Stephen Chandler

A frustrated tech banker at UBS in the 90s, I longed to be on the other side of the table. I left to join Star in the heady dotcom bubble days and was part of the founding team of MessageLabs as CFO and EMEA GM. It was an incredible 10 year journey that drove my passion for startups – full of laughs, friendships and challenges. I initiated and led the $700m exit to Symantec at a time of terrifying upheaval in financial markets following the collapse of Lehman. So I think I can get stuff done under pressure.

As part of the founding team at Notion, our idea was to take our considerable and shared experiences in SaaS and apply them to accelerating investments in multiple European start-ups, with the goal to build a market-leading venture capital firm. As well as investing, I help guide strategy and lead our capital raising activities at Notion – so I know what its like to be asking for money as well as investing it and have immense respect and empathy for the entrepreneurs I meet.

People often think of me as a deal guy but my passions are far broader than that. I do see the world through numbers and love to figure out what levers to pull to drive extraordinary outcomes. But most of all I love the prickle down my spine when I meet a founder who articulates a massive vision and instils confidence they can inspire the diverse people and resources needed to execute upon it.

Trust is super important to me. Say what you’re going to do and then do it. Strive to be the best you can and learn from your mistakes. I really love winning but also hold our ‘have fun, make money’ ethos at Notion at the very heart of everything I do. The latter seems irrelevant and unfulfilling without the former.

Companies: Cellcrypt (acquired), Dealflo, DemystData, GoCardless, Mojn (acquired), Paddle, Panaseer, SmartPipe, Star (acquired), Tradeshift, VirtualStock.