---
title: "Finns in Silicon Valley | Jyri Engeström | Negotiator 27"
summary: "Jyri Engeström — who sold Jaiku to Google and now runs Yes VC — explains how venture capital actually works in Silicon Valley: why fund maths forces investors to hunt for a handful of enormous winners, why the best founders are in fact risk-averse, and why demand should be tested before a product exists. He also covers what the Finnish ecosystem still lacks: financing infrastructure, a normalised relationship with failure, and the special insight that comes from working the structural holes in a network."
datePublished: 2020-07-05
dateModified: 2020-07-05
originalLang: en
section: economy
sections: ["economy","tools"]
authors: ["Sami Miettinen"]
tags: []
canonical: https://ai.neuvottelija.com/ep27-piilaakso-ja-riskisijoittaminen-jyri-engestrom/
---
# Finns in Silicon Valley | Jyri Engeström | Negotiator 27

# Finns in Silicon Valley | Jyri Engeström | Negotiator 27

> **Summary:**
> Jyri Engeström — who sold Jaiku to Google and now runs Yes VC — explains how venture capital actually works in Silicon Valley: why fund maths forces investors to hunt for a handful of enormous winners, why the best founders are in fact risk-averse, and why demand should be tested before a product exists. He also covers what the Finnish ecosystem still lacks: financing infrastructure, a normalised relationship with failure, and the special insight that comes from working the structural holes in a network.

---

## Key Themes

* **Jyri Engeström, from Jaiku to Google and the move to the Valley:** Discussed from 00:00 onward.
* **The Finnish community in Silicon Valley and helping with hiring:** Discussed from 02:30 onward.
* **Is success learnable or is it a lottery:** Discussed from 05:00 onward.
* **What growth rate a venture investor actually requires:** Discussed from 07:30 onward.
* **The power law: a few winners pay for the whole fund:** Discussed from 10:00 onward.
* **Why the best founders are risk-averse:** Discussed from 12:30 onward.
* **Don't fall in love with one idea — the surfer analogy:** Discussed from 15:00 onward.
* **SaaS and recurring revenue as a requirement:** Discussed from 17:30 onward.
* **Angel investing versus investing out of a fund:** Discussed from 20:00 onward.
* **The warm reject and why the answer is usually no:** Discussed from 22:30 onward.
* **Structural holes in a network and special insight:** Discussed from 25:00 onward.
* **From an ad model to a paying customer:** Discussed from 27:30 onward.
* **Aligning incentives along the whole financing chain:** Discussed from 30:00 onward.
* **A narrow but deep idea beats a broad one:** Discussed from 32:30 onward.
* **Testing demand before building the product:** Discussed from 35:00 onward.
* **Growth tooling and what to measure early:** Discussed from 37:30 onward.
* **You can raise from the Valley earlier than you think:** Discussed from 40:00 onward.
* **Learning from failure — the surgeon analogy:** Discussed from 42:30 onward.
* **Ecosystem services and the missing Silicon Valley Bank:** Discussed from 45:00 onward.
* **Wrap-up and advice for a Finnish founder:** Discussed from 47:30 onward.