quartile fund performance by attracting ambitious technical talent and coaching them to think globally from day one. The conversation explores how Norwegian founders navigate these constraints, why most need to leave the country to scale, and what separates ventures destined for venture-backed growth from those better suited to bootstrapping or corporate acquisition. Østereng shares hard-won lessons from his own operator days — including why hiring from your university cohort is a mistake, and how asking customers who they'd want to buy from can unlock sales faster than any pitch deck.

**Key Discussion Points:**

🎯 Pre-seed death rates around 30% may signal insufficient risk-taking — power law returns come from the few that succeed big

🌍 Norwegian founders must go global immediately; Sweden offers 2x the home market, but Germany or the US often make more sense

🧠 The biggest mindset shift: hiring domain experts who know the customer beats assembling teams of brilliant generalists

💰 Secondary liquidity is critical for early funds with 10-12 year lifespans when follow-on investors have longer horizons

⚠️ Celebrate exits cautiously — preference stack structures mean sometimes only the last-round investors profit

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About Gisle Østereng [Head of Investments StartupLab Ventures]:Head of Investments at StartupLab Ventures, Norway's most active early-stage investor, where he writes some of the first cheques Norwegian companies ever take. Before investing, he spent fourteen years as a founder across three startups—two of which sold—giving him a commercial rather than technical background and firsthand experience of what founders face when raising capital. He studied at NTNU during a period when Norway produced strong technology but few lasting companies, an experience that continues to shape his approach to backing founders today.About Aulium:Aulium is a video show exploring Innovation and Private Capital, hosted by Thomas Viguier.Connect with us:➡ Aulium on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aulium➡ Thomas Viguier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tviguier/