Episode 22 | So, Do We Have a Deal? (Achim Plum, HTGF)

Achim Plum spent 25 years on the operator side of biotech. Two IPOs, one of them closed on the last day of the roadshow, sitting at a Zurich breakfast with no idea whether the book would fill by evening. His last company died on the science itself. Then he switched sides. Since January 2025 he runs HTGF, Germany's most active seed investor, as the Managing Director heading Life Science and Chemistry. Around 400 companies in the portfolio, roughly 800 invested in since the fund started, a new 500 million euro seed fund in the raise, and tickets up to 30 million euros through the Deep Tech and Climate Fonds. He says: "I did every possible mistake one could do. I survived them mostly." That sentence is the spine of the conversation. The mistakes taught him how to read founder teams under pressure, long before any data comes in. The best deal HTGF ever did was almost thrown out at deal-flow screening and ended in a unicorn exit. And the conversation he used to have with CEOs at an ice bar, drink in hand, is the one every founder should hear before their board starts it: raise your hand and drive the leadership question yourself, or someone else will drive it for you. We also talk about mistakes as an asset, stage fit, why founders who go quiet stop getting funded, what low single-digit percentages of Europe's pension money would do for venture, and why a company that fails on biology is not a founder who failed. CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold Open & Intro 01:14 Why he switched sides after 25 years 03:35 The period he does not talk about much 07:04 IPOs are thrillers 10:05 Resilience: hen and egg 10:50 Every possible mistake, and the most stupid one in the room 13:26 Stage fit: founders who raise their hand 16:24 Can a founder just stay early-stage? 18:48 Hand-holding, and when it stops 20:36 Patterns of failure: technology seeking a market 23:46 Conviction versus the pivot 26:35 Do not surprise your investors 28:21 The outlier business: the deal they almost discarded 30:43 Tubulis: the 344 million euro round and the Gilead exit 35:04 Europe's funding problem, in numbers 42:23 The 500 million euro seed fund and the DTCF 45:46 Serial founders and the culture of failure 50:19 "Don't wait. Talk to us." ABOUT THE GUEST Dr. Achim Plum is Managing Director of HTGF (High-Tech Gründerfonds), Germany's most active seed investor, where he heads Life Science and Chemistry. Before switching to the investor side in 2025, he spent 25 years in biotech operating roles, took two companies through IPOs, and holds a PhD in genetics. He still talks about an IPO the way other people talk about a thriller, and he has lived through two of them. LinkedIn: ⁠  / ⁠   ABOUT THE HOST Willing to Win is hosted by Christian Rados, headhunter for biotech. Since 2011 he has filled leadership roles for companies from founding to commercialization, in Europe and the US. More than 1,000 placements across biotech, pharma and MedTech. His approach: skill is the simple part. First he works out what the company's stage really needs, and from that, which top needs a person must have to thrive in the role at that stage. The interview comes last and creates certainty on skill, stage and needs. rados-recruiting.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/christianrados-biotechdreamteams ABOUT THE SHOW Willing to Win is a podcast about biotech leaders who kept going when the odds said stop. New episodes with the people building this industry, subscribe so you don't miss them.