Today, as Lassie announces their $75 million Series C led by Balderton, we're looking back at what made Hedda Båverud Olsson and the founding team catch our attention more than once.
When did Lassie come on your radar? What was your first impression of the founding team?
Linus Dahg: Hedda was someone who people talked about as an interesting and driven person, even before she knew what she would be building.
We had some experience from the insurance industry, so she wanted to chat a bit about some of our learnings quite early on. She clearly stood out as someone with extremely strong execution skills. And the team she had assembled ticked all the boxes when it came to taking something from zero to one.
Magda Lukaszewicz: For me, Hedda and I briefly crossed paths in 2016 at Goldman Sachs in London. She had background in the music industry and was transitioning to finance, so even then she stood out from her SSE peer group.
We reconnected a few years later around COVID, when I was at Balderton, and Hedda was thinking about building Lassie. That’s also how I got to know Sophie and Johan. It was clear from the start it was a team that was confident in their roles and highly complementary. Hedda came with energy, vision, and speed, but Sophie and Johan were much more experienced operators who brought in industry expertise - Sophie in insurance and Johan in tech and automation. And insurance is a very operational business.
What’s something about how Hedda operates that you didn’t fully appreciate early on?
Magda: Hedda is a very strong decision maker. I would also say she is on the impatient side, and as such always tries to push things to a conclusion or clear outcome. As a former competitive rider, she is very performance oriented, and it compounds with time. Multiple companies in pet health and insurance started at the same time, and the early decks looked quite similar.
Lassie, despite the name, is like a cat. They take calculated risks, and jump high. Most often they make it. And if they miss, they land on all fours and recover fast.
Linus: This might sound obvious but there is something in the saying of “we overestimate what can be done short-term and underestimate what can be done long-term”. What I mean is that we had high conviction about Hedda and the team from day one, but they’ve still surprised us and overdelivered regarding how fast they can go- and at what scale. They learn on the fly and don’t really see obstacles the same way as others. It’s like the team just keeps on leveling up. They’re on such an impressive growth journey as individuals, and as a company.
Both of you worked on Lassie’s board at the same time. Without getting too specific, what disagreements did you have? How did Hedda and the board resolve it?
Linus: Did we really disagree on anything, Magda? There wasn't any real tension. I think in many ways we complemented each other well. Me as the early believer at the seed stage, and you with more experience in scaling companies.
Magda: The Lassie board meetings are very efficient, as the rest of the company! Both Balderton and Inventure are quite ownership oriented as funds, so there was possibly some tension at the point of investment. We both knew this was a good opportunity and wanted as much as possible.
What has the Lassie story taught you about how to evaluate founding teams?
Linus: Honestly, we have always been obsessed with founders. If anything, the Lassie team just reinforced that thinking.
The market might look tricky: too competitive, too many regulatory constraints. But the right founders find a way. So the learning is probably to double-down harder on that thesis.
Magda: I'd add that there was always a very strong team-market fit here. Core competence in the founding team has been a key factor when it comes to speed and pushing through structural barriers.
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Read more about Lassie's Series C in Sifted.
