“Pick investors for the gap they close, not the valuation they offer”

Getting to know the Investor Network - a series introducing our Calmar.VC investor network.

For an early-stage company, the cheque is rarely the hardest part of a round. What decides progress is whether the people around the table can close the gap the company actually has at that moment — a market to open, a hire to make, an operational problem to solve. Alphaomega works precisely at that intersection, curating early-stage deals for a private circle of business angels and high-networth individuals and matching each company’s current needs against the competencies available in the network.

We spoke with Jakob Weigele, Managing Director of Alphaomega Management-GmbH, about investing from both sides of the table, why transparency is the fastest route to the right investor, and what makes a pitch fall flat.

Let’s start with the basics. Who are you, and what does your investor network look like?

I come from both sides of the table. Operationally, I have spent years inside startups — founding, expansion, business development. On the investment side I have been active for over 15 years through a private network that invests sector-agnostically: early-stage startups on the one hand, established companies in difficult situations on the other, where we contribute strategically and not just capital.

A few examples from the portfolio: a fintech in Hamburg, a container business in New Zealand, and a PropTech company automating real estate project development.

I have been involved in around ten deals so far, several of them still running. Two outcomes are worth naming: one exit to a listed global market leader, and one portfolio company that went public.

Today I curate early-stage deals for a private circle of business angels and HNWIs — deal by deal, no fund, no pooled mandate. Every investor decides individually on every deal.

Beyond financial support, how do you provide value to a startup?

My core contribution is strategic fit. Either I can help the company directly, or I bring in an investor from my network who closes exactly the gap that matters at that moment.

What makes this reliable is that it is a process, not coincidence. In every deal I continuously monitor

the startup’s current needs and match them against the competencies in my investor network. Very often the answer is one call or one introduction — the hard part is knowing, at the right time, who to call.

Which industry are you watching most closely at the moment?

My home turf is Property & Construction Tech. That is where my operational background and my network are deepest.

Beyond that I look at deals agnostically and weigh three things first:

• Team — is this team strong enough to build fast and efficiently?

• Market — is the market size assessment realistic, and does it actually carry the return early-stage investors need?

• Defensibility — how well is the company protected against being copied or commoditised?

If those three do not hold, the industry does not matter.

What is your advice for founders starting out in 2026?

Pick investors for the gap they close, not the valuation they offer. A high valuation with no strategic contribution is an expensive round, not a good one.

And on the other side — what is a definite no-go in a pitch?

When traction and revenue are presented in a way that makes the company look better than it is: selective metrics, unclear definitions, current problems left out.

Every early-stage company has open issues. Hiding them destroys trust, and it costs the founder real value — in the phase I work in, knowing the actual gaps is exactly what lets me look for investors who can close them. Transparency in a pitch is not a weakness; it is the shortest route to the right investor.

Why do you use Calmar.VC, and how does it make your work easier?

It consolidates the legal and administrative side of a deal into one automated platform. The bigger benefit is not the time I save, though — it is that the cooperation between startup, investors and me becomes significantly simpler and, above all, transparent for every side. Everyone works from the same status. That matches exactly how I want to operate.

Last but not least: how can other investors and founders get in touch?

The easiest route is LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/jakobweigele

Alphaomega is part of the Calmar.VC investor network. Interested in being featured in this series? Get in touch with us via jacopo.losso@gateway.ventures