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.