What actually drives career advancement for junior venture investors?

Saam Motamedi · Jul 15, 2024

Most young investors do themselves a disservice by focusing on themselves rather than the firm, racing to push deals through just to get investments made

They assume the only route to impact and career progression is sourcing deals, so they pitch every company as great rather than exercising judgment

Scope: allows it may not entirely be their fault

52:29 20VC: Why We Are in a Bubble & Now is Frothier Than 2021 | Why $1M ARR is a BS Milestone for Series A | Why Seed Pricing is Rational & Large Seed Rounds Have Less Risk | Why Many AI Apps Have BS Revenue & Are Not Sustainable with Saam Motamedi @ Greylock

Shardul Shah · Sep 16, 2024 · hedged

Career advancement at Index is driven by finding fund returners, not by playing a promotion game, though larger 200-300 person institutions may have machinery to navigate

In twenty years at Index he was never coached to do x to climb a ladder and was surprised by every promotion; the culture emphasises mentorship and apprenticeship

Scope: only speaking from Index experience; concedes bigger firms may differ

6:29 20VC: Index's Shardul Shah on Why Market Size is a Trap | Biggest Lessons on Pricing from Leading Rounds in Wiz & Datadog | Why Benchmarks & Averages in VC are BS | How Index Makes Decisions and Why Growth & Early are the Same Investing Style

Delian Asparouhov · Jul 29, 2024

Junior VCs succeed by being willing to do the things GPs won't do — deeper technical diligence and much faster turnaround — and using that as their differentiator

Senior VCs have boards and full plates, so they can't drop everything to read a company's scientific papers or take a red-eye within a week of a cold email; the junior can gamble on top-of-funnel aperture in a way GPs cannot

22:59 20VC: Twitter's Most Controversial VC Delian Asparouhov on Inside the Walls of Founders Fund: What the World Does Not See | Why Western Europe Will Be Like the Third World | Why SaaS as an Industry Might Be Dead

Delian Asparouhov · Jul 29, 2024

Elite GPs will do intensive diligence trips, but only on a much longer turnaround; the junior investor's value is doing it faster and deeper to create their activation energy

A GP like Keith is booked three to four weeks in advance, so a one-week turnaround is impossible; a GP needs junior investors to have already built some conviction first

Scope: not claiming elite GPs never do it — it's a difference in turnaround time

25:04 20VC: Twitter's Most Controversial VC Delian Asparouhov on Inside the Walls of Founders Fund: What the World Does Not See | Why Western Europe Will Be Like the Third World | Why SaaS as an Industry Might Be Dead

Harry Stebbings · Sep 16, 2024

For a junior investor, doing the diligence and grunt work for partners with strong deal flow is a strategic move to get promoted

It takes eight to ten years to know if you returned the fund and there is a messy middle where winners aren't apparent, so in the interim you advance by being a plate remover for senior partners

5:45 Grunt work for deal flow rich partners is the strategic path to promotion

Harry Stebbings · Jul 15, 2024

The right career strategy for a junior investor depends on intent: if you want to scale within the firm, be judicious and preserve capital; if the firm is a stepping stone, attach yourself to as many winners as possible

Being able to say you were part of a winner is what lets you build a personal brand to raise your own fund or get hired at a top firm

53:06 Career strategy depends on intent stepping stone vs long term firm commitment

Harry Stebbings · Jul 29, 2024

The very best GPs do get on planes fast for deals, so speed of travel isn't a junior-VC-only advantage

Tom Tunguz flew to London the day after receiving a deal and won it that weekend; IVP flew to Romania for UiPath and to Germany for Deep Hell

24:40 Elite gps also move fast on travel so speed is not junior only