Fika with Antler partner Tobias Bengtsdahl: "Now the impact space is in a more rational place"

You recently had an off-site company gathering just outside Barcelona. Why do you think events like that are valuable for a business?

"Yes, we rented a big house for around twenty people from our team, and stayed together for a few days. In this time of AI, where AI can do so much, the people really “become” the business. So if those people don't spend time together, don't like working with each other, or don't have the right chemistry, then the business will fail."

So what did your team get up to?

"Strategic work – planning for the future and discussing the past. But I think the most important part was just the social bit – hanging out together, spending time together."

Antler offers full-time residencies for ten weeks. Critics might argue that it is intense – and risky – since founders have to drop everything and go “all in”. Why do you champion this approach?

"I think the intensity is what we want to have! We pressure people to do the things that they would not do if they just started in a garage or their own bedrooms. In terms of risk – we have more people now who have done residencies and developed products, so that decreases the risk for new founders. And of course starting any company is always going to be risky – it’s not for those who are not risk takers!"

So what can successful founders hope to achieve in ten weeks?

"The idea is to achieve a year's progress in ten weeks. We have people going from an embryo – an idea – to building the team that's needed to get the product to market and sell it, creating that first version of the product and getting the first customers."

Antler closed a $100m Nordic fund in January – how does that shape the next wave of startups you’ll support?

"I think that the main difference is we can be involved through a longer time with startups. So even though our residency programme is officially still ten weeks, we have a larger allocation of money and can support our founders better."

Antler’s Nordic residency programmes kick off on 1st September in all the Nordic capitals – what have you looked for in this new crop of founders?

"People who have experience from startups – that they have already founded companies themselves or have worked in startups, and people who have domain and developer experience. We’ve picked a lot of younger folks because they are better at utilizing AI, building AI and thinking ‘AI-first’."

How does impact feed into your work?

"Great question. The impact scene has been on a bit of a rollercoaster in the last few years – a big capital influx, before there were really enough good founders and companies, and then the Trump administration influencing a roll back on sustainability. I think hopefully now the impact space in Europe is in a more rational place, where we all realise how important it is and how many business opportunities there are. We are very excited about impact – when it is rational and aligned with financial incentives as well."

How do you handle it when a company you’ve backed doesn’t perform as expected?

"I personally am often referred to as a ‘startup therapist’, which is a term I like! We need to look at whether a company is not performing because we are doing the wrong things – and figuring out if we can change – or because we have been wrong all along and there is something wrong with the idea, and it is not going to go anywhere. Of course everyone knows that at the end of the day companies need returns and many startups fail – so if things go wrong it is important that there is no anger or resentment."

What debates in the tech scene are you most engaged with right now?

"I have been quite vocal about the EU’s new startup strategy, calling it a “nothing burger”, which I know is quite harsh. Personally I think the EU would do more good if they focussed on deregulation rather than on a strategy where they're supposedly going to help, because they don't have the best track record for helping startups."

What else is on your mind right?

"I'm really appreciative of being in Stockholm at the moment. There is a lot of interesting stuff going on here and I'm very excited for us to continue building this ecosystem one connection at a time, one relationship at a time."

What’s on your agenda this summer—for work and play?

"Talking to as many founders as possible – both ones who I don't have a relationship to, but hopefully will get to happen at some point in the future, and of course, those I already have a relationship with, where I've invested, or help out in some way. Other than that, hopefully I’ll get recovery time for health, wellness, sleeping, swimming, and relaxing."

If you could host an Antler alumni reunion anywhere in the world, where would it be—and why?

"For our Nordic founders – if I could remove all the logistics of people having families and responsibilities at home – I would arrange to go to an island in Thailand in the middle of January. I would get people together to escape the cold, help them refocus and rebalance."

What’s your favourite fika?

"Haha, well this is where I blow up this entire conversation! I’m not much of a fika person! If I have anything between meals, it is a mix of berries, and I drink some boiled water. I actually eat the same things, usually, six days a week. I consume egg, mackerels and pea protein, three types of salad, kale broccoli, cauliflower, black lentils, five or six seeds, five or six nuts and a bunch of spices."

So are you one of those people who follows a strict diet to avoid making decisions so you can focus on business, or is it for health reasons?

"Both, definitely."

But fika is such a tradition in Nordic offices, what do you do when there’s a plate of yummy warm cinnamon buns in front of you?

"Most often I would decline it. But I am not an absolutist, which is very important to me, to not go into a place where I “cannot”, because then it becomes a mental blockage. So if I someday choose to do it, then I do it!"