Ideal candidates for the investment partner role would want to:
๐Establish an investor track record
๐๐ฝWork with other investors
๐๐ฝChange the status quo
๐Potentially launch a fund or pursue a VC career afterward
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Weโre looking for investment partners who:
โจ Are community-centric, collaborative, transparent, scrappy
๐ฏ Have differentiated deal flow
๐ธ Are already investing or would if capital was accessible
โฐ Have 2โ4 hrs/per week to dedicate to the fund
๐ Can commit for 1-yr
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๐ Investment partner responsibilities at The Community Fund include: investing in early-stage community-driven companies.
Benefits of becoming an investment partner at The Community Fund include:
๐ฒCarry
๐ธWriting checks
๐Immersion within investment partner community
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๐๐ฝโโ๏ธ If youโre ready to apply to join us as an investment partner at The Community Fund, you can do so here ๐๐ฝ! Submit it by 9/15.
๐ฐ ๐๐ก๐จ ๐๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ง๐ฏ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ง๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐๐ก? We'll write $100K checks to early-stage founders con ganas and a big vision to address big problems in growing markets thru a sustainable go-to-community strategy.
๐ I'm happy to announce that 24 underestimated founders will be receiving a free annual newsletter subscription, thanks to two sponsors: @GeniusGuild and @target!
1/ An underestimated founder is a founder that has the potential to build a successful company, a unicorn, but is overlooked by investors because she or he does not fit the stereotypical - cis-gendered-white-male-ivy-league-drop-out-who-worked-at-a-FAGMA-co-founder mold.
2/ When underestimated founders are seen and have the right support, magical things can happen. Take Tope, a Black man and founder of Calendly, for instance. He was underestimated for years and had VCs pass him up for funding, and later he became a unicorn.
3/ Imagine what would have happened if investors saw him for his potential from the beginning. They would have made loads more money and had their calendar in check for days.
๐ค Asking for a founder: what are VCs looking for in a pitch deck?
1/ In this thread, I cover a list of the questions I personally like to see founders answer in their pitch decks:
โณ Vision - how are you changing the world?
โณ Market size - how big is the market + how much is it growing YoY? What are the market tailwinds?
2/ ...continued
โณ Problem - what problem are you solving?
โณ Solution - what's your solution to the prob in q3?
โณ Competition/differentiation moat - who else is solving your problem and what sets your team's approach apart and makes it hard to replicate?
๐ค Asking for a founder: what should founders know about how VCs work?
1/ VCs have fiduciary duties to their investors. That means that we have a financial responsibility to produce returns $$ for our investors. If we fail, that can mean the chopping block for our VC career. That makes us extra selective with what cos we invest in.
2/ VCs also need to fundraise. We also need to pitch potential investors to fund our funds. Existing funds, need to plan & fundraise in the middle of a fund's lifetime (which can range btwn 2 to +10 years) for the next fund. New fund managers are also raising.
๐ค Asking for a founder: what's a realistic timeframe to get from an idea to an MVP?
1/You may be tempted to believe that a realistic timeframe is overnight. The truth is that it always takes longer and more capital than anyone originally thinks.
2/ Donโt be fooled when you see Twitter/YouTube stories the story of the SF-well-connected founder who raised capital & built a team based on an idea written on a napkin. Thatโs not what happens for most of us. Reality dictates that it takes a while to get from idea to MVP.