What questions should an LP ask an emerging venture manager?
The questions that separate a credible emerging manager from a good pitch, organized around the investment case, the firm behind the fund and the fit with your own portfolio.
How do you evaluate a first-time fund manager without a fund track record?
No fund-level record is not the same as no evidence of investment judgment. What to look at instead when a manager is raising a first fund.
How to read a prior-firm track record, including SPV and angel deals
A prior record is useful only if the manager may present it, can prove their part in it and labels it honestly. How to read attribution, portability and deal-level summaries.
Operational due diligence for emerging venture managers, what to check
How to review a first-time fund as a running business: service providers, controls, reporting, systems and insurance, and how to tell a policy from a practice.
What to ask for in a venture fund's data room
What a well-organized venture fund data room contains at each stage of diligence, what it tells you about the manager, and what should never be in it.
How to run references on a venture manager
Which references to call, what each kind can and cannot tell you, and how to find the off-list conversations that matter most when evaluating an emerging manager.