Julien van den Rul

Julien is drawn to the interplay between frontier models and the application layer. As models get better they reshape what software can do, which is either a gift or an existential threat to the companies built on top of them, depending on the week. The ones he backs stay ahead by out-executing on product, and by owning what the models can’t: the proprietary data and the workflow itself, whether in legal, tax, finance, procurement, or manufacturing.

Julien grew up in Belgium alternating between French, German, and English. He then moved to London, then Hong Kong, then London again, and is truly in love with the city. The Sunday roast, the queueing, the weather, the pub. He’ll defend every one of them.

Before Forestay he was at HarbourVest, investing in private equity across Europe. It was his first experience on the investing side and a thorough education in the gap between a good story and a good business. Before that he spent his time at Strategy& advising on M&A and value creation in software.

Largely to compensate for his flat-lands origins and London’s total absence of hills, Julien now (tries to) explore peaks and trail run across mountains. He is reliably mocked on both the ski slopes and the tennis court, but maintains this is a coaching problem.