Dear SaaStr: Who Are The Key Personnel in VC Firms?

And What Does It Really Feel Like to Be CEO of a Startup?

Dear SaaStr: Who are the key personnel in a VCorganization and how can they help connect with funding?

Anyone that’s an investing professional, one way or another, can help you get funded:

• An “associate” or “analyst” often doesn’t have check-writing powers … but … their job is to find and socialize deals. So don’t discount their importance. Many if not most unicorns at bigger VC funds were really sourced by more junior investment professionals. More here.

• A “VP” or “principal” also usually doesn’t have check-writing powers but can often advocate a deal directly and get it done. They can’t get a deal done as quickly as someone that runs the fund, but if they are respected, they can push a deal through one way or another. They generally have to recruit a true partner to sponsor the deal or lead it.

• A non-managing partner generally has a deal quota of sorts but usually doesn’t make the final, final call. As a founder, it may not make a huge different, but a general partner that isn’t a managing partner does deals directly, but still may not run the place.

• “Venture partners” often have no direct check-writing abilities but often are tasked with finding 1–2 great deals and can have large influence. But still, they need a full-time partner to really lead the deal in most cases.

• Managing general partners (or similar titles) run the place but sometimes get so senior that don’t really source and do deals themselves as much. So going directly to the very top doesn’t always work better than engaging with other investment professionals.

So net net, engage where you best can engage at a VC fund. More often than not, the top deals in any fund weren’t actually sourced by the Managing Partner that joined the board and/or took credit for the deal.

Dear SaaStr: What does it feel like being the CEO of a startup?

Let me just throw out a few things I’ve learned that being a CEO of start-up isn't, or isn't as you'd expect:

• It isn’t glamorous until you are At Scale and Hot, at the very minimum. At $10m-$20m+ in revenues, maybe. Maybe not even until pre-IPO. Maybe never, not really.

• The Zero Cash Date when you run out of money will be burned in your brain. More on that here.

• You are never recruiting enough because you always need at least one more amazing person on the team and it just isn't getting done and this is the most important thing so somehow you have to find a way even if you aren't.

• You can't really share, not really, because your team doesn't really understand what it is to have all the 100% responsibility for everything, and your spouse/ S.O./ whatever can only hear about 58 times how you are about to fail before they naturally start to tune out.

• You will become a leader no matter what your background is. Even if you have never scaled before, never hired before. You will know so much, about everything, about how it is all done. People will gravitate to that, and follow you. Not everyone. But more and more over time. You will find a way here.

• People will actually care what you think in a way you've never experienced before. Even if you are just a CEO of a 10 person company, your customers will care, even if they are 10,000x bigger than you are. Your team will care. The CEO matters to whomever the product impacts.

• You will think about stepping down at some point, no matter if you never admit it. There's a reason Elon Musk didn't start off as CEO of Tesla, nor did Marc Benioff start off as CEO of Salesforce, even though they wrote the first checks. Dude, it's hard. Don't tell anyone when you have these thoughts. Except maybe your one closest advisor.

• You'll be in the Founder CEO club if you have any success at all. And it's a fun club because it lasts for life as long as your startup is at least somewhat successful. You'll have your own language, own shared experiences, and be part of a special club that no one else really can be a part of. It's a pretty cool club.

My non-obvious learnings.

And see everyone at SaaStr Annual 2022, Sep 13-15 in the SF Bay Area!!