EVCA Newsletter #3
Welcome back to EVCA's newsletter! EVCA is a non-profit dedicated to supporting the emerging (pre-partner) venture capital community. Submit your writing, announcements, events, and asks to the newsletter here.
What We’re Reading this Week
A dive into in the office concept and complexities of remote work in Why Remote Work is so Hard - and How it can be Fixed by Cal Newport
The implications of today’s Twitter security breach in A Catastrophe at Twitter by Casey Newton
An exploration into the Apple-Facebook dynamic in Apple and Facebook by Ben Thompson
A view into the future of venture capital in Agglomerators vs. Specialists by Nikhil Basu Trivedi
Venture Jobs & Internships
Associate, Crosslink Capital, Bay Area
Senior Associate, NextView, NYC
Director, Research and Investment Grants, Emerson Collective, Bay Area
Partner, First Round Capital, Bay Area/ NYC/ Philly
Meme of the Week
Featured Investors
Caty Rea
I’m with Highland Capital Partners in Boston. Highland was started in Boston, but has offices in NYC, SF, and Palo Alto and a sister fund, Highland Europe, in Europe. We are an ‘early growth’ fund in that we are generally investing at Series A and B and focus on companies that have found Product/Market fit. We invest across both enterprise (e.g., Qumulo, Malwarebytes, Clearbanc) and consumer (e.g., EverlyWell, ThredUp, Harry’s) and I focus primarily on East Coast companies across both sectors. In enterprise, right now I am looking at digital adoption in legacy industries like education, construction, or even churches as COVID has accelerated implementation of technology in these industries. On the consumer side, I am particularly interested right in the consumerization of health especially of mental health. Prior to joining Highland this time last year, I was at Harvard Business School for two years receiving my MBA. While at HBS, I worked for BBG Ventures and Rough Draft Ventures. Before that, I was a consultant at McKinsey & Company for three years with two years as a generalist and a third year primarily focused on digital transformations in insurance and finance. I also spent time at two startups, one in Berlin, Germany in Business Development and one in Boston in Marketing & SEO.
Olivia Kim
I’m an associate on the investment team at GingerBread Capital. We invest in companies led by incredible female founders / co-founders across industries. Prior to joining the GBC team in the fall of last year, I was an associate at an SF-based, middle market private equity firm focused on making control investments in enterprise software businesses. Before moving back to SF, which is where I grew up, I started my career in investment banking in NYC. In my free time, I love true crime, particularly podcasts and tv shows, and any type of murder mystery book or thriller. I also love yoga, and pre-COVID used to go to yoga classes every weekend with my mom, which I have been missing a lot during quarantine.
John O’Connell
I work for True Ventures, a seed stage fund based in the Bay Area. At True our goal is to back the most ambitious founders at the earliest stage of their business and have no particular focus on a specific sector or industry. Prior to VC I worked for a couple of startups and started a couple of my own. I most recently was part of True’s TEC Fellowship program where I worked with LoanSnap (Series B mortgage lending startup) on their product team. In my free time, I enjoy supporting the Chicago Bears & Cubs and playing FIFA 20 & Civilization VI.
How do you stay connected with and cultivate relationships with co-investors over time
Caty: I love meeting other VC’s who invest in a similar stage and sector and one of the bright spots of quarantine has been the number of EVCA members I have met via Zoom these past few months. In general, I’m definitely a fan of the recurring touch-base call or deal flow email. I think it’s a great way to ensure you’re catching up with other VCs at a regular cadence and I find it incredibly helpful to chat about what we’re both looking at, what companies are raising, etc. On the more creative end of the spectrum, I recently helped start a female founders and VCs virtual book club. We pick a business book or article each month and have discussed how to best implement KPIs, how to manage career advancement, and other topics. It has been a great way to connect with VCs I know and those I don’t, all while having a really helpful and illuminating conversation.
Olivia: One of the things I have enjoyed most since starting at GBC has been connecting with other VC’s, and I love that its part of my job. My strongest co-investor relationships have been those that have a level of openness and mutual respect as well as genuine interest in the other person, whether that be interest in how they think, what they do outside of investing, etc. As a VC, you’re constantly being asked to put a stake in the ground about how you think something will play out in the future, and being comfortable enough to freely discuss your opinion and potentially disagree and talk through theories and ideas has been important for me to learn and evolve as an investor. These types of relationships are mutually beneficial even outside of deal sharing, and I try to bring that level of openness to every conversation and relationship I have.
John: I think the best relationships with co-investors are built by directly supporting the companies we work with together. I also enjoy doing deep dives with peers in the industry on topics we both find to be interesting.
How have the skills you developed in your pre-VC work played into your role now?
Caty: I think the most important skill McKinsey and other consulting firms teach you is how to think in a structured manner and bring clarity to an ambiguous situation. It has been a helpful skill in almost every aspect of life, but it has been particularly important in VC considering so much of the job is self-directed. Whether it’s deciding where to source, how to build a company model, or even how to approach a conversation with a founder, it’s been helpful to be able to think about what’s my goal and work backwards from there. The best part of VC and the worst part of VC is that you can be pulled into so many different, exciting directions so the ability to focus and think tactically has been invaluable.
Olivia: Before VC, I learned the importance of understanding a company’s value prop at its most basic. Sometimes that might not be what the company believes its own core value prop is. Other times, it’s harder to distill from a broad suite of products. Getting to the root of how a company serves its customers and what “jobs to be done” they are addressing is the foundation of diligence (and oftentimes is not as simple as it seems). I always try to ground my thinking in this framework. Additionally, I’m grateful for the technical and interpersonal skills that I had to build over time in banking and PE as they are foundational to how I operate in VC today.
John: Most of my work prior to VC was centered around product which heavily influences how I look at new opportunities today. While I’m not directly doing “product work” per se in the job I’m doing now this experience helps me ask better questions to get at the core of how a founder sees their business evolve over time.
How do you add value to portfolio companies in pre-GP capacities?
Caty: One of my favorite parts about my role at Highland is attending board meetings and supporting our portfolio companies. I work closely with a few of our companies in Boston and New York and help them with everything from recruiting to fundraising to strategy. Being an active participant at board meetings, as well as a sounding board offline has allowed me to engage with and help our founders on both the high-level aspects of the business as well as the day-to-day execution. Secondly, I would also say to play to own your strengths. For example, being based in Boston and having recently graduated, I generally know many students and recent grads looking for roles. On the other hand, our portfolio companies want to find great talent, but might not yet have a recruiting team. Therefore, I often connect relevant candidates to our portfolio companies or help them pre-screen candidates. This is a unique asset of mine that I can leverage to help our founders.
Olivia: While GBC is typically not the largest check in the round, we pride ourselves on being the “safe” call for our founders, and we see time and time again that they feel comfortable reaching out to us to give us the real view on the business and the problems they are facing. We are always there to listen, give honest feedback, and bounce ideas off of. To that end, I’ve tried to make sure that our founders know that they have an open line of communication with me on anything and that I will always make myself available. I think my value-add will change and evolve as I continue to cultivate relationships with our founders and as I get more familiar with my own “superpowers” as an investor and partner, but for now, I’m happy to be whatever my founders need me to be at any given time as I know they are always moving at warp speed.
John: I think there are a lot of ways to do this. Whether it's directly helping with later stage fundraising or finding new hires or simply asking the right questions as founders think through tough decisions, there are many ways to make a difference.
Community News
Articles
What the US can Learn from China about Social Commerce - Jessica Li, Soma Capital
The Rise of the Hypercultural Latinx - Ilse Calderon, OVO Fund
The Ultimate Stress Test - Cathy Gao, Sapphire Ventures
Fundraising Announcements
Invisible AI, computer vision for assembly workers - Adam Dawkins, Sierra Ventures
Athlane, connecting brands with esports streamers - Jessica Li, Soma Capital
Hunters, threat hunting platform - Austin Arensberg, Okta Ventures
Joe Coffee, helping coffee shops take mobile orders - Arra Malekzadeh, Craft Ventures
Nkarta, improving efficacy of cell therapy - Amanda Way, Emerson Collective
Asks
Is your portfolio looking to hire diverse talent? Getro.org from Monday.vc is a pro-bono initiative sending curated jobs to talent and curated talent to hiring managers. Ask your portfolio companies to sign up for Getro’s newsletter (all nonprofit, completely free).
Attend GGV Capital & Max Ventures' 5th Annual EvolvingE Virtual Summit occurring today (June 16th) at 9:15am PST. Speakers include: Max Levchin, CEO of Affirm, Inc., Paul Liberman, President of DraftKings Inc., Sara Clemens COO of Twitch, Carolyn Tisch Blodgett, Former Head of Marketing of Peloton Interactive + many more! RSVP here!
Community Surveys
From the growth investing community: Have you left the house much during COVID? (n=23)
From the general channel: When will your firm return to the office? (n=40)
*August had 0 responses
Connect with us on Twitter: EVCA, Adam & Jessica
Interested in submitting content and/or learning more about the community? Email info@evca.org.
- Adam & Jessica