You don’t build a business—you build people and then people build the business. These are the stories of the people who built Wellstreet and our portfolio companies. Meet Clara Norgren.
Tell us about you, what's your background?
I’m a positive, curious woman in my early career. From Gothenburg, lived in Stockholm since 2018.
I have a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology and a B.Sc. in Business Administration and Economics from Lund University.
I had various jobs alongside school in different startups, at an investment company, in accounting and sales, but Wellstreet was my first ”real” job I got after graduating.
What's your expertise?
I’m focused on analysing companies and investment opportunities to support colleagues with insights regarding a potential investment.
How did you end up at Wellstreet?
I was at Wellstreet for an internship 6 months October 2021-April 2022.
I wanted to break into the world of Venture Capital and reached out to the team at Wellstreet through an email.
Was Wellstreet a good fit for you?
I wanted to start my career of at a fund that invested as early as possible to understand where ”it all begins”. Wellstreet as a pre-seed, seed investor, often investing alongside angels, was the perfect fit. The team at Wellstreet are actively involved in the companies they invest in with regular workshops and the fund even share office-space with some of the portfolio companies, which let me get a close look into what relationships are built between startup and investor. As I am also ”hands-on” and think a good, honest relationship with a lot of trust between startup and investor is an important key to success, this way of working suited me well.
What is your current role and where?
I now work as an analyst at Industrifonden, an early stage VC fund investing in Life Science, Deep Tech and Transformative tech in the Nordics.
Tell us about a challenge you have overcome?
Getting through the first steps when learning to code was a real challenge. A lot of feelings of failure through this period of my education, but I beat myself through it and now I rather enjoy it.
Any life or work events that affected your career more than you thought at the time?
I led a student organisation at KTH that was focused on entrepreneurship because I was curious of the Swedish startup ecosystem. This ended up beeing my first proper introduction to venture capital, which now is the career path I’ve taken.
What attracts you to VC and what will make you leave?
Getting to follow a company ”from the start”, seeing ”something” become of ”nothing”. Understanding how capital can help build a healthy valuable company and help bring a new product/technology to the market. If I leave it will most likely be because I want to try building my own company.
Any advice for someone that wants to work in VC?
Respect the startup founders, they are the ones who are doing all the real work.
What does ”pro-active investor with a purpose-built ecosystem” mean to you?
An engaged and curious investor who wants to help and support in any way possible to increase the chances of the startup team succeeding and of getting a good return on the investment.
What are you passionate about?
At work I’m passionate about and think it’s fun to learn about different industries and new technologies. I’m also passionate about people. ”A company” is only a system of people teamworking towards a common goal, it’s all about the relations in the team and towards the customer. I like understanding how different companies structure those relations best.
What about outside work?
Nature, travel, food and skiing are high on my list of hobby passions, as well as music and art.
Your most developed sense or skill?
I think I am good with people. I also enjoy math and analytics
What do you expect is your next work endeavour?
Getting through more investment cases to build experience and knowledge, as well as continuing to network with founders and investors.
