While institutional LPs know big changes are happening, most focus too much on 1) increasing/decreasing fund size or 2) marketing + branding as the major trends. Both are notable, but the more significant evolutions going on are: 1) a shift towards operators vs financiers as fund managers, along with growth of non-investment staff, 2) use of technology and scalability in how investments are made via tools, data, teams, and process, and 3) the emergence of branded guilds as dominant entities / communities that attract the lion’s share of new deals and talent.
It’s no coincidence we designed 500 Startups with these evolutions in mind, altho none of the required strategies have been easy to execute and we are still refining our approach. However, all three shifts are related and can be summed up simply as: Geeks are Taking Over Venture Capital. Or, as my friend Marc Andreessen might say, Software Eats the Private Equity World.
To read the full, original article click on this link: VC Evolution: Physician, Scale Thyself. | Dave McClure
