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Playing a Different Game - A Fireside Chat with Barend Van Den Brande, Founding Partner at Hummingbird

20. 04. 26

18:30-20:00

There’s 3 kinds of people, those who can count and those who can’t.

Hummingbird is one of the best-performing venture funds in the world. Not by following the playbook, but by rejecting it. Building its edge by questioning every piece of conventional wisdom in venture capital. No pattern copying. No performative value-add. No meddling. Just a relentless focus on outlier founders and first-principles thinking.

In this unscripted fireside chat at Wintercircus, Barend Vandenbrande, Founding Partner at Hummingbird, will share his views formed over time on venture, outliers, and value creation. No slides. No script. No advice-for-advice’s-sake. Just one of the sharpest minds in venture, thinking out loud.

AGENDA

6.30PM - Welcome & registration at Wintercircus (entrance Miriam Makebaplein 2, next to De Krook. !! Be aware: check-in is half an hour earlier than usual
7.00PM - Sharp start of the Fireside Chat, followed by a Q&A
8.00PM - Networking & drinks

GUEST POLICY -This event is exclusive for Collective Members. No guests allowed.

CANCELLATION - Can’t make it? You can cancel your ticket up to 4h for this event.

App: My Account (profile pic) > My Events & Tickets > Event > Request Cancellation
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NO-SHOW POLICY - We’re becoming stricter on no-shows—not to be difficult, but because empty spots mean someone else misses out.
Soon, no-shows will be linked to a €25 contribution to the Wintercircus Fund, an initiative supporting those who might otherwise have less access to networks like ours.

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BAREND VAN DEN BRANDE

Barend is the founder of Hummingbird Ventures, Nomads.vc, and Magnificent Grants. Hummingbird Ventures delivered several funds 10x+, positioning itself as one of the top-tier global seed funds. Looking at more than 10.000 founders per year, Hummingbird invests in 3-4 startups, aiming at $10B+ generational companies, with initial check sizes ranging from the first million to its single largest initial investment of $125M. Apart from aggressively concentrating, Hummingbird embraces a generalist approach, seeing industry-specific expertise decaying faster than ever, radically acting against the nonsense of value-add from investors, and almost solely investing based on its unique way of pattern-matching outlier founders. No longer venture’s best kept secret, Hummingbird’s influence and access shifted on the back of Kraken’s $20 billion valuation, Lovable’s rocketship trajectory from $0 to $200M in 12 months, and Billlion2One’s standout Nasdaq IPO, each time with Hummingbird as the leading seed investor, doubling down, building 10%+ stakes and holding long-term positions after IPO. Barend started his career in the US as a financial analyst for SG Cowen in Boston, USA. He holds a Master of Science degree in Economics from the University of Louvain, Belgium. Industry recognition recently earned Barend a spot on the much coveted Forbes Midas List.

Playing a Different Game - A Fireside Chat with Barend Van Den Brande, Founding Partner at Hummingbird

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