From Brazil to Budapest to Berlin - and now into venture capital at Bloomhaus

From Brazil to Budapest and now Berlin, Yan Cruz has taken an unconventional path to venture capital. Joining Bloomhaus earlier this year, he brings not only an international perspective but also the mindset of a founder. Alongside his master's studies, he is building his own startup and developing AI tools to make parts of the investment process faster and smarter.

In this interview, Yan shares what surprised him most after stepping inside a VC, why the most important founder insights rarely appear in a pitch deck, and what every startup should validate before speaking to investors.

Meet Yan and discover what he has learned from experiencing venture capital from both sides of the table.
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Yan, what attracted you to venture capital?

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I've always loved technology and building things. Venture capital gives me the opportunity to learn from exceptional founders every single day while seeing hundreds of different business models. For someone who wants to become a founder, it's probably one of the best learning environments imaginable.

‍You've been with Bloomhaus since the beginning of the year. What surprised you most?

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The sheer number of startups working on similar ideas.
From the outside, it often feels as though every startup is unique. But once you start screening companies every day, you realise many are solving the same problem. The real challenge is understanding why one team has a much higher chance of winning than another.

What's been your biggest learning?

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That the real story starts where the pitch deck ends.
A polished presentation certainly helps, but what ultimately matters is the founding team—their expertise, conviction, and how deeply they understand both the problem and their customers. Sometimes a founder conversation completely changes your initial impression.

The real story starts where the pitch deck ends.

What has been your favourite part of working at Bloomhaus?

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The discussions.
Everyone brings a different lens. Tim looks closely at the commercial side, Bruno dives deep into the technology, and Ines constantly challenges the market opportunity and the broader ecosystem. Watching these perspectives come together has been one of the biggest learning experiences for me.
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As someone who is also building a startup, what advice would you give founders?

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Validate the market first.
You can have brilliant technology, but if you can't demonstrate that customers genuinely need it, fundraising becomes much harder. Investors ultimately invest in solving meaningful problems.

If you can't demonstrate that customers genuinely need it, fundraising becomes much harder

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You've also been developing AI tools internally. Tell us about that.

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One of my projects has been building an internal AI platform for our investment team. It helps automate research, analyse pitch decks, verify claims against external sources, and support parts of our deal flow process.
We're continuously improving it, but it's exciting to see how AI can eliminate repetitive work and leave us with more time for the conversations that really matter.

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Where do you think AI will have the biggest impact in venture capital?

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AI won't replace investors - it will augment them.
It helps process enormous amounts of information much faster, but investment decisions are ultimately about people, judgement, and conviction. AI can make us more efficient, but founders still invest in people, and investors still back founders.

AI makes us much faster, but investment decisions are ultimately about people, judgement, and conviction.

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Finally, how would you describe your first months at Bloomhaus?

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Fast-paced, challenging and incredibly inspiring.
Every week I discover new technologies, meet founders who are obsessed with solving difficult problems, and learn something new. As someone who hopes to build companies myself, I couldn't ask for a better place to start.

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