Taking a People-First Approach
by Jeff Diamond
And just like that I am already one month into my new role at Fika Ventures. Berkeley Haas will shortly become a memory of how I spent the past two years. It is wild how fast time flies. In order to have made the career pivot from entertainment into VC, I have fully embraced a mindset of putting my head down and grinding to accomplish my goals. Yet, while work and productivity can easily consume all of my time, I think it is paramount that I take time to step back now and then and reflect. As I embark on this thought exercise — which I should qualify is very difficult for someone like me who works at a frantic (some might call it manic) pace — to take a breather and let my mind settle and digest, my head goes to the shockingly similar parallels of my former career in media and my current position in venture. It’s simple really, both are industries about people and leveraging the vast capabilities of human capital.
What I loved most about my job in entertainment was the deeply personal relationships I fostered with my clients. Those writers and directors were my lifeblood, inspiring me and challenging me to expand my horizons and the way I interpreted the world around me. The precise execution of their craft, a true mastery of storytelling, fired my internal engine on all cylinders and motivated me to reach beyond the confines of my job title. I was forced to learn, to stretch myself, to seek out new opportunities and experiences, and even to fail (but fail fast) in order to discover what type of manager I wanted to be and what type of leader I aspired to be. The exercise of discovering a still undiscovered visionary, uncovering shared passions, values, and goals, and forming a team, advocating on their behalf, and ultimately establishing a bond that could lead to years of a professional and personal partnership, was the fuel to my fire.
Now having almost completed my MBA, investing two years into learning everything I could about venture capital, it could not be clearer that being an early-stage VC necessitates this same people-first mindset: the mindset of seeking out opportunities to foster bonds and connections that catalyze innovation and progress. From the limited time I have been able to work with founders while sitting in the investor chair, nothing is more rewarding than to see eye-to-eye on a product or service that can revolutionize not only an industry, but the way businesses operate on a global scale. But, even more acutely, the most special thing to happen during this “discovery phase” is the recognition of common ground and a unified vision. With this comes a jolt of energy and excitement that transcends the definition of the founder/investor relationship and buttresses true progress.
Yes, this may sound like a romanticized version of VC, and some might question my perspective given I have only dipped my toe into this business. But I would challenge that by saying the parallels to my previous life in entertainment, feel incredibly (and surprisingly) significant. And the founders I have met at the various funds where I have worked inspire me to take this incredible opportunity to be an investor who channels a people-first mindset, and to reinvest my time, energy and expertise into fostering the next generation of entrepreneurs.
I have heard again and again over the last two years at Berkeley that great investors are judged by their exits. Yes, this is true, but I sincerely hope as I go deeper into this industry that the human side of the job is not lost on how we judge success. There is no question that to be “successful” and to continue to have success in this business, or any business for that matter, you need to have high achieving assets. For me, in the entertainment business, it was the box office success of the films or shows I worked on. Yet, I believe, and I would pretty fiercely defend the idea, that you cannot get there without prioritizing relationships and exhibiting empathy and humility as you develop and sustain partnerships. At Fika, one of the things I love is that we offer any new founder we meet the opportunity to talk with any of the 56 entrepreneurs we have backed since the fund’s inception — no restrictions, no exceptions. We do this to show that our team is focused on investing in people first and believe that our founders will echo this sentiment. While I do have a bias and affinity towards my own company, I mean it when I say that this is what success should look like: the balance of being financially high achieving while grounded in relationship building. I did my best to do this in my past life, and I am dead set on achieving this in my new career.
