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Every emerging fund manager must produce content assets to help streamline and scale their fundraising efforts. The most effective outreach is one that is consistent, systematic, and repeatable. In this post, I share the attributes you need to produce: 1) A pitch-deck, and 2) An introductory snippet. The process of creating these content assets will also force you to clarify key aspects of your fund to a higher degree—the process is just as beneficial as the outcome!
When venturing out to raise your first fund, you must have realistic expectations for how long it will take to raise your first fund, and more importantly, the outreach efforts required to do so. Many LPs, without saying explicitly, will want to commence conversations 12 months (at minimum) before writing a check into your fund. And 12 months is on the short side of the time scale.
Most LPs will want to get to know you over time before committing capital, there are a few 'watch-its' when engaging with LPs. In the early days, your goal for LP meetings is to secure the next meeting to continue building the relationship. Therefore, you do not want unnecessarily and unintentionally trigger alarm bells, which will close the door on the relationship. In this post, we share six things LPs don't want to see in emerging fund managers— we also share what they would prefer to see instead.
The venture space is saturated with emerging funds and venture brands— this trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. However, as a result, it has become challenging for LPs to differentiate one venture fund from another. Furthermore, it is increasingly challenging for founders to find and partner with smaller, value-add funds, especially if so many other smaller funds sound like they are promising and saying the same thing.
Therefore, without clear differentiation, it will be an uphill battle for first-time emerging fund managers GPs to:
Secure meetings with LPs who can provide the capital for your deployment.
Attract top founders and their companies to invest in and grow.
If you are a first-time emerging fund manager, starting and raising a fund requires a lot of effort— you have your work cut out for you.
Just like a startup founder, emerging fund managers are prone to burn-out and health challenges — working long hours, traveling for extended extended periods, etc.
Therefore, it is just as essential to ensure you are clear about why you want to build a fund and what specifically about it inspires you. Your motivation must be intrinsic.
In this post, we share seven things to consider when growing, cultivating, and refining your company culture. This post will help you:
Identify and organize the functional behaviors that you want to see in your company.
Prescribe values, symbols, and metaphors that remind people who you are as a company, what they stand for, and, more importantly, the behaviors and actions that demonstrate that.
Articulate your company culture and values in a way that is easy to interpret and action horizontally and vertically.
Monitor your progress, elicit feedback, and make adjustments at scale.
How do you ensure your communication is received as you intend?
Short answer: you can’t ensure anything. However, you can maximize the chances that your communication is received as you intend, and offer the opportunity for multiple communicating parties to clarify each others’ communication to arrive at a clear understanding. In this post, we offer our top 3 attributes of quality communication to help you:
Build psychological safety and trust.
Reduce ambiguity when offering feedback.
Encourage productive, functional behaviors.
Offer room for new learning and growth.
Create alignment amongst key stakeholders.
