Deborah Li: From Brooklyn to Madrid, Betting on Europe’s Youngest Founders

In this episode of Venturing Abroad, we sit down with Deborah Li, founder of Alta One, to explore how Spain’s startup and venture ecosystem has evolved—and what it takes to build, invest, and lead across borders. Originally from Brooklyn, Deborah moved to Madrid nearly eight years ago, transitioning from operator to investor before launching Alta One. She shares what surprised her most about building a career in Spain, from the importance of relationships and local networks to the growing global ambition of Spanish founders. We also dig into Spain’s strengths in areas like energy, AI, and robotics, why more founders are looking to the U.S. earlier, and what European founders can learn from American storytelling and commercialization. Deborah also takes us inside Alta One, her new early-stage fund built around an unconventional model: giving a cohort of students and recent graduates the training and real decision-making power to invest in founders from their own generation. She explains why Alta One is betting on people at the earliest stages, the signals she looks for in exceptional young founders, and how hands-on investing can help develop Europe’s next generation of founders and VCs. Along the way, we talk Madrid vs. Brooklyn, learning Spanish, building genuine relationships, the importance of getting out of the office as an investor and, of course, tapas, bagels, and Deborah’s most practical piece of advice for Americans moving abroad: get a good tax advisor. daphni is a Paris-based venture capital firm with nearly €1 billion in assets under management and 110+ portfolio companies. We back those pushing the boundaries of innovation. Discover more about us: https://daphni.com/ Follow us on LinkedIn:   / daphni   Hosted by Audiomeans. Visit audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite (https://www.audiomeans.fr/politique-d...) for more information.