Thomas Cuvelier - The Samwer's Brothers, Investing at early-stage, The art of learning, What every VC wants to see, Why mediocrity is dead

Thomas Cuvelier is a Partner at RTP Global, the $1B early-stage fund investing globally across Europe, US, and India.

RTP Global was built on the back of one outsized bet: Datadog — a few million dollars turned into a fund-defining outcome.

Thomas has invested in Lovable (pre-seed), Next Insurance, Creative Fabrica, and Stoic, among others.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why SaaS is not dead — but mediocrity is
• Why first-mover advantage is gone and what actually creates a moat in 2026
• How to assess founder quality before there's a product
• The buy vs build equation in the age of AI
• Where Thomas is placing his bets in the next 5 years: robotics, pharma, industrials

Enjoy!