VC Platform

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How to Build One — Kimberly Gordon, February 2022

From a February 2022 conversation (private meeting note in the wiki) with someone who ran platform at Index Ventures.

Start with the question, not the programme. “The biggest thing you have to do first is answer the question around Jobs to Be Done” — then get specific about how you differentiate from other firms.

Build each team like an org inside a company — its own clear strategy, and metrics that measure its success. A platform that is a collection of favours has nothing to be held to.

Small beats large. Sub-20-person dinners that can be highly personable, over 100+ person events. The AI Summit was the exception that worked.

Process is brand-dependent. Index onboarded seed founders deliberately and everything else ad hoc, because a formal process would have been off-brand for a firm built on personal relationships — “I need to hire a CMO, how do I do that?” had to feel personal. For an a16z or Insight Partners, an account-management function is coherent with the brand.

The failure mode is the gap, not the level of service. “I felt like BCV wined and dined me and then once you got the money I never heard from them again.” Tiger Global Management does the same thing — the difference is that it’s their stated expectation. Under-promising is survivable; the delta isn’t.

Two questions to ask any firm about its platform: what is your differentiated strategy, and can you back it up with data?