PS#081: A Personal Update – Managing Director

The whole purpose of my work through ​Preferred Shares​ and ​Sand Hill Prep​ is to shed light into an industry that has been mostly a black box over the years.

My hope has always been to give an insider’s view on what it takes to break into the industry and (hopefully) succeed in it, sharing my own strategies and tactics for venture capital.

Today, I’d like to provide an update on where those strategies and tactics have taken me in my own career…

One goal down.

Last month, I was promoted to Managing Director (or Partner) at my firm.

First and foremost, I couldn’t be more grateful and excited for this opportunity. I’ve had the privilege to invest in great companies, work alongside incredible entrepreneurs, and be a part of an amazing team of investors. It’s thanks to all of them that I’ve been able to reach this level of success. Without them, none of this happens.

It’s been a long, hard journey, but one that has been incredibly rewarding. To be clear, I’m certainly not done. There are a lot of things that I still want to accomplish in my career, but this is one I can finally cross off the list.

However, since my goal is driving transparency in this industry, I thought I’d stop and take a second to share the details of my journey so far.

Intern.

In 2018, I started my career as an intern.

As an intern, I supported multiple funds. I was eager to support wherever I could, looking for any and all opportunities. I was an intern for about a year (while also getting my MBA) before I was able to land a full-time offer. The internship was filled with some long hours and a lot of imposter syndrome, as I learned the ins and outs of venture.

My entire goal was landing a full-time position. Everything I did was in service of this goal. After experiencing the long list of rejections leading up to this internship, I knew just how hard it was to find a seat in this industry. If I could just get a chance, I was sure I could figure the rest out.

What did I learn?

It was tough at times to know if I was really adding value. You’re learning a whole skill set in an industry that tends to move pretty quickly. Looking back, I’ve tried to make sure that the information I share here helps make that a bit easier.

The best piece of advice that I can provide is to come into the opportunity as prepared as possible. There will already be so many new things to learn, if you can come in with some of the basics down that will be a huge help.

Senior Associate.

After that first year, I did land a full-time position at the firm.

In 2019, I started as a senior associate. I was staffed on one fund (the one I currently run today) with two other senior investors. I was a Senior Associate on the fund for two years, handling everything from sourcing to diligence to portfolio management. It was an incredible opportunity. I was able to learn about every aspect of being a full stack investor, which set a strong foundation for my career.

What did I learn?

I learned two lessons from these early days…

Be open to any and all responsibilities. I wanted to learn how to do everything, whether that meant traditional analyst responsibilities or taking on more senior roles. If you want to be a full stack investor, you need to learn how everything works.

Choose the right situation for you. While I didn’t have the most interesting investment mandate in those early days, I saw an opportunity to learn and grow. I wanted to prioritize learning the “game of venture capital” before setting my sights on any specific area, industry, technology, etc. It was probably one of the most important choices I made so far in my career.

Principal.

After two years as a Senior Associate, I was promoted to Principal. In my first year as a Principal, I was asked to support multiple funds, across very different investment mandates.

To be honest, it was a struggle.

The second fund required a different way of thinking and investing to be successful. It felt like starting over all over. I was building new muscles, learning about new industries, and building a new view on investing. There were many times where I thought I might not be cut out for this job. Stressful, nerve wracking, exciting, and hard all at the same time.

Thankfully, by the end of the year, we had figured it out. Our team was finding great opportunities, and I had learned a whole new framework for investing.

In my second year as a Principal, I was asked to take over the fund I had started on as a Senior Associate. I would be in charge of running the day-to-day operations, owning the deal pipeline, managing the portfolio, and building a team. For two years, I poured all my energy into making this fund successful.

Again, I had a lot of doubts. The pandemic had created a market that just didn’t compute with my view of reality. I struggled to make investments (although we did make a few) and questioned my abilities as an investor. It was hard. Again, I struggled.

Despite the struggle, we pushed through. And, in 2023, I started to see the results of our team’s efforts. Our fund had its first “game changing” exit, several other investments reached escape velocity, and we started deploying capital at the right pace. Thanks to the great entrepreneurs in our portfolio and the work of our team, it started to look like all of that time, effort, and energy would pay off (of course, fingers crossed, there is still a long way to go).

What did I learn?

During this time, I learned a few different things…

I realized that I had to build out my own process for breaking down and understanding new spaces. If I was going to be an investor for the long-term, I would need to know how to get up to speed quickly on new industries, technologies, and opportunities.

I learned how to scale those processes across a team. I knew that if I couldn’t create the right leverage, the whole fund would be dependent on my every move. I needed to be able to teach these processes and share my experiences in a way that could inform our investment decisions.

I also learned just how long this game is… It’s really long. I’m 6+ years into my career and I still have a long way to go (and a lot more to learn).

Managing Director.

That brings us to today.

It’s been a little over 6 years since I started my journey into venture capital (and probably 7 years if you track it back to when I started preparing for roles in this industry). During that time, I’ve looked at over 4,500 deals, spoken to over 800 entrepreneurs, completed over 30 investments, and have had two successful exits.

While certainly not easy, it’s been one of the most rewarding journeys of my career. There’s been a lot of ups and downs, a lot of successes and failures, a lot of wins and losses. And, while it’s nowhere close to finished, I’m grateful for everything I’ve been able to learn along the way.

As I enter into this new chapter, I plan to continue to share the things I learn about investing, about managing the ups and downs, about fighting through the doubt, and about building your career as an investor in this industry.

But, before I go, I’d like to say thank you.

Thank you for following and being a part of my journey. I hope the information that I share has helped and continues to be helpful as you make your own mark on this industry.