Venture Capital Isn’t Dead—There’s Still Work to be Done
Revisiting past interviews and sharing what I’m excited out
Overall, fundraising slowed down for pretty much everyone—VCs and startups alike. Startups were laying people off restructuring, and VCs were focusing all their resources on keeping their portcos afloat.
And because of the difficult fundraising environment, many folks were saying that the “fake” VCs were dropping out, and the “real” VCs will remain.
Understandably, many folks got into VC thinking that they had what it takes to raise and run a fund. However, when push came to shove, some realized that VC just isn’t the right path for them. We’ve seen a similar appetite shift in crypto as well, where people realized they didn’t have the stomach for a long winter.
But not everything is all doom and gloom. Many of the folks I interviewed last year are still active, and there’s still plenty to be excited about.
Update on Fund Managers Interviewed in 2023
VCs don’t always benefit from putting themselves out there. On one hand, visibility can help fund managers reach more LPs and establish authority. On the other hand, LPs may interpret it as irresponsible (why are you writing articles when you should be managing the portfolio?).
I, of course, lean towards the former—especially when it comes to emerging fund managers with non-traditional backgrounds. And when anyone is doing something truly contrarian and unique, it takes extra effort to convince investors to write a check.
I’m thankful to everyone so far who has trusted me to help elevate them!
Garry Johnson III of Bison Venture Partners has been knocking out content for both founders and aspiring angel investors.
Vivin Hegde recently announced the closing of Zacua Ventures’ inaugural $56 million fund.
Carrie Colbert of Curate Capital took a much-needed sabbatical last year and has emerged stronger than ever. She recently spoke at Venture West Summit, and is currently raising her second fund.
Tessa Flippin of Capitalize VC hosted an intimate event for LPs to foster conversation and education around diversity in tech.
After wrapping up her CEE tour, Diana Koziarska and SMOK Ventures closed their second fund at the beginning of this year.
Two years after raising their Fund I, Alex Kirschenbaum and The 81 Collection are still actively investing. They recently announced their investment in medical spa marketplace Pinch.
Other VC Trends and Things I’m Excited About
More European Family Offices
Venture capital makes sense for family offices because it’s about investing for future generations, and venture capital (especially emerging managers) is the future.
Paulina Jänch (Leanox Impact Capital) speaking at 0100 Europe
It’s great to see European family offices express interest in VC, specifically in emerging fund managers. Family offices have been a bedrock for emerging fund managers because they can write smaller checks than institutional investors, and have more flexibility in their strategies.
A previous family office manager, Ertan Can launched his FoF Multiple Capital to focus solely on the benefits of venture capital returns because he wanted more exposure and access to the asset class. Harry McLaverty has a similar philosophy with his single family office and FoF Simplify as well.
The more people we have investing in emerging VCs, the more new, exciting, and world-changing products we’ll see.
Privacy Tools
It's up to us to build privacy-enabled products that people want to use. Tools with simple UI and UX that solve real problems...payment is the single most important use-cases for us to solve right now. We can start there, solve that, and then tackle other use-cases.
@captainmcateer at ETHDam 2024
CryptoCanal’s ETHDam has really gotten me fired up (again) about privacy. They had some of the biggest names in privacy share stories and debate what the future of the industry looks like.
I’ve also been enjoying 404Media’s investigations into police surveillance and data management, including this particularly upsetting piece about Adam and Eve sharing customers’ search information with Google.
One thing is for certain: the default should be people opting in to share data, not opting out. Ideally, apps and solutions shouldn’t have to be privacy first. Instead, privacy should be an automatic, frictionless feature.
Although many privacy-first companies have been building for a while, recent issues with Tornado Cash and Samourai Wallet have a lot of developers asking whether they’re “safe”. It seems challenging to be compliant while also putting privacy first, especially within U.S. jurisdiction.
I’ll be keeping an eye on anyone who has already invested in privacy tech, as anyone who has already prioritized privacy will likely have early access to the next big solution.
Consumer Crypto
It could also look like something as simple as a reinvention of movie tickets with crypto rails under the hood.
Variant Fund, “Requests for Startups: Crypto Projects We’d Like to See in 2024”
Crypto doesn’t feel practical to use (at least in my daily life in a stable democracy). Even when I patiently try to use it, the experience still feels clunky and unintuitive. And if it’s hard for me to use, I can’t imagine any of my non-crypto friends using it either.
This year we’ve seen more calls for consumer products from both investors and consumers. Of course, the big question is: what do consumers want?
It’s safe to say that consumers want products that are easy to use and solve their problems. But most consumers aren’t thinking about how crypto plays a role in those solutions.
This dilemma is a driving factor behind why I want to design a consumer crypto hackathon. I want to invite folks from non-crypto industries to talk about their pain points, and figure out whether crypto can be a feasible solution. I also want to break up the hackathon in two parts: the first half focuses on the joy of building, and the second half supports any teams that want to bring their project to market.
Much like privacy, I believe that greater crypto adoption will take place with solutions that are not crypto-forward. In other words, I expect people will start using crypto when it is a feature of a product, not the focus of the product.
The Biggest Thing I’m Excited About
I’ve spent the past five years learning about and connecting with fund managers throughout the US and Europe. It’s been an absolute joy and privilege to be part of these ecosystems
But it’s time for me to make a change: I will be moving back to the U.S. later this year.
VC is all about who you know, and video calls can only take a relationship so far. If I intend to serve emerging fund managers to the best of my abilities, it’s time to meet more folks face-to-face in the U.S.
With the new-found experience, I hope to share my knowledge with the European ecosystem so that both Europe and the U.S. collaborate and thrive in the coming years.
So I’m not exactly going anywhere, per say—just refreshing my perspective.