Pär-Jörgen Pärson

Partner, Stockholm/New York

Pär-Jörgen Pärson has been a Partner at Northzone since 2004. At Northzone, his primary areas of focus are disruptive businesses in consumer internet, health and fintech.

His portfolio includes multi-billion dollar exits in market-defining companies such as Spotify, iZettle and Avito, as well as Pricerunner, Jasper, Videoplaza, and current companies like fuboTV,  Hopin, Spring Health, Stockeld Dreamery and others. He appeared several times in Forbes’ Midas List.

Before joining Northzone, Pärson ran his own investment firm and was a consultant at McKinsey. He holds an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Venture capital is a human endeavour.

Venture capital is about human relationships. On the boards I sit, I tend to be the person tasked with navigating deeper issues or just fixing things. Whether on compensation committees or managing co-founder relationship strains. It’s an honour to have become advisor and confidant to some really outstanding founders, people I have a huge amount of respect for. Superentrepreneurs like Daniel Ek,  Jonas Nordlander or Jacob de Geer are such a source of continued inspiration but it is equally rewarding to work with the next generation of company builders such as April Koh, David Gandler or Sorosh Tavakoli. These exceptional people are why I do what I do. 

Change is a great motivator.

I have always been attracted to the fundamental shifts that upend entire industries. This has been my thesis whether investing in market places, as seen with Avito and Pricerunner, media, with Spotify and Fubo, or finance as seen with iZettle. The shifts from static to dynamic web in Web 2.0 more followed by the transition from desktop to mobile powered several cohorts of disruptive businesses. I’m excited to see how AI, decentralised networks, computing advances, all in the capable hands of digital natives, will fuel the next.

A CV fit for Jack of all Trades.

Here’s mine: Tour guide, touring musician, vacuum cleaner salesman, teacher, McKinsey management consultant, business owner, production-line worker, CEO, angel investor, failed entrepreneur, private equity professional, venture capitalist. Diverse experiences allow for seeing things from many perspectives.

Dial it all the way up to eleven.

Heavy metal is the greatest form of music on earth, ever. Fact. I was a touring musician and still play with my band. A few years back I had a hard-rock epiphany: Heavy metal is the perfect metaphor for business. So, along with, Hans-Olov Öberg, I wrote the book, Heavy Metal Management. And playing guitar as loud as my neighbours can tolerate is still my preferred form of meditation.