Lea Bajc

A 24/7 swiss army knife

It was in the spring of 2007.

“Right” Lea’s friend laughed, “you’ve worked with some serious bluechip companies, you’ve studied at some serious schools - and now you say you want to work with entrepreneurs? For crissakes! You’re such a straight-A square that I bet you haven’t got a risk-taking bone in your body!

The friend lost the bet. And if you take a look at her CV, you’ll find that Lea brings a Swiss army knife-load of ability and knowledge of many a geography aboard the Northzone Ship.

- I find it hard to draw a line between work and ...uhm other things, Lea comments. I'm passionate about what I do and to me, it is the way to live. I would not have it any other way.

Lea Bajc (the family name is pronounced "bytes", as in her nickname "megabytes" - a tribute to her often outlandish memory for obscure details) spent her early years in Croatia. In that place and time, Lea remembers, you had to have an entrepreneurial mindset to make it. The family moved to Sweden and in due time Lea graduated with a joint degree from HEC and Stockholm School of Economics. After graduation Lea spent five years at Morgan Stanley, where her skills were put to use in a number of different fields, including M&A, private equity, Firm management and leveraged finance. And then Lea heard the call to Harvard Business School.

During her time at HBS, Lea "specialized" in anything entrepreneurship oriented, laid the foundation for subsequent selection to the Kauffman Fellows Program and even joined a chocolate startup - Sweetriot. After graduation Lea ignored the siren song of the ordinary MBA-route and decided it was time to break free, branch out and set up on her own. Circumstances led her to London, where she successfully created her own Venture Capital and Startup advisory business. One of her projects involved Northzone and the rest will, we harbor no doubts about that, be history. Outside of "office" hours, Lea is an avid sportswoman enjoying yoga, skiing, swimming, diving and hiking. She’s also a licensed aerobics & fitness instructor and nutritionist. Her biggest regret is that she’s never gotten around to fulfill her dream of becoming an opera singer (there was this minor issue of severe lack of talent that somehow seems to be a problem with most opera houses). But she compensates for this with a passionate relationship with Karaoke.

Lea speaks six languages; English, Swedish, French, German, Croatian and Slovenian.

Lea currently serves as a Board Member of Mas Movil.