A decade ago, getting a warm intro to a top VC firm was one of the only ways to get funding for founders and deal-flow for investors.
Now, some of the fastest-growing funds are building their deal flow through Twitter threads and Substack newsletters.
This isn’t just a tactical shift in VC – it’s in-line with the broader cultural shift around how we as a society consume media.
Influencers instead of cable ads drive marketing ROI. And maybe, just maybe, there’ll be a world where Venture influencers – or “emerging managers” – are primary drivers for DPI for LPs.
Quick history lesson (I promise to keep this relevant):
Venture capital’s roots go back to the East India Company – merchants pooling money for risky but potentially massive trading opportunities. But modern VC? That’s a 1970s story.
Key moments worth knowing:
• Kleiner Perkins (1972) – Backed early tech companies when “tech” wasn’t cool
• Apple IPO (1980) – Made institutions take VC seriously
• Netscape IPO (1995) – Kicked off the internet era
• Facebook Series A (2005) – Social networks become serious business
Now look at your phone – pretty much every app you use daily came from VC money. But while the impact of VC has exploded, many of its core “rules” are still stuck in the 70s.
Here’s what’s changing:
1. “You need a warm intro” → Public accessibility is the new norm
The warm intro used to be VC’s ultimate filter. Can’t hustle for an intro? Good luck hustling to build a company.
But the recent history tells a different story:
• Turner Novak built Banana Capital’s brand to 100K+ followers pre-launch
• NFX now publishes their exact investment frameworks
2. “Capital is the Core Differentiator” → Capital is table stakes
VC isn’t “gambling on startups” anymore – it’s a legitimate asset class. Which means capital is everywhere.
The best deals with the best founders have options. So what matters now?
• A16Z didn’t build a 300+ person platform team for fun
• First Round Review generates more deals than most accelerators
• “What’s your platform?” is right after “What’s your check size?”
3. “Information Asymmetry Creates Alpha” → Transparency builds trust
This one’s wild. The old playbook was all about protecting information. Now?
• Sahil Bloom tweets his rolling fund moves in real-time
• Most (if not all) signal data is productized by the Harmonic’s of the world
• Founder sentiment towards VCs has become more negative
What does all this mean?
My sense is this: just like how corporations have to build “brand-value” and trust with their target audience over time – VCs will have to do the same (and already have been).
What’s unique is looking into the future the tactics VCs will utilize to do that will likely start looking more and more similar to an early stage B2B SaaS company’s Growth playbooks.
I’m thinking about:
• Will we see VC influencers become a real thing?
• Can community-driven investing scale?
• How do the mega-funds adapt?
• What happens when everyone has the same information?
No clear answers yet.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll dig deeper into each of these shifts. Been seeing any other “rules” getting broken?
Drop a comment or hit me up – always down to learn something new.
Abhi Dewan 