About

What I do for work

Until recently, I was building out my own family office, www.thinkstorm.com/ventures, where I focused on early-stage venture capital managers and fund generations. Since August, I am a founding member of the NATO Innovation Fund (https://nif.fund/) and had to put that venture on hold to avoid any conflict of interest.

What I do for fun

I live in Berkeley, CA.  We love being outside. When we don’t take hikes or visit museums or the library, you will find me in my backyard trying to advance my wood working skills or fixing my historic race cars (aka buckets-of-bolts). As soon as the roads are dry you might catch me downhill skateboarding the Berkeley hills or the many great South Bay spots near San Jose or Palo Alto (please pick up more hitch-hiking downhill longboarders up the hill — you never know, maybe it’s a VC).

What’s up with the pictures?!

These are all close-ups of my woodworking hand tools I am using to build stuff. I love the feeling of them, the brass knobs and ductile iron. I enjoy the maintenance necessary to do great work. Planes constantly need sharpening and adjustments, as do the saw blades, gauges, chisels, etc. Sometimes slack is a good thing, sometimes it’s not. Minute adjustments 1/1000th of an inch make all the difference for truing up boards for gluing, working around knots and reading the grain. Every mistake amplifies over time. A lot can be learned from listening to your tools. I think there are a lot of parallels between my professional work and my hobbies.

Thorsten Claus


Disclaimer

All information and opinions are for educational purposes only.  I have not considered the economic status or risk profile of any specific person. Information and opinions expressed herein do not constitute and should not be construed as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or related financial instruments. Responses to any inquiry that may involve the rendering of personalized investment advice or effecting or attempting to affect transactions and securities will not be made absent compliance with applicable laws or regulations including broker dealer, investment advisor, or applicable agent or representative registration requirements or applicable exemptions or exclusions therein.

My posts contain information and views as of the date indicated and such information and views are subject to change without notice.  I have no duty and assume no obligation to update this data or information, nor to advise on further development related to data or information. Any returns expectation or models provided for educational or illustrative purposes are not intended as, and must not be regarded as, a representation, warranty, or prediction that any investment or hypothesis would achieve any particular rate of return over any particular time-period, nor that any investors or third parties mentioned will not incur losses.  I make no representation and it should not be assumed that past investment performance is an indication of future results. Moreover, wherever there is the potential for profit there is also the possibility of loss.

Sometimes I quote data or information from various sources and try my best to get them right. Certain information contained herein concerning economic trends and performance is based on or derived from information provided by independent third party sources. I believe that such information is accurate and that the sources from which it has been obtained are reliable. However, it cannot guarantee the accuracy of such information and has not independently verified the accuracy or completeness of such information or the assumptions on which such information is based. Moreover, independent third party sources cited in these materials are not making any representations or warranties regarding any information attributed to them and shall have no liability in connection with the use of such information in these materials.