Paige Finn DohertyFounding Partner, Behind Genius · Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures

What are Village Global Co-Founder Anne Dwane's thoughts on the founder mindset?

15 Nov 2022 · 1 min

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In this interview excerpt, Village Global co‑founder Anne Dwane explains that the founder mindset is a universal approach that applies whether you are building a company, a fund, or any other venture. She emphasizes the importance of having a clear vision of what could be possible and then figuring out how to bring that vision to life, "by hook or by crook." Dwane reflects on her early founder experience from the late 1990s, recalling how she and her team raised a $5 million Series A round in 1999 and even received a paper check, illustrating the tangible artifacts of that era. The conversation highlights the continuity of the founder mindset across different types of organizations and provides a nostalgic anecdote about the fundraising process at the turn of the millennium.

How has your experience building a venture firm been comparative to your experience building Cinch and Military.com as a founder?
Great question. I think the founder mindset transcends every category, right? A company, a fund, and it's about seeing a vision of what's possible and then try to manifest in the world by hook or by crook. Like, figure it out, figure it out. And my Our founding experience was really, first of all, a long time ago. I like to say it started in the 1900s. And there's a song called We're Gonna Party Like It's 1999, and we were pretty exuberant in 1999. And we raised, um, a Series A. It was a $5 million Series A. We got a paper check. All of these are artifacts of the, the day. Whoa, um, that's awesome. Did you cash the paper check?
Like, did you go to the bank and cash it? Yeah, yeah. Whoa.
Yeah, it was really funny.