David Teten

David Teten Contributor Share on X David Teten is founder of Versatile VC and writes periodically at teten.com and @dteten. More posts by this contributor How to find a job as a scout for a VC firm What are the ‘jobs to be done’ of an investment manager? Akshat Dixit Contributor Akshat Dixit is a senior at North Carolina State University, an intern at Versatile VC, and a past intern with the HBS Alumni Angels Association and the Innovation Quarter in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

David Teten is founder of Versatile VC and writes periodically at teten.com and @dteten.

The Latest from David Teten

How to find a job as a scout for a VC firm

The easiest way to work with and for VC funds is to become a scout, getting compensated for sourcing investments. But how do you do that?

What are the ‘jobs to be done’ of an investment manager?

The late Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen found that in many sectors, low-end disruptors take hold at the bottom of the market and then work up to satisfy more demanding segments.

The investment manager of the future

What does an investment management firm look like when it's redesigned based on first principles and based on the true "jobs to be done" of an investment manager?

The macro trends forcing change on the investment management industry

Power in the investment management industry is shifting to the money holders from money managers, driven by several major economic, social and political trends.

The peculiar investment management industry

Asset management is a highly unusual and somewhat baffling industry. Here are six main examples of just how peculiar this industry is.

Governments should invest in their diaspora founders

Many governments that are not major tech hubs (i.e., most countries excluding the U.S., China, Israel and India) should stop restricting themselves to supporting locally domiciled VC funds.

6 career options for ex-founders seeking their next adventure

As someone with "founder" on your resume, you face a greater challenge when trying to get a salaried job. You’ve already shown that you really want to lead a company and not just rise up the ladder.

How to win consulting, board and deal roles with PE and VC funds

There are relatively few jobs directly inside private equity and venture capital funds, and those jobs are highly competitive. However, there are many other ways you can work within the industry.

5 innovative fundraising methods for emerging VCs and PEs

Approaching institutions to raise capital for your venture capital or private equity fund is relatively transparent, but what if you’re targeting family offices and high-net-worth individuals?

How to attract large investors to your direct investing platform

One of the best business models currently is serving as a market-maker between investors and investment opportunities. But the challenge with this market is: How do you get the investors to show up?

Should you give an anchor investor a stake in your fund’s management company?

Raising capital for a new fund is always hard. But should you give preferential economics or other benefits to a seed anchor investor who makes a material commitment to the fund?

How VC and private equity funds can launch portfolio-acceleration platforms

Almost every private equity and venture capital investor now advertises that they have a platform to support their portfolio companies.

Does your VC have an investment thesis or a hypothesis?

We’ve identified six common patterns of how VCs articulate their theses, and some best practices in doing so.

Broaden your view of ‘best’ to make smarter, more inclusive investments

Research shows that diverse teams, companies and founders pay, so why are all of the VC home runs from white men, or Asian men in Asia, plus a few Asian men in the U.S.?

15 steps to fundraising a new VC or private equity fund

Based on my experience, taking the 15 steps below will help build the core of a high-performing fundraising and investor relations function.

12 ‘flexible VCs’ who operate where equity meets revenue share

A dozen active investors who offer funding via revenue-based, compensation-based and blended-return streams.

Flexible VC: A new model for startups targeting profitability

A new category of investors has emerged offering a hybrid between VC and revenue-based investment (RBI), which we call “flexible VC."

In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 followers

Celebrities or influencers with millions of followers have a large service industry and tech stack to serve their needs. But the standard toolkit of a microinfluencer is still evolving.  

These new data sources are creating high-impact tools for investors

VCs tout themselves as frontier technology investors, but most are using the same tools we've used for the past 20+ years — Excel and recent college grads searching Google.

Progressive VCs and private equity are using tech and analytics to revolutionize investing

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our counterparts in the hedge fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job.
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