The Story of a VC Intern (Part 2)

Nicholas Parsell
Jul 21, 2017 · 4 min read

For those who missed my first piece: The Story of a VC Intern (Part 1)

I’m Nick and for the past 4 months I’ve been an intern at rampersand, a venture capital firm that invests in some of Australia’s fastest growing and most ambitious technology teams and startups.

As my journey at rampersand comes to an end, I’ve been reflecting on my time here and how much I’ve learnt about VC, the Australian startup ecosystem and the way in which technology is changing our future. In this instalment of my story, I want to focus on some of the many interesting things that I’ve learnt during my time with rampersand.

Before my internship, I thought that venture capital was a mysterious world of wealthy individuals with deep pockets looking to back the next big thing without any real empathy for the founders, understanding of the problem, or desire to help them in their journey. Having spent time at rampersand, my view has fundamentally changed.

Venture capital is about so much more than money.

Here are three of the most important discoveries I’ve made about venture capital during my internship, which anyone looking to get into the space should read:

  1. Getting to know founders is one of the main priorities of a VC fund. While a founder may have a groundbreaking idea, if they cannot show a VC they possess the tenacity and hustle to succeed, and ability to inspire people to believe in them, then they are unlikely to get funding. Building the relationship is critical as for most founders, the early-stage idea will not be the same idea they take globally — there is a long journey ahead with many hurdles which will require a lot of support, collaboration (and funding).
  2. Build your network. There is nothing more important in VC than a solid network of connections. Whether to assist with due diligence on a company in a specialist field, or to simply to drive deal flow, networks are your biggest help.
  3. Leverage the right tech to make yourself 10x more efficient. This is not necessarily just for VC, however, working in a tech VC has shown me how many different apps, tools and platforms there are that allow you to rapidly speed up your work. A great example of this is one of rampersand’s portfolio companies, Stackla. Stackla is a user-generated content marketing platform, that allows you to curate and publish content from across the web. Every day I would use Stackla to sort through the Twitter feeds of our portfolio companies and publish the best tweets to rampersand’s website. Check out the rampersand Stackla wall here: http://rampersand.vc/news

As well as learning an enormous amount about venture capital, one of the most interesting and pivotal tech developments for our future that I looked into is Artificial Intelligence (AI). For those who’ve never heard the words, in simple terms, AI is intelligence exhibited by machines. AI promises to revolutionise our lives by automating everything from driving our cars to performing medical imaging. The list of AI capabilities is endless. If you’re not believing a 21 year-old VC intern about his views on AI, you might believe me if you listen to what prolific entrepreneur Elon Musk had to say about the State of AI.

Finally, throughout my journey at rampersand, I have spent countless hours reading articles to help me better understand the ins and outs of the enormous tech industry. I won’t lie, there’s still a lot to learn, however, these are the five best articles that helped me understand the world of VC, technology and entrepreneurship:

  1. rampersand’s Paul Naphtali (Managing Partner) discusses his “no bullshit” version of how rampersand invest, and who and what they look for.
  2. Tzukuri founder Allen Liao opens up about depression of founders.
  3. Tech futurist Daniel Burrus on Gen Z’s future influence.
  4. BlockGeeks explain, what I think, will be a big part of our future: Cryptocurrency.
  5. CYMK Ventures’ Amrit Richmond on how VC funds can build inclusive communities to support women and underrepresented entrepreneurs.

A final thought…

Working in VC has so many great aspects: you can look into the coolest tech, meet some of Australia’s best founders, who will be the future of global business, and get many insights into how a business works. Plus the experience I’ve gained in the last 4 months have greatly improved my knowledge, skills (e.g. speaking in front of a large group), and analytic capabilities. I couldn’t recommend it more!

And for those interested in the space, I wouldn’t just advocate working at a VC, but being involved in the entire startup ecosystem in Australia, which is very exciting right now. The future is bright for Australian startups, with businesses such as Canva (simple graphic design software) and Expert360 (online marketplace for expert consultants) becoming global leaders in their respective industries.

If I stumble across a brilliant idea that solves a real problem, perhaps starting a company will be my next chapter. But, for now, I am very keen to keep close ties with the startup ecosystem and see what future opportunities arise.

rampersand

Tech startups need more than just money

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Nicholas Parsell

Written by

Entrepreneurship | Innovation

rampersand

Tech startups need more than just money

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