Upgrade to Pro
— share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …
Speaker Deck
Features
Speaker Deck
PRO
Sign in
Sign up for free
Search
Search
VC Secret Decoder Ring
Search
Sponsored
·
Ship Features Fearlessly
Turn features on and off without deploys. Used by thousands of Ruby developers.
→
Calibrate
September 21, 2018
Business
0
74
VC Secret Decoder Ring
Marcy Swenson
Calibrate
September 21, 2018
Tweet
Share
More Decks by Calibrate
See All by Calibrate
(2019 - 1 of 10) Opening Keynote: The Product Triangle
calibrate
0
200
(2019 - 2 of 10) Making the Unknown Manageable
calibrate
0
86
(2019 - 3 of 10) Why Great 1-on-1s Are Like Perfect Formula 1 Pit Stops
calibrate
0
130
(2019 - 4 of 10) How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Grow High-Performance Teams
calibrate
0
110
(2019 - 5 of 10) Reshaping the Leadership Model - How Introverts Are Redefining What it Means to Lead
calibrate
0
190
(2019 - 6 of 10) The Platinum Rule: Manage Others as They Need/Want to be Managed
calibrate
0
170
(2019 - 7 of 10) Building Impact Through Essentialism
calibrate
0
260
(2019 - 8 of 10) Lessons From the Trenches
calibrate
0
97
(2019 - 9 of 10) How to Keep Up Your Technical Skills Without Annoying Your Teams
calibrate
1
96
Other Decks in Business
See All in Business
enechain company deck
enechain
PRO
10
160k
LW_brochure_engineer
lincwellhr
0
40k
イグニション・ポイント株式会社/採用エントランスBook_2026
ignitionpointhr
2
170k
プロダクトにAIを。 確率的なふるまいと向き合う。
sugitlab
1
380
Lego Agile Testing Workshop
pinboro
0
140
GMO Flatt Security 会社紹介資料
flatt_security
0
26k
【新卒向け】株式会社リブに興味のある方へ
libinc
0
11k
DeNA社のAI活用スキル評価
kobira_official
PRO
0
130
20260114_知的生産と事業創造でAIを使いこなす全技法_スライド
itarutomy
1
460
会社紹介資料202601.pdf
gmofh_hr_team
0
1.5k
2025 サステナビリティレポート
mpower_partners
PRO
1
110
RSGT2026 Dave Snowden Keynote
julesyim
0
950
Featured
See All Featured
Navigating the Design Leadership Dip - Product Design Week Design Leaders+ Conference 2024
apolaine
0
170
Digital Projects Gone Horribly Wrong (And the UX Pros Who Still Save the Day) - Dean Schuster
uxyall
0
330
Abbi's Birthday
coloredviolet
1
4.7k
How to Grow Your eCommerce with AI & Automation
katarinadahlin
PRO
0
110
Let's Do A Bunch of Simple Stuff to Make Websites Faster
chriscoyier
508
140k
Everyday Curiosity
cassininazir
0
130
世界の人気アプリ100個を分析して見えたペイウォール設計の心得
akihiro_kokubo
PRO
66
36k
A brief & incomplete history of UX Design for the World Wide Web: 1989–2019
jct
1
300
Designing Powerful Visuals for Engaging Learning
tmiket
0
230
Java REST API Framework Comparison - PWX 2021
mraible
34
9.1k
CSS Pre-Processors: Stylus, Less & Sass
bermonpainter
359
30k
Building a A Zero-Code AI SEO Workflow
portentint
PRO
0
300
Transcript
VC DECODER RING VC Secret Decoder Ring
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS
1. VC secret levers drive many decisions 2. what is
required for next fundraise? 3. how will your company exit? 4. insider info is powerful & dangerous VC DECODER RING
1. VC secret levers drive many decisions GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS VCs Promise *their* investors 12% yearly invested
over 10+ years VC DECODER RING 1.12^10 = 3.10 12% annual return fund length 3x return
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS $100M 10 year fund must return $300M
(3x) for the VC to raise another fund from LPs VC DECODER RING
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS Startup Outcomes dead or zombie: 50% acquisition:
45% IPO: 5% VC DECODER RING
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS given that 50% fail the other 50%
have to return $300M+ VC DECODER RING
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS VC DECODER RING >3x 5% 2-3x 10%
1-2x 35% < 1x 50% VC Fund Returns
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS VC job: raise money invest in companies
push CEOs to grow/exit pay investors back at least 3x {repeat} VC DECODER RING
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS CEO job: vision & strategy great team
enough cash VC DECODER RING
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS Investment Stages: angel / F&F Seed A
B C, D, … IPO or Acquisition VC DECODER RING
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS CEO under crazy pressure to grow VC
DECODER RING
2. What is required for next fundraise? GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS Why is my CEO asking for more
& faster revenue & more users? VC DECODER RING
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS Why is my CEO asking me to
ignore tech debt & hack together features? VC DECODER RING
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS Why is my CEO asking me to
cut costs *while* building more features? VC DECODER RING
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS Why is my CEO asking me to
“make it social”? VC DECODER RING
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS Why am I spending cycles on an
integration with this lame partner? VC DECODER RING
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS How do I explain all this to
MY team? VC DECODER RING
3. How will your company exit? GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS possible exits… dead or zombie: 50% acquisition:
45% IPO: 5% VC DECODER RING
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS Does partner XYZ have “strategic value”? VC
DECODER RING
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS Diligence looks like: • meetings w/key staff
• senior people OOO • requests for tech docs • hiring freeze • no decisions VC DECODER RING
4. Insider info is powerful & dangerous GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS
GROWING YOUR HAPPINESS