Harmonic is the startup discovery engine: Darri Atlason, Head of Growth at Harmonic

Harmonic is building what it calls a startup discovery engine, used by investors to find founders earlier than traditional deal flow ever allowed. At Slush in Helsinki, I spoke to Darri Atlason, Head of Growth at Harmonic. He talks about how funds now track talent inside companies like DeepMind or Palo Alto Networks to spot potential founders before they even start a company. In some cases the signal moves incredibly fast, with investors discovering a startup on Harmonic and getting a term sheet out within 24 hours.The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel - check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjkSponsors:SurrealDB: The multi-model database for AI agents. Check them out here: https://surrealdb.com/Omni: The AI analytics platform trusted by fast-growing companies like Perplexity, Synthesia, and dbt Labs. Check them out here: https://omni.co/Venture Comet: The platform that gives startups and scale-ups real-time equity tracking, daily business insights and automated management information. Check them out here: https://venturecomet.com/Timestamps:0:24 - Introduction to the Scaling Europe show1:00 - Harmonic's role as a startup discovery engine2:00 - Use cases for sourcing and evaluating startups3:00 - Importance of early investment signals3:44 - Importance of having a winning reason4:10 - Role of growth in marketing explained4:54 - Creative marketing strategies discussed6:37 - Impact of authentic customer content