Thread by @dunkhippo33

Happy 4th birthday to @HustleFundVC!

Some thoughts and reflections on growing the company over the past few years:

Read on >>

1) Starting your own VC is a lot like starting a tech company. You have to raise $$ (when you have no brand) and you have to create brand so your customers (startups) will find you.

Everyone tells you you're too early. :)

2) A key difference is that you are signing up in increments of decades because you are committed to each fund for 10 years.

Having been a startup founder before, my mode of operation back in the day was thinking 1 year at a time.

These days I think 10 years at a time.

3) When we first started fundraising for Fund 1, there were many times when @ericbahn & I would commiserate.

Just like in a startup, there were many ups & mostly downs. Many would-be LPs said no. Looking back, I don't know how we did 700+ mtgs to close the fund, but we did.

4) It's also really a blur now how I managed to pump breast milk in between said pitch mtgs for my then 8 wk old baby.

(Pinterest has the nicest mother's room.)

It felt really brutal at the time, but like everything else, you somehow push through and get past that.

5) As an aside, being a mom-entrepreneur has always been a touchy-issue. It was even worse when I was a founder.

And yes, it IS brutal to be a new mom & be an entrepreneur. But w long term thinking, that brutal 1st yr is a blip in 30 yr journey.

Ppl are too short-sighted.

6) Long term thinking forces you to think in a very different way. I have to stick around for at least 10 years, so there is NO WAY I can give up between now and then.

How will I make ends meet? How serious am I about this? What decisions make sense across the decade?

7) In the beginning when we had a small fund and no real mgmt fees, we were forced to get creative.

We supplemented our meager income with event sponsorships. Specifically, crypto company sponsors helped us the most in 2017 -- thank you for helping us keep the lights on! 😆

8) Although sponsors were never the plan, now, several yrs in, we've found that sponsors are imperative to our business in helping us create & distribute content to startups which further drives our dealflow.

Sometimes twists and turns end up becoming strategic to the biz.

9) Long term thinking also makes you prioritize in other ways. For ex, we've hired extremely carefully. Finding great fit not just in qualifications but also values, culture & diversity of team members is just as impt.

Is this someone I want repping us now & 20 yrs from now?

10) In fact, long term thinking is good, because everything compounds.

Whatever you're doing now will be exponentially better or worse in 2-3 decades.

Your brand. Your ppl. Your team culture. Your ability to win. Etc.

Shortcuts can lead to poor long-term results.

11) Long term thinking also forces you to figure out your mission and values from day 1. What is your north star? Where is the ship ultimately going in 30 years?

Where will you end up?

12) The mission for @HustleFundVC is to democratize wealth through startups. And, the 3 pillars that we work on are capital, knowledge, and networks.

This will have many different shapes and forms over the years, but we know where we want to end up.

13) Specifically, what this means is that in 30 yrs, if we are successful, we will live in a world where you can be a great founder anywhere in the world & get access to capital, knowledge & networks on your merit.

This happens sometimes today but in many cases, we're not there.

14) To date, here are some things we've done towards this mission:

A) Our VC fund has funded 300+ startups globally & opened up our investor networks to a lot of great founders who were not well-connected to raise more.

15) B) We launched Angel Squad this year led by @b_nicks11 and @haleymbryant to teach more ppl to become angel investors to fund more startups.

There's a market potential of 1B micro-angels out there who can make a big dent in what gets funded in the world.

16) (cont) We also launched Hustle Scale led by @jleeku to provide late stage startups with more network to help with hiring and evangelism via groups of angels within Angel Squad.

17) C) We hold a monthly webinar series & send email newsletters packed w tactical content for running your startup. We make this knowledge accessible worldwide.

We believe knowledge shouldn't be locked within the gates of Silicon Valley. It should be open to all.

18) D) Special thanks to our partners @NetSuite, GS Futures, @BankMercury, & @ViewSonic - our content wouldn't be possible without them.

...And we have more in the works spearheaded by @janelspilker! Stay tuned for this:

https://twitter.com/ericbahn/status/1442955719314075652?s=20

19) E) We launched a revenue-based financing fund called @HustleFlywheel spearheaded by @limshaw which offers entrepreneur-friendly debt to startups who may not want to / cannot raise VC $$.

We don't think the definition of entrepreneur should be limited to software companies.

20) F) We launched a merch store spearheaded by @HungVPham to evangelize the message that great founders look like anyone & come from anywhere: store.hustlefund.vc

Sharing our values is impt to achieving our mission, and branding it everywhere is a big part of that.

21) We've done a bit these past yrs, but only because I have such an amazing team.

Ppl who didn't get mentioned above whom I'm deeply grateful to for getting this going: @shiyankoh @gracefulkera @cjin @will_bricker @tanjychloe @LidiaBitYunan @WilsonJiang14

and many more...!

22) It's been a blast! I'm truly blessed to be able to have found what I was meant to do with the most amazing team ever who shares the same values and mission.

It's hard to believe it's been 4 years already. And we are just getting started!