“Do you have a pension? I don’t know, my CFO will do that.”

Harry Stevings, 28, is already a well-known name for European venture capitalists. He began his business podcast, 20VC in his teenager from his family’s kitchen, and then dropped out of college in his first semester and pursued his venture full-time. Now hosting some of the biggest names in venture capital and tech, the podcast will ultimately lead him into the world of investment himself. In 2021, he launched a solo venture company (also known as 20VC) and raised $400 million last year, becoming one of Europe’s largest VC funds.

You started to be very young. Where did your business interest come from?
I’ve always been a pretty entrepreneur. At school, we purchase and resell phones from Eastern Europe on eBay. You also sell study notes on Amazon and earn hundreds of pounds each month.

I was very driven to make money. It’s shifting now: I’m driven to victory. But when I was younger I was running away from not having any money. My near-kind was comfortable (I went to a private school), but I saw my grandparents get financially difficult. They lost their homes. It’s very challenging.

I was also fortunate to have parents who trusted me and cultivated that drive. When I said (a month later) I was dropping out of college to focus on a small podcast with no followers, they supported me. I didn’t like school anyway. I had to ring my A level.

As for my age, I think that’s the teenager’s secret – start young. Please do not use the internet to go to university. You will learn nothing and get debts. Unless you want a professional career like medicine, I think it’s the most useless thing in the world. It’s absolutely toxic.

I think Uni is primarily for people who don’t know what they want to do – or need a structure. Same for MBAS: I don’t think it’s a useful way to spend your time. I don’t want to see it on my resume. If you want to invest, just invest. Even if it’s small.

How did you remove the podcast from the ground? Has someone invested in you?
I’ve never taken any seed money for a podcast. I was still living at home and all I needed was to buy a microphone and a website domain.

I didn’t make any money for the first 100-150 episodes. Then, after two years of podcasting, we got our first sponsor. They agreed to pay £25,000 for the show for six months. It was the richest I’ve ever felt. I was 19 years old. Since then, there has been more money in, but nothing like that.

From there, I was able to self-fund my podcast (and escaped from my mother). I got a job at Atomico as a resident entrepreneur on a six-figure salary. I stayed for six months before quitting. “What a god, working for someone sucks!” I was awful to take notes. I am the worst employee in the world. That’s when I went out to raise my first fund, Stride.vc, with Fred Destin.

Today we have over 65 million views on social media, and many of them have driven into subscribers.

All ventures are currently in the media, but I am lucky rather than meant this arrogantly. There are 23 people working on a podcast. I’ve been doing this for 10 years.

Are you the most frivolous place with your money?
My rent – I’m not going to tell you how much it costs me. There was also a bit of shoe obsession, with 50-60 pairs of Nike trainers, and sometimes losing 1,200 pounds with a designer pair. Plus, sashimi – I eat it every night.

But otherwise I’m pretty reserved. I describe myself as being extremely risk-averse to my finances. I spend about £6,000 a month (except rent). I’m not interested in clocks or cars (I can’t actually drive legally), I don’t drink, I don’t have any expensive hobbies – I mainly enjoy walking around the park. I don’t take vacation either.

What sacrifices do you make to build your business?
You have to be comfortable being lonely. I remember clearly when I made my first million – I was 20 or 21, and I was drinking tequila on my balcony – and then I realised that I really had no friends or anyone to hang out. And I was like this: This is not what I thought it would be.

I don’t have time to be in a relationship right now, but I would like to have a family one day. Maybe in 10 years.

What is the biggest challenge for your business?
ego. Ego will kill you. You’ll think you made it, you think you’re finished. You’re never finished. You will not reach the next step of what you have where you are.

Beyond that, if Europe doesn’t produce a generation-defined company, it will kill us. If negativity around Europe turns out to be true, that’s not good.

And I think the current state of Europe from a venture capital perspective is depressing and outdated. The quality of the VC is not sufficient. Also, there is too much money in venture capital, so the deals are very expensive. We’re watching great companies get too much money from them and destroy good exits otherwise.

How well did your previous funds work?
We will not publicly disclose how many times the last funds you doubled. But if that’s not good, let’s say you’ll never raise it again. It needs to be at least three times more to justify our position in the limited partner book.

When it comes to podcasts, annual revenue is millions. We book in advance (sponsorship).

I currently spend about 20% on my podcasts and the rest on my fund. I read the team’s notes and show up for an interview. Someone wanted to buy a 20VC podcast, but it’s not for sale

How do you receive payment?
I will receive a salary from the fund. The other four partners pay more than me, but the equity is mostly mine. As for the numbers, I personally tweeted that I pay $2 million (USD) each year.

I think it’s really important that people get paid well because I expect you to work really hard. I’ll call at 10pm. I’ll call on the weekend.

Do you have a pension?
I don’t know. My CFO does that.

And I don’t own a home, so I don’t have a mortgage. I don’t think it’s helpful. Why do you buy it? You just lock your money in. Instead, I put my money into the public stock market.

What are your financial ambitions?
My main ambition is to build the best venture funds in Europe over the next decade. I would like to provide a multiple of 5 times or more. However, multiples are not a point. I want to reconstruct the way Europe is built.

In fact, I feel like I’m only 0.5% there. I’m still this uneasy child. People like Alex Wang run a huge, much larger funds, and he’s my age.

So I still think of what people think about me, in that sense – am I respected? I really don’t care if I like it anymore.