Mark Birch

It is important to meet in person with your LPs. It does not have to happen frequently, but many firms will organize an annual gathering with their LPs to not just review the portfolio and discuss performance, but also to educate on trends and build trust with their LPs. The other added value is that the LPs are gathered and form a community of LPs that can help bolster your status as a leading VC firm.

I have seen the value of educating LPs in fostering greater trust in the VC firm. While newsletter updates and 1:1's are valuable touch points, they tend to be very tactical and transactional. Instead, members of the firm should get into the habit of writing down what they are learning about the trends and industries they are investing into. This content can then be distributed in newsletters, webinars, or in-person gatherings. For example, one VC firm is very active in hosting webinars on AI and inviting experts from leading cloud providers, researchers, startups, and thought leaders to share in Q&A sessions for LPs to participate in.

While tools can foster more transparency, they do not necessarily help to prevent micromanagement. In fact, some leaders and managers might be inclined to focus too much on the data in tools to probe rather than to help members of the team, thus disincentivizing members of the firm to use the tools. Be careful of using tools thinkingnit improves the culture; culture is something you foster first, then the tools can support.

Micromanagement tends to happen most in low trust cultures. How do you foster trust then? You adopt a "no blame" culture where mistakes are openly and transparently discussed to focus on resolution and learning, rather than assigning blame & punishment. This can only happen though if the culture and values are written down, agreed to as a firm, and actively practiced in all phases of the business, from hiring to promotions to meeting conduct, to engaging with startups, investors, and partners. With a solid culture as the foundation, it is easier for every member of the firm to work transparently and trust each other.

The best way to avoid the constant need to "check in" is for the entire team to implement OKRs (Objectives and key results). It is a system used at many tech companies and startups to align the organization along objectives (important and clearly defined goals) and 3 to 5 key results that are measurable to track the achievement of those goals. Then at the start and end of every week, have a team "standup" where every member of the team shares progress, roadblocks, asks, and key tasks before next standup. This ensures visibility on all meaningful work without having to interrupt the flow of work during the week.

Realize the building your online authority through social media is a long game. The key to success is consistency, authentic high-quality content creation, and engagement with others. Keep yourself to a posting schedule by batching content creation, scheduling posting via an automation tool, and building up the habit of gathering content ideas and posting content.