InvestHack #05Recap

How Startup With No Revenue Raises Up to €2.5M

Name: How Startup With No Revenue Raises Up to €2.5M
Start: 2026-09-22T13:00:00.000Z
End: 2026-09-22T14:00:00.000Z

Before a startup has revenue, an investor is placing a bet on the people who will build it. Drawing on her experience as both a founder and an investor, Janneke Niessen explained how CapitalT evaluates teams — and why even an exceptional founder may be pursuing a path that does not fit venture capital.

Tuesday, 22 September 20265:00 PM Dubai2:00 PM London9:00 AM New York

Watch the recap Meet the speaker

Janneke Niessen — Founding Partner at CapitalT, serial entrepreneur and investor

What happened in the session

01
How CapitalT evaluates a founding team before revenue can provide evidence
02
Why shared vision and the ability to disagree productively matter as much as individual talent
03
How founders’ ambitions shape whether venture capital is the right fit

The main thing I look at is the founders and the founding team.

Janneke Niessen

Founding Partner, CapitalT · Serial Entrepreneur · Investor

Janneke Niessen is Founding Partner at CapitalT, a serial entrepreneur and investor. She co-founded DQ&A and Improve Digital, scaled both technology companies internationally and exited them before moving to the other side of the investment table.

Today, she backs pre-seed companies in Climate Tech and the Future of Work. Her experience as both founder and investor shapes how she evaluates ambition, founding teams and risk before revenue and conventional performance metrics exist.

Before revenue, the team is the evidence.

Evaluates

Founders and founding teams before revenue provides conventional evidence of performance.

Investigates

The ambition, perseverance, experience and team dynamics behind an early-stage company.

Backs

Pre-seed companies in Climate Tech and the Future of Work across Northern Europe.

Shares

Lessons from building, scaling and exiting two international technology companies.

2Companies built and exited

€500K–€1.2MTypical investment

Up to €2.5MMaximum commitment

Previous sessions

Online · InvestHack

How Startup With No Revenue Raises Up to €2.5M

What happened in the session

Janneke Niessen

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