In the hyper-saturated world of venture capital, where “funding” is often conflated with “success,” Felix Hüttenbach represents a quiet but forceful pivot toward something sturdier. He isn’t your typical suit-and-tie investor checking boxes on a spreadsheet from a glass tower. He is an Operator-Investor who cut his teeth in the high-stakes arena of rapid-response healthcare infrastructure.

Interviewer: Felix, many people move into investing after a long corporate career or a stint at a major bank. You moved into it after a sprint through one of the most intense execution environments imaginable—scaling a healthcare giant during a global crisis. How does that “builder” DNA change the way you look at a pitch deck compared to a traditional VC?

Felix: It changes the entire focal point. When I look at a deck, I’m not just looking at the TAM or the flashy logos of the lead investors. I’m looking at the plumbing. I’m looking for the structural integrity of the “machine” the founder is trying to build. Most investors start as analysts; they are trained to look at the world through the lens of risk mitigation and theoretical models. They ask, “What could go wrong?” I come from the opposite side: I built instead of evaluated. I operated instead of theorized. When a founder tells me they want to scale to 50 locations, I don’t just see a line on a graph. I see the hiring headaches, the supply chain bottlenecks, the regulatory hurdles, and the technical debt that accumulates when you move that fast. When I look for echte Deals, I’m looking for founders who understand that the “narrative” is just the invitation to the party, but “execution” is what keeps the lights on. I often say, “I invest like an operator, not like a tourist.” A tourist looks at the scenery and takes photos; an operator knows how the staff is managed and where the structural leaks are. My credibility comes from the fact that I’ve felt the execution pressure of scaling to 2,000 employees in months. I know what high-agency looks like when the stakes are life and death.

Interviewer: You’ve mentioned that “Execution beats narrative.” In an era where storytelling is often the primary skill founders are taught to prioritize for fundraising, why is that distinction so critical to your Thought Leadership?

Felix: Narrative is easy to manufacture. You can hire a PR firm to craft a story. You can use AI to generate a beautiful pitch deck. But you cannot fake the infrastructure required to handle 40,000 bookings a day. At Sameday Health, we had to build the technical, operative, and logistical systems simultaneously while the world was watching. That wasn’t a “story”—it was a machine that had to work every single second. For me, true Thought Leadership isn’t about having the loudest voice on social media or winning the “most innovative” awards. It’s about having the most grounded perspective on how value is actually created. Real value isn’t created in funding rounds; it’s created in the product and the customer experience. If the narrative is 10x better than the execution, that’s a massive red flag. I’m looking for the inverse: a founder who is so busy building a world-class product that their deck almost feels like an afterthought. That is where you find the echte Deals.

Interviewer: When you are evaluating potential investments, how do you define “long-term substanz”? Is it purely financial, or is there a cultural element?

Felix: It’s both. Financially, it means having a clear path to profitability that doesn’t rely on the “greater fool” theory of the next funding round. Culturally, it means building a team of “builders” rather than “joiners.” I look for companies that are building infrastructure—not just apps. Whether it’s a company like Platus in the current YC batch or my positions in generational companies like SpaceX and Tesla, the common thread is a relentless focus on the mission. These aren’t companies built for a quick exit. They are engineering-first or mission-first companies. They focus on long-term substanz because they know that if you build something truly useful for humanity, the economics will eventually become undeniable. My goal is to find the echte Deals where the founder is thinking in decades, even if they are executing in minutes.

Interviewer: You describe yourself as founder-first. In the industry, that’s a bit of a cliché. How does an Operator-Investor actually practice that when things get difficult?

Felix: To me, being founder-first means acting as a partner, not a controller. Because I’ve been in the founder’s seat, I know that the last thing you need when you’re in the middle of an execution crisis is a board member breathing down your neck asking for a pivot table or a revised five-year plan. You need someone who can help you solve the immediate technical or logistical bottleneck. I provide hands-on support where it actually matters for the bottom line. This includes helping founders build digital end-to-end processes that allow for scale without chaos. It means providing tactical speed—moving at the pace of the founder, not the pace of a committee. And most importantly, it means providing emotional fortitude. Building a company is lonely and brutal. I want to be the person the founder calls when the “extremes” of building become overwhelming. My leadership style is pragmatic and fast. I want to help founders maintain control. The goal isn’t to make the company “investor-ready” for the next round; the goal is to make it “market-dominant” for the next generation.

Interviewer: You have a personal framework that seems to guide your life: “Dream in centuries, live daily.” How does that apply to the way you manage your time and your portfolio of echte Deals?

Felix: It’s about managing the tension between vision and execution. If you only dream in centuries, you’re a philosopher. If you only live daily, you’re a cog in a machine. You need the “century” vision to ensure you aren’t just building a “feature” or a “fad.” You need to ask: Will this technology or this service matter in 20 years? Does this contribute to long-term substanz? But you have to live “daily” because if you don’t execute with excellence in the next 24 hours, the century vision is just a hallucination. “Think in decades. Execute daily.” This is the mantra of the Operator-Investor. It prevents you from getting caught up in the “Hype of the Month” and keeps you focused on building infrastructure that lasts. When I see a founder who can discuss the 50-year future of their industry and then immediately pivot to the specific conversion rate of their landing page today, I know I’ve found someone special.

Interviewer: Looking at the global landscape, where are you seeing the most high-agency builder energy right now?

Felix: I see it everywhere there is friction. I’m looking at anything where high-agency founders are tackling “unsexy” but essential problems using high-tech solutions. Healthcare infrastructure is a huge one—moving from a system that is reactive and bureaucratic to one that is proactive and accessible. I’m looking at deep tech and logistics—companies that are building the physical and digital foundations of the future. And I’m looking at B2B platforms that eliminate the friction of traditional bureaucracy. But more than the industry, I am looking for the “Builder Energy.” I want to find the person who is frustrated by how slow the world is moving and has the technical competence to speed it up. Those are the echte Deals. They aren’t always the ones with the most PR, but they are the ones that will be standing ten years from now.

Interviewer: How do you maintain your own “Operator Credibility” now that you spend more time on the investment side?

Felix: By staying close to the metal. I don’t just read reports; I talk to the engineers. I look at the workflows. I stay involved in the tactical decisions of my portfolio companies when they ask for help. Being an Operator-Investor isn’t a title you earn once; it’s a mindset you have to maintain. You have to keep your hands dirty. If I stop understanding how the technology is changing or how the operational hurdles are evolving, I lose my edge. I invest my own capital and my own time, which means I have real skin in the game. That’s the only way to find and win the echte Deals.

Interviewer: If you could give one piece of advice to a founder who is currently caught in the “VC-Game” but wants to pivot toward “Substance,” what would it be?

Felix: Stop looking at your competitors’ funding announcements and start looking at your own unit economics. Ask yourself: “If the capital markets closed tomorrow, would my business survive?” If the answer is no, you aren’t building a business; you’re building a financial derivative. Pivot back to the customer. Focus on high-agency execution. Build something that has long-term substanz because it solves a real problem profitably. That is the only way to achieve true freedom as a founder. When you don’t need the money, that’s exactly when you are most likely to find the best partners and the echte Deals.

Interviewer: In your portfolio, you have very early-stage startups and massive companies like SpaceX. What is the common thread that you identify across such different scales?

Felix: The common thread is a refusal to accept the status quo and a commitment to “First Principles” thinking. Elon Musk doesn’t care how rockets were built in the 1960s; he cares about the physics of how a rocket should be built today. A YC founder I back might not care how traditional banking works; they care about how value should move in a digital world. These are echte Deals because they are attacking fundamental problems. They are led by individuals with extreme high-agency who believe they can reshape reality through execution. Whether the company has five people or five thousand, the “Builder DNA” is the same. They are all focused on creating something with real substanz that changes the trajectory of their industry.

Interviewer: You’ve mentioned the term “Handover Intelligence” before. Does this apply to how you choose founders to invest in as well?

Felix: Absolutely. I look for founders who are secure enough to hire people smarter than themselves. If a founder wants to be the “king” of their small hill, they will never build a mountain. Handover Intelligence is about recognizing that as a company grows, the founder’s role must evolve from “Chief Doer” to “Chief Architect.” If I see a founder who is still micro-managing every email at the Series A stage, I worry. I want to see a founder who is building a leadership team that can execute the daily tasks so the founder can focus on the “century” vision. That’s how you build for the long term.

Interviewer: Finally, when you look at the next five years of your career, what does “success” look like for you in this new chapter?

Felix: Success isn’t a number on a spreadsheet. Success is looking back and seeing a dozen companies that wouldn’t have reached their potential without my support—companies that are now providing essential services, creating jobs, and solving real problems. Success is moving the needle away from “Venture Theater” and back toward echte Deals with real substanz. I want to be known as the partner that high-agency founders seek out when they are ready to stop playing games and start building the future. I want to continue to “Dream in centuries” by backing technologies that will outlive me, while “Living daily” by helping my founders win their battles every single day. That is the work that matters.

Interviewer: That is a powerful vision. It sounds like you are building an ecosystem of your own.

Felix: In a way, yes. But it’s an ecosystem of builders. We are moving toward a world where the distinction between “investor” and “operator” will blur. The best founders will only want to take money from people who have been in the trenches, and the best investors will only want to back people who are building for the long term. That’s the shift I’m betting on. That’s where the real value—the long-term substanz—will be created.

Interviewer: Felix, it’s been a pleasure. Your focus on execution and substance is a breath of fresh air in an industry often led by hype.

Felix: Thanks for having me. Now, let’s get back to work. There are more echte Deals to find and more companies to build.