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Date: September 12th, 2020 5:28 PM Author: turquoise spot
Why do you want to break into VC?
There's a big difference between Sequoia, KPCB, Benchmark, etc, and the smaller funds. It's very top-heavy.
But there are two main ways:
1) Network like crazy to be an associate and then leave after two years
2) Have an exit and be invited to join as a Partner.
2 is infinitely better than 1.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40909713) |
Date: September 12th, 2020 4:43 PM Author: lascivious hairy legs
what kind of returns do you target?
what industries?
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40909407) |
Date: September 12th, 2020 5:30 PM Author: vermilion feces
don’t you have an adverse selection problem as a smaller firm? funding from the top funds seems to pay for itself in the form of higher valuations. listing them in your cap table has lots of tangible (bigger network, operational talent, etc) and intangible benefits.
so the opportunities that cross your desk are basically almost always inferior, no? they’re ones the top names probably already passed on
also do you do series a or later stage investments? the latter seems increasingly like a suckers game
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40909718) |
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Date: September 12th, 2020 5:32 PM Author: turquoise spot
Yes the names that cross our desk are inferior from an inbound standpoint. However, there's outbound reach-outs and you can get traction (co-invest with Sequoia's, be seed lead investors, etc) based on personality and partner's background.
We do series A and seed, but really series A as product market fit is really important to us. Series B + is more growth equity and that's a different ballgame.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40909728)
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Date: September 13th, 2020 12:35 PM Author: brindle weed whacker meetinghouse
i did ibanking years ago
we don't make money from vcs. all our pitch decks have PE firm names on them and if u want to know my team's breakdown of revenue it was 85% from corporates and 15% from pe and misc like getting some kickback leveraging our cap markets for bundled financing M&A/lbo deals
pe firms get GIANT DISCOUNTS in fees but we deal with this shit because even a large corp may only do 1 deal every few years, but PE firms have such high volume we're constantly sucking their dick cause it's a familiar dick. similar to whores preferring 1 sugar daddy paying them less but is a regular customer for 10 years vs pitching 10 sugar daddies who only have 1-2 fuck sessions to give.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40912989) |
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Date: September 13th, 2020 1:48 PM Author: brindle weed whacker meetinghouse
doubt that
if u wanna cold call 40 hours a week email me
i know plenty of firms including surveymonkey who will pay u $80k for that
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40913262) |
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Date: September 13th, 2020 6:49 AM Author: turquoise spot
Agreed, it's not realistic. But a guy can hope.
A more realistic target is Bus Dev Director at a startup/ portfolio co. And then re-looping once there's an exit.
You seem to know more than you're letting on. Are you in the industry?
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40912069) |
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Date: September 13th, 2020 10:38 AM Author: brindle weed whacker meetinghouse
in terms of pay and prestige it goes:
megafund PE > upper mid market > top 5 VC sequoia accel etc. > mid market PE > growth equity > lower mid market PE > large vc > in-n-out manager > small vc
there's nothing to do at the vc stage if ur not a partner. there's no financials. there's no analysis. all u do is cold call and try to get a top startup to take ur shitty deal and preference stack before they ultimately email sequoia which is why it's a winner take all since 95% of startups fail and the good ones know exactly who to email first and it's not going to be nyreal & batgod's VC firm
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40912569) |
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Date: September 13th, 2020 12:14 PM Author: brindle weed whacker meetinghouse
maybe, ur focusing on the wrong things
who cares if cross admit battle between blackstone/kkr and sequoia is 70% vs. 80%. or maybe it's 60%.
what matters is can u retire early with a yacht or a few houses or never and just continue wage cucking.
Because when u die ur bones turn to ash and all u had was ur shitty meager blip of an existence
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40912919) |
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Date: September 13th, 2020 12:31 PM Author: brindle weed whacker meetinghouse
agreed but he needs to have a plan to get out of this shitty 1st year midlaw salary stage
it's VERY HARD to make partner in a vc firm, it's harder in small shitty ones because if someone is in the position to boost u up to replace them, they would have to quit or die. there's no structure and very little meat to go around all the hungry mouths. and ur entirely 100% replaceable since ur a cold calling machine.
it's actually easier at sequoia to get partner vs. a generic vc or shit vc because if u get lucky and the stars align u may have enough experience in a niche field in a large org to sneak past the door and then get inside.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40912979) |
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Date: September 14th, 2020 8:44 PM Author: brindle weed whacker meetinghouse
ask anyone in vc
in those situations u'd rather be in the startup
mark zuckerberg got rich
the 20th employee at facebook got rich
peter thiel got rich
but even peter thiel's junior didn't see shit, much less some smaller vc firm's associates on those big exits
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40920395) |
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Date: September 13th, 2020 5:08 PM Author: turquoise spot
Sales: 0%
Technical: just me
Finance: everyone else
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40914035)
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Date: September 14th, 2020 8:26 AM Author: turquoise spot
Admittedly I don’t know much about angel investing except for one key fact:
They are champs at the seed round and thus could have better returns than VCs on a percentage basis since most VCs come in at later seed or Series A. They have an institutional advantage over professional VCs in that they can spray and are faster moving, less bureaucratic.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40916725)
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Date: September 14th, 2020 8:28 AM Author: brindle weed whacker meetinghouse
do u manage anyone?
i.e. analysts, summer interns
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40916733) |
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Date: September 15th, 2020 12:21 AM Author: turquoise spot
Founder/ team, we do psych evaluations for what it’s worth. We are pretty hard bent on product market fit as well so that’s a proxy after the fact that the team is legit.
The company due diligence is based off of understanding the competitive landscape which we do by reading analyst reports on the market place, googling and connecting the dots. We also look for key unique selling points that the company states they have, which from what I’ve seen isn’t really challenged. We also do customer reference checks which are laughable.
So bottom line: the due diligence is really looking for information to back the fact that the company has product market fit and why we’ll invest so we can justify our decisions to the LPs. In my firm at least it’s not very forward looking. The lack of forward thought/ independent insight is remarkable. Ultimately, we’re a bunch of guys making bets hoping to get lucky, and the due diligence is more to justify capital calls than anything else. Not very different from what IB analysts do.
I do believe there are VC firms out there with more insight than us, but not too many. The point about whether we’ll exclusively get shitty deals as a no name brand VC I don’t completely agree with - you can establish ties with hot startups by connecting with them even if you’re a shitty firm if you have something in common with them.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40921522)
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Date: September 14th, 2020 8:59 PM Author: Floppy frum trailer park
Why are you so excited to take Qs? For someone in VC, you seem to know very little about it. No opinion on rolling funds? LOL, bud it's one of the biggest (if not the biggest) innovations in your space this year. I feel like I know more than you about VC based on spending a couple years at a startup.
The only insight you've had is that the economics of VC firms are very much captured by the top partner(s), despite VC firms increasingly calling everyone a "partner." If you're smart and technical, you should start a company. No in-demand founder is going to want some 31 yr old with his own "VC firm" investing if he has any real options, so you'd only get the shitty opportunities. There are rare exceptions (e.g., Fred Wilson), but most of the people who do really well in VC have been a successful founder or at least at a really high level exec of a company that had a big exit.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40920484) |
Date: September 15th, 2020 5:06 PM Author: Maize Soggy Boiling Water Theatre
Do you value ex FAANG engineers as founders?
you see this repeated in reddit and places where they hang out, like "ofc they'll want to fund a 35 year old staff engineer who has never shown any entrepreneurial inclination in his entire life!"
meanwhile actual successful vc-backed entrepreneurs are 20 y/o dropout child prodigies or older tech "vagabonds" with a string of successful exits
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40924991) |
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Date: September 16th, 2020 5:57 AM Author: turquoise spot
What’s most important is the skill/ idea/ grind you bring in. If you launched products end to end and have been working on something on the side with product market fit you’re in.
In other words, the 20 year old has been:
1) working on the entire business end to end
2) shows commitment to an idea and most likely has product market fit
3) can grind
Similarly for the veteran who’s had end to end experience, and has validation thru exits. He’ll be a better fit for B2B since he can hire grinders for him.
Ironically the mid level engineers are too narrow in their scope to both the college drop out and the veteran. In FAANG, you’re hired for a singular task and do it for 10-25 years before your scope starts broadening out again. At FAANG, you don’t do business, you do a task.
If there’s one key above all to VC investing it’s this: “product-market fit”
Hope that answers your question.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40927815) |
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Date: September 27th, 2020 5:13 AM Author: turquoise spot
Snowflake for sure. nCino I don’t know anything about. The best VCs do two things really really well:
1) vision for the future success of the application
2) grasp of how the general public is going to take an idea. 2) can feed into 1)
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4623146&forum_id=2#40994394) |
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