Monika Rodiqi didn’t take the traditional VC route. She didn’t start in finance or come from a long line of investors. Instead, she built her way into the venture world by doing the work—building products, managing teams, and scaling early-stage startups from the inside.

Now, as an Investment Analyst at Berlin-based Express Ventures, Monika brings that builder’s lens to every investment decision. Express Ventures focuses on logistics and industrial startups, but Monika’s story is about more than sectors—it’s about signal.

In this episode, we talk about what makes a founder stand out, why story matters more than polish in a pitch deck, and how venture can be both strategic and socially conscious. Monika also shares her thoughts on Europe’s startup evolution, the realities of being a woman in tech, and what she’s watching in robotics, AI, and the future of fueling.

This is a conversation about strategy, bias, and the decisions that shape tomorrow’s market leaders.

Here’s what’s covered:

• Why agility is a startup’s biggest advantage

• What VCs really look for at the pre-seed stage

• The one thing every founder should do in a pitch meeting (but rarely does)

• What makes Berlin a unique tech ecosystem—and why you shouldn’t write it off

• How CVCs can offer more than capital

• The power of founder-investor alignment

• Why VC is an asset class, not a moral compass—but still shapes the world

• The troubling truth behind VC’s gender funding gap—and what might actually change it

Learn more about ⁠Express Ventures⁠ and Monika’s work to bring more builder-mindsets into venture (⁠link here⁠).