OVNIs Ep. #106 - Rebecca Miller - From Chaos to Clarity: Inside the Chief of Staff Role at OVNI Capital

In this episode of the OVNIs Podcast, Matthieu Stefani welcomes Rebecca Miller, Chief of Staff at OVNI Capital, for an in-depth conversation about her unconventional path from engineering and entrepreneurship to venture capital. Rebecca shares candid lessons from building (and shutting down) startups, navigating chaos, admin debt, and failure, and how those experiences shaped her operational rigor and long-term vision.

Together, they explore what it really means to be a Chief of Staff in an early-stage VC fund: operating at the intersection of strategy, finance, and execution, scaling an international team, and bringing clarity to fast-moving decisions without killing the creative chaos. A sharp, honest discussion on ambition, humility, and what it takes to build a European VC platform with global reach. 

[00:00:00] Introduction & welcome to the show

[00:01:20] Rebecca Miller’s background: culture, identity, and early career

[00:02:55] From engineering to entrepreneurship: first startups and early lessons

[00:04:55] Blockchain, NFTs, and the reality of building in emerging tech

[00:06:05] “Chaos doesn’t punish you immediately — it sends the invoice later”

[00:08:30] Admin debt, bureaucracy, and why founders underestimate operations

[00:10:30] From founder to VC: entering venture capital through operations

[00:12:20] Learning to think differently: how investors read risk and conviction

[00:14:50] Why OVNI is becoming an international fund (Europe ↔ US)

[00:17:00] European precision vs US speed: working across cultures

[00:18:40] Inside OVNI: growth, chaos, strategy shifts, and scaling the fund

[00:21:20] How investment decisions are really made at early stage

[00:23:50] Founder humility, probabilities over certainties

[00:26:40] What a Chief of Staff actually does (and why it matters)

[00:30:00] Loyalty, trust, and navigating tension at the top

[00:33:10] Skills that matter most for operators today

[00:35:20] The “puppy and beer” rule for founders and teams

[00:37:50] Tools, CRM, and AI in daily VC operations

[00:39:30] The hidden weight of bureaucracy in Europe

[00:42:20] Long-term vision for OVNI and personal ambition

[00:44:10] Aiming high: building a European Sequoia

[00:46:20] Closing thoughts & goodbye

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