My Venture into Venture Capital: What I Learned About DeepTech Investing
Behind every groundbreaking technology lies a hidden system of risk, funding, and patience. This is what I discovered about venture capital.
Earlier this year, I met Patrick Claessen from Cottonwood at an event in Eindhoven. Our conversation sparked my curiosity about the real workings of venture capital, especially in the DeepTech sector. I invited him for a longer interview, aiming to learn more about how early-stage investing actually works.
Patrick generously took the time to explain the world behind venture capital funds, hardware innovation, and the unique dynamics of startups that operate at the intersection of science and business.
This post captures what I learned, with a personal lens: not a technical deep dive, but a practical journey into a system that shapes much of the technological future.
The Start: A Personal Curiosity
My background is rooted in digital strategy, AI, and content creation. I bridge business and technology every day, but venture capital always seemed a bit abstract to me. When I met Patrick, I realised this was an opportunity to make it concrete.
I wanted to understand not only the big numbers and structures but also the human side: how do ideas become funded companies? What is the logic behind selecting just 2 or 3 investments out of 900 applications each year?
Rob Hoeijmakers
Key Insights from the Interview
In our conversation, several themes stood out clearly. These insights reshaped the way I look at venture capital, innovation, and the broader startup ecosystem.
1. DeepTech is Different
Patrick explained that Cottonwood focuses specifically on "science-based hardware" ventures. Unlike pure software startups, hardware innovation demands bigger investments, longer development cycles, and carries much higher risks. But if successful, it often locks in markets through patents and infrastructure, making competition harder.
2. Venture Capital is a Game of Focus and Patience
Cottonwood typically comes in early and stays involved through several funding rounds, stepping back once the venture moves beyond their focus. They bring more than just capital—offering hands-on support with market access, strategy, and building the right network. While they don’t take on day-to-day roles, they back founders in building strong, self-sustaining teams through support with hiring, scaling, and organisational development.
3. Europe versus the US: Different Capital Cultures
A striking insight was the structural difference between Europe and the US. In America, venture capital is more mature, with generations of entrepreneurs reinvesting into new ventures. In Europe, the ecosystem still leans heavily on public funding and lacks the depth of private capital that fuels risk-taking in the US.
4. Fragmentation is a European Weakness
Patrick highlighted that Europe's fragmented landscape often prevents startups from scaling. Regulations, smaller funds, and national borders make it harder for European companies to grow into global players. Coordination between funds and governments is improving, but there is a long way to go.
5. Collaboration Over Competition
Despite current trends towards protectionism and economic nationalism, Patrick strongly believes in cross-border collaboration. Cottonwood itself is a US-European fund, demonstrating that innovation thrives better when people work together rather than retreat into isolated silos.
A Personal Reflection
This conversation opened a new window for me. I now better understand why hardware startups are both thrilling and fragile, why venture capital is as much about partnerships as about money, and why Europe's future in technology depends heavily on how well we coordinate investments.
I also appreciate more than ever the role individuals play—the founders, the funders, the mentors—each moving pieces of a larger, slower, and riskier puzzle than the fast-moving world of apps and SaaS startups.
Final Note
I am grateful to Patrick for sharing his time and expertise so openly. Our conversation was not an official interview for publication; it was a generous, personal exchange that offered valuable lessons for anyone curious about innovation, investment, and the often unseen engines of the future.
I hope this post helps demystify a little bit of the world behind DeepTech investing and inspires others, like me, to keep asking questions and seeking to understand the forces shaping our digital world.
