Weidner Ventures
Magazine

A point of view on capital, technology and building.

How we think about building and investing. Two new pieces a month.

Model

Negotiating a convertible loan: how cap and discount look from the investor's side of the table

Convertible loans from the investor's side: how cap and discount are derived, which clauses we do not negotiate, and why we notarize. With sources.

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Model

Valuing work for equity: how the price of sweat equity actually gets set

Work for equity: how we price a work package at arm's length, with proof of performance, acceptance, and a worked example. The valuation question, answered.

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Investments

Smaller tickets, real proximity: how we think about co-investments

We do not lead rounds. We go in alongside befriended business angels, keeping the ticket small and the proximity large. What that means for founders, downsides included.

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Model

Token or equity: when a token stake actually fits

Tokens are one of our four routes, and the narrowest door. Why a token is almost never the company share in Germany, what MiCA requires, and when we deliberately recommend equity.

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Deep tech

Deep tech we understand: how we spot a real edge

In deep tech, substance is easy to claim and hard to verify. Why a patent is not a moat, which questions we actually ask, and where we honestly say no.

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Network

The network as capital: why operators are worth more than money

Money has become interchangeable; good operators have not. Why we judge every investment by who we can bring to the table, and how a grown network becomes the real edge.

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Process

How our investment committee decides

Once a week, Dennis Weidner and befriended business angels review every pitch that came in. What counts, how long it takes, and why everyone gets an answer from a human being.

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Thesis

Why we built The Agentics instead of just advising

Weidner Ventures could have advised The Agentics. We co-founded and built it instead. Why operating beats a good opinion in AI-agent ventures.

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Model

Knowledge for Equity: how we invest knowledge, not just money, and why it's fair

Everyone knows media-for-equity from ProSieben. We apply the same logic to knowledge and work: a service agreement plus a convertible, cleanly valued. How it works, legally and economically.

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Market

Live commerce: everyone plays defense. We build for the joy of buying.

Everyone plays defense with AI: safety, efficiency, cost. We build for the part they forget: discovery, buying, entertainment. A market thesis.

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Investment thesis

AI agents as an investment thesis: where value really forms in 2026

Not in the model layer but in the application layer: why our AI-agent bets are about completed work, owned distribution and human governance. Three filters from our own operations.

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Model

Why a project holding builds itself today

Build, Accelerate, Back: why the company-builder principle works more personally and collaboratively now, and why owning and operating beats passive capital.

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