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    Why does it take former VCs to create VentureClub?

    Mike Butcher
    Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
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    Mike Butcher is the European Editor for TechCrunch. A former grunge rock drummer, he became a long time journalist, and has since written for UK national newspapers and magazines including The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The New Statesman. Mike is also a co-founder and shareholder of TechHub, a co-working space/service/community with several locations... → Learn More


    A few weeks ago some prominent Silicon Valley VCs stuck in London due to the AshCloud decided to hold an Office Hours event. This is where startups just turn up, get 20 mins or so of a VCs time and feedback with no expectations, and hopefully open up a relationship.

    This culture is pretty alien in Europe which is a huge pity. Part of what makes Silicon Valley a world-beating cluster is this openness and sharing. We need more of that in Europe if we are going to compete.

    So I was excited to hear that a bunch of ex VCs – well, most were former associates – are getting together to impart their knowledge in exactly the same manner. Some of them have turned entrepreneur, some are mixing that up with some Angel investing. But all know about startups and investment.

    The event is for entrepreneurs currently seeking financing. If you’re touring investors with your deck, and think that you need help on improving your pitch the event on the 3rd of June is a good one. The mentors for the evening include: Eileen Burbidge, Evan Frank, Hussein Kanji, Rob Kniaz, Greg Marsh, Chris Morton and Max Niederhofer. Check out VentureClub.

    But it’s ridiculous that it takes former VCs to do this.

    I’d like to see more VC houses do this, and I’m looking at you Balderton and Index Ventures. Yes, both of you are high profile investors in early stage, more so than many of your peers. Yes Index has started Index Seed. But we need much more porous barriers between investors an Entrepreneurs in Europe so events like VentureClub need to be backed by current VCs, or they need to create their own version of Office Hours. We are watching.

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    • http://whitebearyard.com Eileen Burbidge

      We @whitebearyard agree more that we need more events like this in London (hear hear!)

      After the success of the FRC Volcano Office Hours here, we’ve decided to host office hour sessions here (with rotating/visiting angels/VCs) on a monthly or so basis, so stay tuned!

      However, after Marcin, Max, Chris, Hussein and others suggested a pitch clinic/workshop, we all agreed that it made more sense to host that first (and then depending on feedback, maybe intersperse them with office hour events on an on-going basis).

      We look forward to hearing feedback from everyone about what would be most valuable to them….

    • http://twitter.com/3marcin Marcin Grodzicki

      When organising the Pitch Clinic we meant it to be a training ground for currently fundraising startups. We have only former VCs involved to take some of the pressure off everyone – make it more of a learning than cutthroat experience.

      A separate event is in the works – making it possible to connect with current VCs – keep watching http://meetup.com/ventureclub for updates!

    • http://www.kirstenwinkler.com Kirsten Winkler

      Very good and needed initiative!

      As soon as my project will be at that stage I will apply :) .

    • http://www.profounderscapital.com Sean Seton-Rogers

      And not to be outdone…

      Announcing PROfounders Capital Open-Office Hours: http://bit.ly/cDt5BE

      Come one, come all. Should be fun.

    • Sam Sethi

      This is excellent news and one to applaud, as is the IndexSeed initiative that helps fills the equitygap between SeedCamp and VC.

      A friend has just signed up to meet Profounders. Also nice job by Bookingbug.

    • http://maxniederhofer.com Max Niederhofer

      The wonderful thing about former VCs doing this is that you’ll hear the truth. No “you’re slightly outside our focus right now but it’d be great if you kept in touch” bullshit. We’ll tell you if your baby is so ugly it made us retch. We’ll tell you if you’re awesome and you really shouldn’t touch VC money with a pole. All you’ll get is truth and tips. All we’ll get is karma and fun.

    • http://www Katy Turner

      Great to hear what the guys @ventureclub and profounders are doing. For informal access to VCs Huddle/Eden also run Drinktank on a monthly basis which is a great way to collar a VC out of hours to get some feedback, and there is free beer :-)

    • http://www.edenventures.co.uk Katy Turner

      URL for drinktank sign up is http://www.meetup.com/drinktank/

    • http://twitter.com/mikebutcher Mike Butcher

      Katy we all like DrinkTank, don’t get me wrong, but it’s no substitute for sitting down in the cold light of day & having a serious face to face.

    • http://www.rummble.com Andrew J Scott

      @Max Niederhofer quite right too. hope to see you here.

    • http://the-accelerator.blogspot.com/ robin klein

      Great initiative by Venture Club! Am fully supportive. But Mike, I don’t understand the side swipe.
      The Valley vs Europe thing is just not justified here.
      There are any number of ways to access VCs and the ecosystem here: Profounders great new open-office hours, drinktank, geek n rolla, opencoffee (now in over 80 cities but invented in London), Seedcamp(s) etc etc – apologies to any of the other events not mentioned.
      There should be no reason why a determined entrepreneur with a great project can’t get to have a serious chat with a VC – if that is what he/she wants.

    • http://technospooler.wordpress.com Technospooler

      I think this is a great initiative. I agree that UK venture capital firms really do need to build more visibility and openness in order to find the next big thing, but the onus will always be on the entrepreneur to chase their dream and make it happen. Nobody is going to hand it to them on a silver platter, but initiatives like this are rare and are exactly the thing early stage entrepreneurs are looking for. Keep them coming!

    • http://technospooler.wordpress.com Technospooler

      @robin I agree that there are a quite a number of opportunities for entrepreneurs to chase down VCs in the UK, but truth be told they are few and far between. Being an entrepreneur in the UK currently looking for funding for my startup, I’ve struggled to plan a week’s trip to London and fill it with networking events every day.

      Having said that I do believe that the serious entrepreneur will find opportunities wherever they are if they have the determination and drive. These events will only make it easier.

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