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Raising a first fund is an incredibly hard & opaque process 🥵 We asked 22 top emerging fund managers (Harry Stebbings, Turner Novak, Jeff Morris Jr, Ryan Hoover, etc) for their biggest shareable secret to raising a new fund 🧵

2:17 PM · Mar 31, 2022

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Invest in lines not dots. Spend time every quarter with a small list 5-10 LPs that you would like in the next fund. Do not pitch, discuss the portfolio, the plans and bring them on the journey with you when you are not raising. -

Many operators and founders want to invest in funds but many GPs focus solely on HNWI and institutional LPs. Structuring your fund as a 506(c) and running parallel QP and non-QP funds will dramatically decrease the effort to raise and increase value of your LP base. -

Fake it until you make it. Start helping founders by doing the job before you have it, raise SPVs to prove you can write the check sizes necessary to deploy the fund size you'd like to raise. -

Find a tribe of other emerging managers. I mean 5-10 folks who are going through the same grind as you . They will be your supporters, references, intros to LPs, a shoulder to cry on, and there to celebrate with you. -

Raising money is hard and it can take a long time; be patient. A target is important, but more important is deploying capital thoughtfully & adding value to founders, so when your momentum wanes really consider closing the fund and focusing on your portfolio. -

I wish I had known how fun it is. I thought VC was about term sheets and diligence but it's more about hanging out with interesting founders and being a small part of their stories. -

Don't take no's from investors personally. Think of them as no for now. Keep moving forward and make it easier for investors to say yes the next time. -

Do your best to find investors who are an ideal fit for your fund (not just size and stage but also sectors / categories and portfolio construction strategy). And once you have one, look for clones of that investor. (It took me too long to figure this out). -

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Awesome thread 🧵

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Thank you!