One of the biggest mistakes in investing isn’t bad judgment — it’s outdated thinking. Early on, many didn’t understand platform businesses. They underestimated how fast they scale, how powerful networks become, and how value compounds. From passing on Facebook… to becoming Uber’s biggest investor. The lesson? Before you invest in the future, you have to unlearn the past. Don’t underestimate platform business models — they change everything. Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction & episode overview 02:27 – How Super Angels thinks about quality control 03:48 – Why great early-stage decisions still fail 05:06 – Escaping your own investment “bubble” 06:22 – Power laws, probability & why volume matters in VC 09:22 – Handling competing deals & replacing angels 11:12 – Why there are fewer than 100 real super angels in Germany 15:37 – How tax incentives distort investment decisions 19:37 – What “top 10%” really means for Fund II 22:25 – Why doubling down on winners beats diversification dogma 25:31 – Timing follow-on investments & conviction building 30:21 – Europe’s real bottleneck isn’t regulation — it’s culture 33:15 – Why Europe loses its best companies to the US 35:42 – Risk aversion, civil servants & economic stagnation 45:49 – Contrarian opinion: why “more is more” 49:54 – What moves Florian emotionally 53:24 – Where to find Florian & Super Angels Find Florian Gottschaller online at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/florian-gottschaller/ Twitter: https://x.com/MetroF Superangels: https://super-angels.eu This episode is sponsored by EmergeOne, fractional CFOs for venture backed tech startups from Seed to Series B. Get in touch at https://emergeone.co.uk/contact-us/ or join the CFO team at https://emergeone.co.uk/join-the-cfo-team/ Sign up for EmergeOne’s weekly newsletter, Off Balance at https://off-balance.beehiiv.com/subscribe Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.