How VC Fundraising is Like Startup Fundraising, Part 2

Previously wrote about raising our Homebrew seed fund. Was chatting with an entrepreneur this morning who is currently raising their A Round. We were talking about the similarities between raising multiple rounds and raising multiple funds.

Seed Round or Fund 1: often raised on reputation, performance history and story

A Round or Fund 2: raised on momentum and market feedback (since you raise Fund 2 before Fund 1 is mature enough to really show full results)

B Round or Fund 3: basically results to date all that matter. At this point you’re a real company or a real VC.

The VC Funding Dance plays out with a new fund every 2-3 years, while an entrepreneur might raise a round every 12-20 months. Time scales are a bit different but narrative arc, pretty similar.