Lucas Weldeghebriel has acquired Venture Summits and will fold it into Operators, the podcast and newsletter he started after leaving Shifter, the companies said. According to Daniel Caetanya Fossum, the agreement contains no upfront capital — it is a redistribution of value inside the merged company, which will operate under the name Operators.
The combined group is launching a service to rent experienced leaders to growth companies for six to twelve months. Fossum says the target is firms that have raised capital without delivering growth and need operational expertise; nine profiles from Oda, Remarkable, Gelato and Cognite are available at launch. Fossum emphasises the offer is a matching platform rather than recruitment or a consultancy.
Responsibilities are divided among the founders: Weldeghebriel will run the podcast and newsletter, Eirik Nerdal keeps logistics, Thomas Wittusen manages partner dialogue and Fossum leads the rental business. Weldeghebriel was co‑founder and editor at Shifter until 2025; Shifter is now owned by Watch Media/JP Politikens Hus and he has no ownership or editorial role there, the source notes.