We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Hugo Amsellem, co-founder and general partner of Intuition Capital, a €10 million fund investing in consumer and culture startups across Europe and the US. Hugo's journey from startup ecosystem builder to fund manager is as fascinating as it is inspiring.
Hugo's path to venture capital wasn't a straight line. In fact, he admits he used to hate VCs, but his passion for helping founders move culture forward during his time at The Family and Jellysmack led him to realize that starting a fund was the perfect way to channel his obsession.
"I've always hated VCs," Hugo confesses with a grin. "But I'm obsessed with helping founders move culture."
With his co-founder Etienne (a former professional athlete), Hugo launched Intuition Capital to invest in startups at the intersection of culture and technology. What sets Intuition apart isn't just their focus on culture - it's their uncanny ability to spot cultural shifts before they hit the mainstream. It's as if they've got a hotline to the zeitgeist.
We learned that their secret weapon is a series of events across cities in Europe and the US, creating a vibrant community of founders and investors passionate about consumer and culture. It's not just networking; it's cultural reconnaissance.
"We're essentially talking about culture more than we talk about consumer," Hugo explains, "because in the end, it's a better proxy to understand what we're trying to achieve."
So, how does he do it all? We discovered that this man is wielding an arsenal of automation tools that would make even the most tech-savvy founders blush. Airtable, TextExpander, Superhuman, Texts.com - Hugo's toolkit is the stuff of productivity legend.
Welcome to a VC fund that treats culture not just as a buzzword, but as the very currency of innovation.
If you're a founder moving culture or just someone who wants to geek out about the intersection of tech and culture, you can find Hugo at hugo@intuition.vc or slide into his DMs on X (@HugoAmsellem)!
E4: From Twitter Celebrity to Cultural Oracle: How Hugo Amsellem is Redefining Venture Capital with Intuition