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Transparency Is Coming To Venture

Today is a big media day at Haystack Fund! Just kidding, but for some reason, previous discussions I’ve had with reporters and media all seemed to surface online today. As I was reading through them and figuring out how to share them, I noticed a theme running through the conversations.

Why all at the same time?

If I had to pick a reason, it would revolve around the idea of transparency in venture. Now, I don’t mean transparency for transparency’s sake, as many people leverage it for their own branding or marketing — and there’s no harm in that. For me, I am thinking about the future of how private companies are discovered and get financed. Part of that future, I believe, will be operating in an environment with more regulatory oversight over how reporting is conducted in the private sector. That means, how do companies report to their venture investors, and how do venture investors report to their investors, the limited partners? And, as more information is shared, how do all parties ensure the information isn’t shared more broadly without a record of who has keys? These are all pertinent yet thorny questions, and with political change in the air, I see these coming.

That theme comes out in the conversations I’ve had below:

1/ Katie Benner of The New York Times: Katie is a friend and a darn-good reporter. She has written before for Fortune, The Information, Bloomberg, and now The Times. She also wrote a great piece on how employee options work at Good Technologies, shining on a light on a topic that affect so many in the ecosystem. Recently, I spoke with her and am quoted in her article today, titled “Making Startups’ Financial Data Free And Open,” which appeared in the July 25, 2016 Times.

2/ Guesting for StrictlyVC: Each summer, I get the pleasure of writing for StrictlyVC while my friend Connie takes a much-deserved break and searches the shores of coastal Maine for rare sea glass. Last Friday, for my column, I wanted to share more details about what I’ve learned in raising three small funds. You can read the FAQ on StrictlyVC here. For some reason, I get a lot of questions about it, and I’ve committed to sharing the lessons I’ve learned (with a grain of salt) here in an open way. The angle of transparency I’m going for here is that it’s really hard to get the funds up and running. Just this weekend, I talked to a friend who has been a founder and had a huge, notable exit as an investor, and is still having trouble raising a small fund. More on this below.

3/ Interviewed by Harry Stebbings on The Twenty-Minute VC: You have probably heard one of Harry’s podcasts. This guy is a machine when it comes to creating, editing, and distributing podcasts. And, he really prepared for our conversation. In the discussion, we chat about topics such as: defining “founder-friendly;” branding in VC, experiences in raising a fund, and more. I want to stress again that Harry did a great job editing this down to 20 minutes and you can listen to my soothing voice, but not when you’re driving, please — you may fall asleep at the wheel! (Link to Apple Podcast here.)