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

What Is The Greatest Lesson You Learned While Starting A Venture Firm In Your 20's? #shorts

14 Jun 2022 · 1 min

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In this short dialogue, Speaker A reflects on the pivotal moment when Andy Weisman of USV affirmed that they could run a venture fund, providing crucial validation. Weisman’s advice emphasized that investing is a continuous learning process, even after decades, and that mistakes are inevitable—one won’t get everything right the first or even the twentieth time. The conversation also highlights the significant role of luck in the venture capital industry. Overall, the exchange underscores the importance of mentorship, embracing an iterative learning mindset, and acknowledging randomness in venture success.

Just having someone be like, yeah, you can run a venture fund, was such a massive— like, people started like asking me about it when I was like tweeting so much about venture and I was like, I thought this was in my 10-year plan, you know?
I feel like for you, the person who really— you had a few commitments beforehand, but the person who really like let you know that you could do it and that you were able to do it was Andy Weisman from USV.
Yeah.
I feel like I remember that very specifically, you calling me and being like, I can't believe it, Andy's coming in. I, I remember that being a huge, huge deal for you.
I think like One of the best things that he told me was like the investment process, just that it's a process and that even like 2 decades in, he's still learning things and like adapting to the markets. And I think that was really powerful to have someone who I had looked up to and respected for a long time be like, it's a learning process. You're not going to get everything right the first time and probably not going to get everything right the 20th time. And it's an industry that involves a high amount of luck as well.