Shubh
Shubh
Nov 4 · 2 min read

A little background — I work at an early stage Impact VC in nyc (City Light Capital). There are things I love about the job and others I struggle with. I’m hoping writing down what’s good and bad will help me get better as a VC.

Highs

Just being back.

The visa enforced sabbatical seemed to last forever but it’s over! Being able to come back to work, to be around this amazing team, to talk to wonderful entrepreneurs, and just do my job is and will always be a privilege. This was a nice reminder how much I enjoy what I do.

Risks.

This is an industry of risk. How much risk you have an appetite for may make or break your fund. I decided to take some risks at work this past month. Did some things that I wouldn’t have at City Light 6 months ago… rightfully got called out on a few but also saw some of those decisions pay off. It was a fun experiment; one I’m inclined to keep repeating.

Meeting People.

I struggled with networking for a while. But the past two months have been better. I realized what I struggled with it the most — the transnational part. Most conversations I was having with other VCs felt like they were oriented around deal flow that we could exchange. I stopped doing that. There are some wonderful and very smart people in this industry — I want to get to know them instead. Find out what’s driving them; what excites them. Josh pushed me to have more of these conversation and feels like I’ve found my voice with them. :)

Lows

Feedback loop.

The feedback loop at early stage companies is faster by magnitudes compared to Venture. You build, you test and if successful, you push. Then you move on to the next test. We’re able to move from one deal to another fairly quickly but the test results take a WHILE to come back. At best months and at worst years. The ability to make long term career plans is thrown out the window when you have no idea how good/ bad you are at the job you do!

Timing.

These past couple of months I seems to be meeting/ reaching out to companies either a month late or 6 months early. In either case it’s frustrating. Such a critical part of this job is just showing up at the right time! There’s some data around this problem and I should be able to figure out what the best time to reach out is based on industry & round size. I’ll share what I find next month.

Being helpful.

I’m trying to help hire for one of our portfolio companies (Senior Data Analyst in NYC) and have been unsuccessful to date. I’d like to do better. So if you’re reading this and know someone let me know!

— — —

That’s all for today. I’ll be back next month but in the meantime if you’d like to talk about tech, impact or both — shubh@citylight.vc.

Shubh

Written by

Shubh

An Apprentice VC @CityLightCap

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