Welcome to a new episode of the EUVC Podcast, where we bring you the people and perspectives shaping European venture.
Today, we’re joined by Ties Boukema, Head of Data, Tech & AI at Dawn Capital, one of Europe’s leading B2B SaaS and Fintech investors. With a background spanning law, statistics, Google Health, and five brain surgeries, Ties brings a rare mix of grit, optimism, and technical firepower to Venture and he’s putting it to use by building Rolodex, an internal AI-powered operating system for Dawn.
This is not an AI trends episode. This is an inside look at what it takes to build and deploy technology within a venture firm—and why the industry has been lagging behind.
🎯 This Episode’s Themes:
How a near-death experience shaped Ties’ perspective—and his edge
Why most software in VC is “surprisingly bad” and what to do about it
How Dawn is building Rolodex: AI-powered prep, network graphs, and event intelligence
The myth of “no data in early-stage” and why private markets still need software
What Gawande’s checklist manifesto can teach European venture
Here’s what’s covered:
02:00 | Meet Ties: From New York brain surgery to Google to Dawn
04:00 | Life Before Surgery: Growing up with 200+ hospital stays
09:30 | A Second Life: What changed post-op—and how it shaped his drive
11:00 | From Sales to AI: Ties' journey at Google and pivot into health
12:45 | Why Venture: “These people are smart… but why are they fixing slides at 2 AM?”
14:00 | Perspective as Edge: Handling pressure, breaking rules, and ignoring experts
17:30 | AI vs Experts: The false trust in tradition—and how AI challenges it
20:00 | The Speed Mismatch: We can produce info 100x faster than we can understand it
24:00 | Building Tech for Venture: The reality, the resistance, the rewards
29:00 | Buy vs Build: Why VC firms should think like operators, not tinkerers
32:00 | Rolodex Origins: The deal Dawn lost—and what it taught them
36:00 | Entity Resolution Hell: Why syncing your contacts is harder than you think
40:00 | Rolodex in Action: Deal prep, relationship mapping, board meeting alerts
44:00 | Quantifying Network Power: How Dawn tracks angels & co-investors
46:00 | Strong Opinions, Loosely Held: Why Ties changed his mind on VC’s “human core”
50:00 | The Checklist Revelation: What brain surgeons taught him about process
Watch it here or add it to your episodes on Apple or Spotify 🎧. Chapters for easy navigation are available on the Spotify/Apple episode.
✍️ Show Notes
From Brain Surgery to Boardrooms
Ties shares the powerful story of living with—and overcoming—hydrocephalus. That second chance at life now fuels his drive to change how venture capital operates.
AI Inside the Firm, Not Just the Pitch Deck
Dawn Capital isn’t just investing in AI—it’s using it. Ties is building tools that give investors superpowers, from deal prep and network mapping to performance benchmarking.
Rolodex: Venture’s Internal OS
Forget guessing who knows who. Rolodex connects calendars, CRMs, WhatsApp, and more to surface real relationships and untapped access—when it matters most.
Hard Truth: Most VC Tech Sucks
Whether it’s Affinity, Crunchbase, or your event invite flow, most VC workflows are dated and disjointed. Ties explains how to modernize them (and what most funds get wrong).
Checklist Thinking for Venture
Inspired by a neurosurgeon’s writing, Ties demonstrates how checklists—yes, checklists—can enhance consistency and decision quality in a field often dominated by intuition.
💡 Investor Takeaway
Venture is (still) a relationship business. But the firms winning tomorrow will be the ones augmenting that human magic with the right tools. Rolodex isn’t replacing investors—it’s helping them show up smarter, faster, and with the right warm intro, at the right time.
Free and exclusively available for community members.
Jonathan is a Partner at Bullhound Capital. He joined Bullhound Capital from Molten Ventures (formerly DFJ/Draper Esprit), where he was a Partner for 16 years, focused on direct investments and successful exits, including RavenPack, Ledger, M-Files, and PodPoint. At Molten, he also led the Fund of Funds and Secondary practices, investing in over 80 early-stage VC funds and managing multiple secondary portfolio transactions. These initiatives provided exposure to standout companies such as UiPath, Revolut, TransferWise, Peak Games, and Typeform.
Jonathan’s career began in investment banking, advising on equity offerings and mergers & acquisitions at leading firms including Apax Partners Corporate Finance, Rothschild & Cie, and Jefferies.
Jonathan holds a master's degree in Management from EM-Lyon and the University of St. Gallen, and a postgraduate degree in advanced corporate finance from the University of Paris IX Dauphine.
🤗 Join the EUVC Community
Looking for niche, high-quality experiences that prioritize depth over breadth? Consider joining our community focused on delivering content tailored to the experienced VC. Here’s what you can look forward to as a member:
Exclusive Access & Discounts: Priority access to masterclasses with leading GPs & LPs, available on a first-come, first-served basis.
On-Demand Content: A platform with sessions you can access anytime, anywhere, complete with presentations, templates, and other resources.
Interactive AMAs: Engage directly with top GPs and LPs in exclusive small group sessions — entirely free for community members.
Share this post