Spotlight: BMWiVentures featured team member Michael Hammer

Could you share a little about your background?

Mathematics and sports were my passions early on in life and school. While I was a semi-professional swimmer in my early- to mid-teens, I eventually decided to go the more reasonable way and pursue a diploma in financial mathematics and economics instead of the more fun and sexier career path in sports. I started early on gaining investment experience with my first trades during the dotcom bubble in the late 1990s. I was also able to finish my mathematics diploma in 8 semesters, which allowed me to get experience in investments early on. At the age of 23, I started working in investment consulting for large institutional investors in Germany and Europe. Often my young age resulted in questioning looks as my clients were sometimes three times the age of myself. However, this helped me early on to stand up for myself and be very well-prepared in challenging meetings with clients. After five years of +80 hour working weeks and countless worldwide asset manager due diligences, I decided to join my largest client (BMW Pension Fund with multi-billion Euro AUM) to implement the consulting work into real life. I soon specialized in all sorts of Alternative Investments and additionally became an employee of the BMW Foundations to manage their portfolio. The foundation work was especially exciting. Progressive investment strategies such as impact and sustainable investing were already discussed almost 10 years ago, and the BMW Foundations were the first movers in that field in Germany. After building out a large Alternative Investment platform for BMW’s pension fund, I joined BMW i Ventures as their CFO in late 2016 and moved to San Francisco in 2017.  

What do you focus on at BMW i Ventures?

I always say that my first priority is to keep the unsexy part of the VC business away from my colleagues and partners, so that they can focus on deal-sourcing and portfolio work. I focus on operational excellence and an institutional investment process and fund setup. I am the “financial” interface between our LP (BMW AG), our fund structure and our team respectively our portfolio companies.  I work with our portfolio companies across various aspects--from fundraising strategies/needs, exit negotiations, investor relations, and LP reporting. Yes, I am definitely the numbers guy on the team. I also am heavily involved in the SPAC and IPO exit strategies and market tracking for our portfolio companies.  

What was your pathway into venture capital?

I must admit that I did not plan to start working in venture capital – it was a great coincidence when I first met Ulrich Quay, who was the former Managing Partner at BMW i Ventures at the time. They were looking for somebody with ties into BMW’s financial department and who had experience in fund structures, investment processes, and private market investments. They also wanted someone who could be a great cultural fit – so here I am. I moved to Silicon Valley in 2017 and have really enjoyed working with the BiV team ever since.

What do you think are some ways that startups can optimize their ability to work with a large corporation like BMW?

Working with large corporations can be very rewarding but also very frustrating at the same time. The most important advice I could give to entrepreneurs is to know who to talk to in the organization. In corporations, the “Not Invented Here Syndrome” is the tendency to avoid using or buying products, research, or knowledge from external origins because of the organizational bias against ideas from the outside. This often prevents a POC or collaboration from being successful, even though the innovation or product may be great. This is where we as BMW i Ventures can help. Apart from providing financial capital, we help startups overcome potential organizational biases, directing founders to the right point of contact at the right time with the right approach.

What advice would you impart to entrepreneurs?

Be brave, be real, be bold and don’t give up after a first “no”.

What’s something interesting about yourself that most people may not know?

I am a huge ocean / water person and try to spend as much time as possible in the ocean to balance my number-driven workdays. My best ideas come when I sit on my surfboard under the Golden Gate bridge and wait for the next big wave coming around the corner. Hope to see you guys out there!