Over the course of a wide ranging career, Nicole Junkermann has worked across technology, healthcare, sport, media and the arts, and on several continents. That breadth has taught her a set of principles that travel well, and which she has been happy to share with founders in the United Kingdom and beyond.
Nicole Junkermann is the founder of NJF Holdings and NJF Capital, and her portfolio has included some of the most closely watched companies of the era. Yet she tends to talk less about individual deals and more about the habits of mind that lead to good decisions over time.
Learn the field before you invest
The first principle for Nicole Junkermann is understanding. Before backing a company she wants to know the field, the science and the people. That curiosity, sustained across many sectors, is what allows an investor to tell a passing trend from a lasting shift. It is a discipline she has applied from her early ventures through to her work in artificial intelligence and healthcare.
Back people, then be patient
The second principle is people. Nicole Junkermann has said many times that she invests in founders as much as in ideas, because it is the founder who must carry a company through the hard years. The third principle follows naturally. Once you have backed the right people, give them time. Patience, for Nicole Junkermann, is not a lack of ambition. It is how ambition is realised.
Give something back
Philanthropy has been part of the story throughout. From cancer research to the arts, Nicole Junkermann has treated giving as a natural companion to building, and as a way of contributing to the communities and countries that have shaped her work. Her ties to the United Kingdom, in culture, education and healthcare, are a clear example.
Asked what she would tell a younger investor, Nicole Junkermann keeps it simple. Be curious, back good people, think in decades, and never lose sight of the purpose behind the work. Those principles have served her across the world, and they serve just as well in Britain.
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