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

What is the origin story of what Gen Z VC Founder Meagan Loyst's Gen Z VC started?

9 Dec 2022 · 1 min

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In this interview, Meagan Loyst recounts how Gen Z VC originated from a spontaneous 2 a.m. idea that evolved into a tweet and then an article she wrote. She explains that during the height of the pandemic she began investing in venture capital while living in her parents' attic, feeling isolated and lacking a professional network. Being only one year out of school and the youngest member of her team by about a decade forced her to be highly creative in sourcing deals. Her unique advantage was that she embodied the target customer for many Gen‑Z‑focused startups, allowing her to identify and evaluate opportunities from an insider perspective.

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So I would love for you to kind of go into the origin story of what Gen Z VC started. I believe it was— was it a Business Insider article that it kind of started as, or was it you interviewing people directly?
It was me interviewing people directly. So it actually started from like a— it was an idea at 2 a.m. that I had and then a tweet and then an article that I wrote. It really stemmed from honestly just being lonely. I started investing height of the pandemic in VC. I was living with my parents at the time. And your job as a young person is to like be out in the world meeting people and finding deals. And I was living in my parents' attic, you know, like it was, it was a very different and weird time to be investing. And also I was only one year out of school. Like I didn't have a huge network of founders that I should be reaching out to or operators. Like I really had to be super creative. The one thing that I did have going for me was I was the youngest person on the team by like a factor of a decade. And all the Gen Z-esque type of companies that we'd look at, I would be the target customer.