Lona Pilates Club

Lona is a boutique Pilates concept redefining Reformer training. Founded together with my two daughters, we combine elegant design, mindful movement, and modern community spirit. Our first studio opens in November in Frankfurt – bringing strength, flow, and balance into everyday life, together.

Co-Founder

Hybird Energy

Hybird emerged from frustration with traditional electricity monitoring, which lacked detailed insights. Now, Hybird tracks electricity usage at the source level, making it easier to save energy, cut costs, and reduce your CO2 footprint-all at a comparable cost to traditional panels.
Hybird offers source-level transparency in electrical consumption, driving energy management to new levels of efficiency through enhanced control and knowledge.

Angel Investor

Scripe

Scripe is your personal branding workspace to create content 10x faster. Designed for creators, teams and businesses. By turning unstructured voice, video and text inputs into personalised social posts, Scripe enables professionals to generate warm leads and boost sales by building up their personal brands.

Cosmos

Cosmos turns airline service providers into partners by bringing more transparency and collaboration into performance tracking, management and root-cause analysis. The Team already helps companies like Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines to reduce delays in aviation today.

NextUI (YC S24)

NextUI is a set of eye-catching and accessible React UI components that helps developers build beautiful web applications regardless of their design experience.

Robin Capital

Robin Capital is a Berlin-based venture capital firm empowering bold founders to build transformative businesses. With a focus on early-stage investments, we partner with visionary entrepreneurs across tech, sustainability, and innovation-driven industries. Our mission is to provide not just capital, but also strategic guidance, a powerful network, and operational expertise to help startups scale globally. At Robin Capital, we believe in fostering long-term growth, sustainable success, and impactful change—one investment at a time.

Limited Partner

omnidock (YC S24)

Omnidock makes it effortless for merchants to sell on multiple marketplaces by acting as their merchant of record. Brands simply plug into our operating system, which reads their catalog, assesses marketplace eligibility, and auto-launches their products through our pre-vetted marketplace accounts. We handle all transactions on their behalf, removing the challenges and complexities of multi-marketplace selling.

Prequel Ventures

Prequel Ventures is a Berlin-based venture capital firm that invests in pioneering supply chain technology startups across Europe.
Our mission is to transform today's supply chains into more transparent, resilient, and sustainable value chains for the future. With a focus on pre-seed investments, we provide operational support and financial backing to help visionary founding teams bring their products to market and build the category leaders of tomorrow.

kuyua

Kuyua transforms data insights into nature action: At the core of our mission, our Al powered platform revolutionizes the way we interact with nature through data. We not only draw inspiration from the natural world but also translate it into concrete, actionable steps. Compliant with the latest regulatory standards, our tool is more than just a resource for corporate reporting; it's a catalyst for strategic decision-making. By offering precise and actionable insights, we empower users to not only meet compliance requirements but to innovate and make a tangible, positive impact on the environment.

Penguin Capital

Headquartered in Munich, Germany, Penguin Capital is a Fund of Funds where Science meets Data meets Experience.
Incubated within the Penguin Capital Family Office, both data and the lower mid-market has been part of our founders' DNA since day one.
We strongly believe in skin in the game and our founding families and investment professionals are amongst the largest investors in our funds.

Human | Entrepreneur turned Investor | Founder of MVC & MEETYOO | Passionate Sales Guy | Dad of fantastic Girls | Triathlete

With 3 decades of experience, I am a seasoned entrepreneur with a human-centric approach. 

I have founded and sold multiple companies in the communications sector, both bootstrapped and venture capital backed. 

Entrepreneurship is my passion and I am now excited to share my knowledge and experience through mentoring and angel investing. 

Based in the south of France and Berlin, I am also an avid triathlete and family man. 

Connect with me on LinkedIn to learn more about my journey and how I can assist you in yours.


New investment 🥳

Yes, you can be 45+.
Yes, you can have a family (3 kids).
Yes, you can have a life and train daily for your next adventure (Ironman).

And raise a $1.5M pre-seed round from two top VCs and angels! 

You just need to be a little more like Flavio. 😎

I knew little about logistics – but from our very first conversation, I knew I loved this guy for his mindset and values.

Proud and happy to be on board this journey alongside NAP, daphni and some great individuals.

Let’s go, team Logistica OS 🔥🚀

Tony E. Kula

Human | Entrepreneur turned Investor | Founder of MVC & MEETYOO | Building Lona Pilates Club with my Girls | Triathlete

No alternative text description for this image

Investor cold outreach works!

My last two angel checks (Northsea and Logistica OS) started with a cold DM on LinkedIn.

No warm intro – just founders who did the basics right.

𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗽 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗗𝗠

Engage with my posts for a while (don’t just connect and shoot).
Reference something specific (topic, post, hobby).
Use my correct name – anything that feels like a bot (“Hi Tony E…”) goes straight to trash.

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱

“[Product] for [who] to [do what better].”
No buzzword salad, no three paragraphs of vision.
I want to understand what you build in one line.

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀

Live customers or pilots (ideally with one strong logo).
Show real traction: revenue, usage, growth.
Mention existing commitments – but don’t fake FOMO.
I need to feel: “Okay, this is real.”

𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆

Close with a simple CTA:
“Happy to share the deck if you’re interested.”
“Up for a short call? Here are 2–3 time slots next week…”

𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱 = 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲

Reply quickly, with deck and answers.
I always assume: how you deal with investors is how you deal with customers.

Your DM won’t close the deal.

Its only job:
get attention,
make me curious to see more (the deck),
and ultimately book a call.

That’s how two cold DMs on LinkedIn turned into two angel checks.

What has worked for you?

The workout most men underestimate.

Our first Lona Pilates Club in Frankfurt has been open for exactly one week now.

We’re happy and grateful for the positive feedback – but one thing keeps bugging me:
𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗼 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗺𝗲𝗻?

I wanted to change that and spontaneously invited one of my favourite founders, Malte from Virtualbadge.io, to a class.

Judging by his face after his first Reformer session, I’d say he enjoyed it – and definitely felt it. 😅

Have you tried it before?

PS: If you’re in Frankfurt and curious to try a Reformer workout, your first session is on me.

PPS: Any founder who survives LONA ABS & ASS may pitch afterwards. 😜

#reformerpilates
#familybusiness

The angel investor playbook is simple:

Write the check.
Offer help when asked.
Stay out of the way.

You’re capital, not a co-founder.

A few personal lessons:

My ego in “picking winners” was bigger than my investment skills.

Angel tickets are illiquid – no exit, no money back.

You’d probably do better with ETFs than “playing investor”.

You have to genuinely love founders.

So why still do it?

You get to meet some exceptional people.

You get a chance to be a tiny part of a big story.

Inspired by Francois Arbour and my own experience.

When is the right time to start a business?

This question from a recent podcast conversation stuck with me.

Is it better to start when you’re young and a bit naive – or later, with more experience?

When you’re young, you carry less baggage, have more time and less to lose.

Later in life, you often have a family, responsibilities – but also more skills, perspective and networks.

There is no perfect moment.

What has changed: today you can start small.

As a side hustle next to your job.

Validate an idea faster and build cheaper than ever.

I founded my first business at 18.

Now, at 55, I’m building a new venture with my daughters Adina and Leonie : Lona Pilates Club, a boutique reformer chain.

Still the same indescribable feeling:
first customer, first invoice…

Not every business has to become a unicorn. But you don’t want to spend your life asking: What if…?

If you’re sitting on a business idea right now:

The best time to start is now!

taplio

Tony E. Kula's Linkedin Analytics

Tony E. Kula

Performance ScoreTony E. Kula's LinkedIn Performance

What is Tony E. talking about?

Tony E. Kula's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Tony E. Kula's Linkedin Analytics

Tony E. Kula

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Tony E. Kula's LinkedIn Performance

What is Tony E. talking about?

Tony E. Kula's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Tony E. Kula's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreTony E. Kula's LinkedIn Performance

Tony E. Kula's Best Posts (last 30 days)