Menno Axt's Linkedin Analytics

As the longest serving and founding team member of Dogpatch Labs, Menno has been a central driving force in creating Crunchbase’s one of the "top 10 incubators around the world” over the last 6.5 years, with now over a decade of startup experience. During this period Menno has reviewed & interviewed over 5000 startups and has direct relationships and interactions with over 100 angel investors both in Ireland and overseas, as well as over 150 global VCs. His incredible energy and perseverance has made Menno recognised as “one of the most connected people in Ireland’s startup ecosystem”. He invests as an angel alongside investors such as Jack Pierse (Co-Founder WayFlyer) & Steve O’Hear (ex-TechCrunch). As Head of Platform Menno is responsible for scouting startups and directly supporting founders to secure rounds with top investors such as Cavalry, Entree Cap & Tribal VC. He is a regular organiser of investor networking events for global VCs such as Sequoia & Balderton. Menno has stepped forward as a national thought leader & supporter of Irish startup investing. He co-developed and supported the implementation of the SAFE (as originally developed by Y Combinator) into Irish law. Furthermore, he designed multiple NDRC Masterclasses including ‘Angel Investing’ and the ‘Raising a Round’ attended by over 300 people, who widely praised the events which received NPS scores of 80+. Previously, Menno was the Chief of Staff at Dogpatch Labs reporting directly to the CEO and was responsible for leading the €17M competitive tender to secure NDRC Ireland’s National Accelerator, beating off intense competition from a 14-year incumbent and globally renowned investor SOSV. In 2017, Menno co-founded and led the Alltech Accelerator, which was recognised as “top late stage agtech accelerator in the world”, based on the metric of 22 startups securing $240M follow-on funding. Prior to this, Menno was the Membership Manager of Dogpatch Labs. He developed ‘First Fridays for Startups’, now “The Islands largest monthly ecosystem event” which has had 7000+ attendees and featured Ireland’s top entrepreneurial talent keynote speakers including Des Traynor & Nora Kaldi and others Originally from the Netherlands, Menno has on numerous occasions acted as an ambassador for Ireland’s startup community including working directly with the Department of Foreign Affairs and hosting a visit of the King & Queen of the Netherlands. Previously, Menno was the Membership Development Manager at Galvanize, a 21st Century school for entrepreneurs, engineers, and data scientists.