Nico Rosberg, former Formula 1 world champion, shares his journey from racing to entrepreneurial ventures in venture capital. He discusses the challenges he faced when transitioning from being an expert in driving to an investor where he had to learn from scratch. Rosberg highlights his efforts in establishing Rosberg Ventures, focusing on creating a fund of funds to connect US startups with German corporates, and the emphasis on building relationships within competitive landscapes like Silicon Valley.

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Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. entrepreneur [ˌɒntrəprəˈnɜːr] - (noun) - A person who sets up a business, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit. - Synonyms: (businessperson, innovator, founder)

The hardest part about becoming an entrepreneur is because I need to learn so much from scratch.

2. deploys [dɪˈplɔɪz] - (verb) - To arrange strategically for effective use or action. - Synonyms: (utilizes, implements, uses)

Rosberg announced the creation of a fund of funds or an investment vehicle that pools capital and deploys it through the offerings of other firms.

3. liquidity [lɪˈkwɪdɪti] - (noun) - Availability of liquid assets to a market or company. - Synonyms: (cash flow, solvency, financial flexibility)

At the same time, this gives firms new liquidity options and new potentially long term customers.

4. dyneastic [daɪ'næstɪk] - (adjective) - Relating to a sequence of rulers from the same family or group. - Synonyms: (successional, imperial, hereditary)

Rosberg helped deliver three consecutive constructors championships which started Mercedes Dynastic 8 championship run.

5. facilitating [fəˈsɪlɪteɪtɪŋ] - (verb) - To make an action or process easier. - Synonyms: (assisting, aiding, supporting)

Rosberg has become quite adept at cold calling or facilitating introductions.

6. marginal [ˈmɑrdʒɪnəl] - (adjective) - Minor or insignificant changes. - Synonyms: (minimal, slight, negligible)

Then also the attention to marginal gains, again something I bring from F1.

7. ubiquitous [juːˈbɪkwɪtəs] - (adjective) - Present, appearing, or found everywhere. - Synonyms: (omnipresent, pervasive, universal)

We're living in the age of the athlete investor, where it's becoming more and more ubiquitous to see sports stars in the business world.

8. digitalize [ˈdɪdʒɪtəlaɪz] - (verb) - To convert information into a digital form. - Synonyms: (convert, digitize, computerize)

They need to digitalize their businesses...

9. revenue [ˈrɛvəˌnu] - (noun) - Income, especially when of a company or organization. - Synonyms: (income, earnings, profit)

And you know that I mean revenue is what's of most importance to startups...

10. execute [ˈɛksɪˌkjut] - (verb) - To carry out or put into effect. - Synonyms: (implement, perform, accomplish)

So that speed of execution is something I bring from F1, which is helping a lot...

How F1 Champion Nico Rosberg Scored $100 Million For A New VC Fund

The hardest part about becoming an entrepreneur is because I need to learn so much from scratch. Like in F1, of course, I was at the time the greatest expert that there was in F1 in terms of driving. But then when you start something new, you need to start lower down and really learn. Listen to podcasts, speak to as many people as possible. It's a big, big learning curve. My name is Nico Rosberg, ex Formula One world champion and now founder of Rosberg Ranchers.

Earlier this year, Rosberg announced the creation of a fund of funds or an investment vehicle that pools capital and deploys it through the offerings of other firms. He's now closed a $100 million raise for this fund and the goal, he says, is to index the top US venture capital firms. And it's easy to see why. According to financial services company Wealthfront, 95% of the American VC market's realized returns are generated by the top 20 firms.

My path into venture capital started with angel investing, but it's grown into interacting more and more with the actual VC firms and the leading VC firms in the US and that's been a super exciting discovery for me. I mean, the expertise that they have in picking and finding the right startups is phenomenal. And that's brought me to where I am now in developing and building Rosberg Ventures, which essentially is a fund of funds to begin with. And that's where most the majority of my time goes into now. We recently actually hit our biggest milestone so far, which is reaching 100 million in assets under management.

It's a big milestone for us and it's come really quickly. And that's all the more why we're all so excited about what we're thinking that we can build here. And now we're moving on to the next challenge, which is needing to deploy some of that capital. So it never stops really. You're constantly moving forward and tackling new challenges, which is what makes it so exciting.

The value Nico Rosberg brings is in this network he's assembled. He's endeared himself to founders, investors and venture capitalists. Entry into Silicon Valley is highly competitive and he's used his relationship building to create a path in for his investors. At the same time, this gives firms new liquidity options and new potentially long term customers.

It also gives the startups, they're involved with access to resources in the European market, where Rosberg's investors are primarily based. So in the end, everybody ends up being greater than the sum of their parts. They appreciate the value. Add that we're delivering and we are coming to them with a cohort of really strategic German corporates, mid and large cap and essentially coming with opportunities for their startups to win new customers out of Germany.

So we're actually coming with potential revenue. And you know that I mean revenue is what's of most importance to startups that are really trying to break through and gaining great traction. And that's the value proposition that we're building. So building that bridge between the US startups and the German corporates, of course selectively, but it's been been working really well.

I remember the first time I got behind the wheel of a go kart. My father in Ibiza, a little island in the Mediterranean. There was a little go kart track and he had built a two-seater and so I was next to him and I was doing the steering wheel and he was doing the throttle and brake and I remember being terrified because he was just going way too fast. And in fact I even drove into a bush at one point, which he was not too happy about. My father was also a Formula One world champion.

As I was like around 10 years old, he was still driving in touring cars like a GT in Germany. And it was such a huge hype at the time there, full stadiums, full tracks. It was so exciting to follow that. And that's really where my desire to become a racing driver myself was born. It took a little bit of time for me to have that I made it moment because even in Formula one when you start, you need to deliver.

We've seen so many times in recent years that even after six, seven races, if the young driver doesn't deliver, he's out. It's a really, really harsh environment so you can never be too sure. And it took some time for me to really have that established moment.

What's interesting about Rosberg's racing career is that he was sandwiched between arguably the two greatest drivers of all time as teammates with Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. Still, he managed to find an impressive level of success. Rosberg helped deliver three consecutive constructors championships which started Mercedes Dynastic 8 championship run and he narrowly edged out Hamilton for the Drivers title in 2016.

In a surprising twist though, Rosberg shocked the racing world and abruptly retired after claiming his first and only title at the age of 31. And he presumably walked away from a massive windfall in 2016. Forbes estimated Rosberg collected $21 million in pre-tax earnings between his income on and off the track.

I learned so much from these intense rivalries in F1 and especially then being a teammate with Michael Schumacher. Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, I would probably say work ethic. By the time he returned, he was probably close to being a billionaire. He's been out of the sport for two years, had a happy life, came back. And just the work ethic when he came back was phenomenal.

The details he was going into, the effort he was putting into in terms of building those relationships with the whole team, incredible. The way he was preparing himself physically, the warrior attitude that he brought into every day was phenomenal. That was very, very interesting for me and I definitely made progress as a driver as a result.

And then came Lewis Hamilton, where again, you always learn, you know, when you're up against the greatest of all time. And with him of course, you pick up some things in terms of driving because we're always looking at each other's data and you can always learn bits and pieces from the other driver. He was very smart also then internally in the team, working with everybody in the team, building those relationships. He was very smart. Even working with the media, he was extremely smart. And those are things that you can really try to adapt and learn a thing or two.

Being a world class athlete is obviously extremely intense. And especially the way I did it, learning from Michael Schumacher, I really focused so much on every single detail that was possible. It was just the 100% dedication to becoming a champion in F1. And that's, I mean that's, that's not an easy approach. Yeah, it's quite, it's definitely for me felt very demanding. And it's across the board, it's every single aspect of being a great racing driver.

That means working with the team, understanding the physics of the car, setting up the car perfectly, preparing myself perfectly. And there was body fitness training, but there's also mentally. So I worked with a psychologist two hours every two days throughout the whole winter. Every winter. Very intense as well.

Your life's approach also like really being disciplined in life, focusing, not doing any other stuff, deleting Instagram, all these kind of details. It was just the full, full focus. And then I got there in the end and I got my dream, achieved my dream of becoming world champion. So it was also somewhat irrational choice that it was the most beautiful moment in my career. I'd reached my dream and I thought it would be a good moment, a good moment to move on into the sunset. As you say, going out at the very, very top doesn't go. I can't go higher than that. And in hindsight now for me personally, it was a really good choice and it still carries me today.

Rosberg has become quite adept at cold calling or facilitating introductions. And part of that is a willingness to steer into his greatest unique angle, the fact that he's a former Formula One champion. Anytime you're trying to build a relationship from scratch, you need to find a way to stand out. And noting a career as a high performance athlete is one way to do that. Another piece is that he never really sees himself as a passive partner. He's always trying to help.

His racing background earned him a reputation as an extremely detail-oriented competitor, but he can contribute in a lot of non-traditional ways that your average investor can. He has a massive brand and social following that he's leveraged for partners in the past. And he also creates environments to foster new business relationships like hosting events at Formula One races. Again, I'm benefiting. I'm German. I'm the German Formula One world champion. So that helps me to get those first meetings.

But then I need to come with a will, with a solid plan. And I have been able to approach them with an idea that has resonated really well for them because the German mid and large caps are at the moment also they're facing a great problem. And the problem is they need to transform their businesses. They need to digitalize their businesses, they need to onboard artificial intelligence, they need to make their businesses more sustainable. So they're facing significant problems.

And the US startup scene has a lot of solutions to those problems. And therefore when I come to them and I say I want to be your window to the US, to the greatest innovation of our time in the US not only us, also somewhat Europe, they think that is extremely valuable and that brings us into business.

My F1 experiences are helping me a lot. I really enjoy like move fast and break things. I'm not worried about breaking things. As long as you're well-prepared to then fix the things that break. You know that's very, very important. But that's something that I've developed quite a skill at. So that speed of execution is something I bring from F1, which is helping a lot because in business generally it tends to be a little bit on the slower side.

Then also the understanding of the importance of having a great team like in F1, you really fully understand that alone you can achieve zero. You need the whole team to achieve great things together. So I fully understand that team building is very, very important. Then also the attention to marginal gains, again something I bring from F1 how not only focusing on the big improvements but also on the small improvements, because they also add up.

And that was so important in winning an F1 where everything is down to like hundreds and tenths of a second. Every detail matters. Something I'm trying to bring into business as well. And then the best thing is the hustle. As a world-class athlete, you're just so determined and so competitive and bringing that into the world of business again helps a lot.

We're living in the age of the athlete investor, where it's becoming more and more ubiquitous to see sports stars in the business world. There are some clear standout examples like LeBron James and the Spring Hill Company. And as far as the VC world goes, NFL Hall of Famer Joe Montana and tennis legend Serena Williams have both made waves with their investments.

Ultimately, athletes have a unique advantage that makes them desirable in the business. Capital and influence. And with all sports careers bound to come to an end at some point, the business world offers a nice pathway to maintaining some relatively lucrative paydays with Roseburg Ventures.

At the moment, I like to think of it as an evolution also of my legacy. And my first part is being that F1 driver. And now as an entrepreneur, I want to build something very significant in the venture capital space. And essentially you need to be adding a lot of value to the partners involved.

Building a great business, building a great team. Working together with a team is also super important. Adding value to the team members, that's first and foremost also. Yeah, that they can have a great career in what we're building. All these things matter. And so I hope to be one day, I hope that Rosberg Ventures is a significant business in venture capital.

Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Leadership, Nico Rosberg, Venture Capital, Athlete Investors, Forbes