We've been lucky to meet a number of terrific people working in Europe who previously worked in tech hubs of the United States. We'd like to share their stories of what bought them to Europe, what they found easy and what they found hard about the move, as well as what advice they'd offer others considering a similar move.
Balderton partners Bernard, Suranga and Lars all spent significant portions of their career in the Valley, but returned 'home' to Europe to forge new careers in venture.
Balderton Partners Bernard, Suranga and Lars
The heads of the talent and marketing platform at Balderton — Kiana Sharifi and Alice Lankester — both forged their careers in the Valley.
Balderton head of talent, Kiana Sharifi and head of marketing, Alice Lankester
Jordan was born in Boulder, Colorado and moved to California in 2001. He graduated from UCLA. In 2008, his passion for software and technology was ignited by working for the Obama presidential campaign, as an intern for the Office of New Media in the Obama White House.
From there, Jordan joined Facebook in 2011 to learn about platform building. He moved to London to join Balderton portfolio company Pusher in 2016.
Jordan Harp, Product Manager, Pusher
Maria Josife is a Partner at search firm Erevena. Erevena regularly places senior tech talent in Europe, and provides some insights into what her team has learned from those who have made the journey.
Maria Josife, Senior Partner, Erevena
Jakob has spent four years in the Valley building the successful fitness and health apps Endomondo and MyFitnessPal, in an ever-focused effort on helping people live better lives. He moved back to Europe to found Balderton portfolio company Simple Feast — by far his most ambitious venture yet with the biggest opportunity to impact the world in a positive direction.
Jakob Jonck, Founder and CEO, Simple Feast
Melissa was born and grew up in the United States, and graduated from Harvard University. She worked in tech in the Bay Area for five years, including at Facebook, Passion Capital and Massive Health. She relocated to London and joined Balderton portfolio company Thread as head of talent in 2014.
Melissa Trahan, Head of Talent, Thread
Sujay was born and raised in California and lived there his entire life until he moved to Europe to join an emerging markets hedge fund. Today he is CEO and founder Berlin-based Balderton portfolio company Frontier Car Group. Before founding FCG, Sujay was the COO for Hired.COM, which started in San Francisco but expanded across the globe.
Sujay Tyle, Founder and CEO, Frontier Car Group
Thomas was born in Germany but left in 2012 to do his Master's degree at Stanford University with a stated goal of studying with, working with and learning from the world's best experts in computer science and entrepreneurship. He ended up spending six years in the Valley, working on the Echo project at Amazon, and on self-driving cars at Zoox after completing his Masters.
Thomas von der Ohe, Founder and CEO, Ree Technology
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