Pedro Coutinho

Pedro Coutinho was five or six years old, on a stressful winter holiday in the Spanish Pyrenees. His family had just spent hours trying to cross the mountain, too much snow forcing them to turn back. They arrived at a hotel late at night, exhausted.

His parents were still at the front desk trying to check in. Five minutes later, Pedro was already playing with other kids, screaming "Arriba Nacho!"

They didn't even know he could speak Spanish.

His mother still tells this story. It says everything about who Pedro is: someone who adapts instantly, connects with anyone, and finds his way in unfamiliar territory.

Like many kids, Pedro dreamed of being an astronaut. Space and science fiction movies were his obsession. Later, around 15 or 16, he was deciding which university to apply to. Engineering was the clear choice, but he was torn. He loved the ocean and thought about becoming a naval engineer.

Then an older cousin he admired suggested something different: telecommunications. It was 1997, and the sector was about to explode.

Pedro followed the advice. In his final year of a five-year engineering degree, he enrolled in a master's program in Digital Communications in Gothenburg. A course in Satellite Communications and Navigation brought the "space" back. He landed an internship at DLR, the German Aerospace Center, near Munich.

For eight months, he studied, simulated, and processed the future Galileo signals. The satellite system was still in development. The first test satellite wouldn't launch until later that year, in 2005. From there, he moved to Madrid, then Barcelona, where he led the Navigation and Positioning area at the newly created Catalan Aerospace Research and Technology Center for two years.

After six years in space, Pedro realized something was missing. He wanted to see the direct impact of his work. He wanted to be closer to the end user.

So he became an entrepreneur.

In 2010, Pedro co-founded WATERDOG, a company developing native mobile apps for a market that was just emerging. This was iOS 4 and Android 2. The idea was to create services, build their own apps, and invest in the ideas of others through sweat equity.

Over the years, they worked mostly with startups but also with corporate clients on innovation projects where mobile and cloud expertise was required. WATERDOG still exists today as a holding company with equity in different companies across Portugal and Spain.

"Entrepreneurs are a different breed," Pedro says. "There are people who want stability, who want their 9-to-5 job. But then you have these crazy people who think they can change the world and build their own success. That's who I wanted to surround myself with."

About five years ago, Pedro started angel investing.

It began with small checks or sweat equity deals. Then he joined Core Angels Lisbon, an international angel fund group, as both an investor and someone who prepared startups for investment committees.

"An angel ticket won't make or break whether a startup scales," Pedro explains. "But it's essential for getting them to a point where they can raise from VCs. And it's not just about the money. It's about opening doors, making connections, and bringing real value."

Angel investing was rewarding. But Pedro wanted to go deeper.

Pedro first applied to VC Lab.

But as he worked through the application, he realized something important.

"I started the application process and saw the questions they were asking. I didn't have the answers yet. So I decided not to move forward."

The questions about fund thesis were part of it, but what really stopped him was the commitment. He felt the timing wasn't right. He wasn't ready to dedicate the time a fund would require.

A few months later, the VC Lab team reached out with a different idea: Venture Institute.

Pedro didn't just join. He joined with intention.

"I entered the program with the goal of over-performing. I wanted to be one of the top performers so I could get real experience in a VC fund. I thought, this is my chance to invest in a career change."

He started at full throttle from the beginning: researching VC, reading all the materials provided, dedicating every available hour. He wasn't nervous. He was enjoying the process, the learnings, and the results of his work.

"Closer to the end of the program, sometimes it was hard to find the time it required," he admits. "I had to spend late nights and weekends. But in the end, although I wanted to do well to get experience in a fund, the process and the learnings were the best thing."

Venture Institute showed Pedro what managing a VC fund actually means.

"Investing in startups is only part of it," he explains. "There's the legal part, the compliance part, the contracting part, the financial part, the business model of a fund. What are the incentives? What is the outcome? How long does it take?"

But the biggest shift was in how he thought about deals.

"Angel investing is different. You're not necessarily thinking about portfolio construction. You invest in things you have empathy for, or friends you want to support."

He pauses.

"But managing a VC fund doesn't work like that. You have to think: does this company have the potential to return my fund? It's a completely different mindset. Venture Institute taught me to start thinking like a VC."

One lesson stuck with him: building a fund model is essentially a plan for how the fund will be executed, but the implementation is never a straight line.

"The numbers help set the objectives and articulate the fund's rationale, yet in practice you should expect deviations and constant readjustments along the way," Pedro says. "This was probably the part of the program that made it most clear to me how challenging investment decisions really are: balancing the belief that a single startup could meaningfully return the fund, while at the same time trying to make each deal fit coherently within the constraints of the fund model."

Pedro had to reach out to the team a couple of times during the program due to unexpected changes in his plans. Sometimes he wasn't happy with his performance and wanted to explain why.

"The support from the team is amazing," Pedro says. "Emily and Myrto were always responsive. The support was always positive and encouraging to move forward. This was crucial to feel motivated to continue."

He used the program to start building his thesis and his LP network. Though his thesis has evolved since then, Venture Institute gave him the foundation to begin.

"More recently, during VC Lab, Katherine has been always available to help whenever I needed. Mike is the boss and has a solution for everything."

One year after completing Venture Institute, Pedro went through VC Lab as part of Cohort 19 and is now an emerging fund manager.

The path worked exactly as designed: Venture Institute gave him the foundation, VC Lab gave him the structure, and now he's building toward something bigger.

Timing is everything. "If I had done Venture Institute two years earlier or later, maybe the result wouldn't have been so productive. It needs to be the right timing for your life."

Commitment is non-negotiable. "If you don't commit to it, you extract no value. But if you really commit, the support and learning you get from people with years of experience is incredible."

You need an edge. "You need a moat. Something that makes you different. Maybe you're a former founder with a network. Maybe you have experience assessing investments. Maybe you have access to high net worth individuals or proprietary deal flow. But you need something."

Test before you commit. "Start gaining experience with investing before committing to VC Lab. The programs are demanding. After two or three weeks, you'll understand if it's right for you."

Understand the responsibility. "It's a big responsibility to invest other people's money. You need to feel confident that you can deliver results."

Enjoy the process. "You need to genuinely enjoy investing and supporting startups. If you do, everything else follows."

One year ago, Pedro was an angel investor wondering if venture capital was right for him. Today he's an emerging fund manager building his first fund.

Venture Institute is where Pedro's journey began. It could be where yours begins too.