Read on Twitter
Getting a late start here @BrendanFWallace. I had a varied background before getting into venture. I don't think there's any one right path. I got an "F" in Algebra II in high school, but also have a PhD in physics from @Caltech. I had also co-founded a company @Expanseinc. https://twitter.com/BrendanFWallace/status/1380195512167452673
Personally, I wouldn't have been able to break into VC had I not started as an entrepreneur, where I pitched lots of VCs and got to know them from that side of the table
But after breaking in, almost all of my early investments had ties to my academic background (examples below)
But after breaking in, almost all of my early investments had ties to my academic background (examples below)
1) I did my PhD in quantum information and helped @NEA with their seed diligence for @IonQ_Inc, then was in a fortunate position to co-lead the A as an early @GVteam investment
2) @ihat from @Opendoor was my office mate at Stanford (pure dumb luck)
2) @ihat from @Opendoor was my office mate at Stanford (pure dumb luck)
3) One of the http://Mode.net co-founders (Kevin Tang) did his PhD @Caltech with Steven Low and I had taken "advanced topics in networking" with Steven
4) I met @patrickc at a @foundersfund event and we became friends from our mutual passion for physics
4) I met @patrickc at a @foundersfund event and we became friends from our mutual passion for physics
5) my first investment @sequoia was to lead the A into @AMPRobotics. I first met @mhorowit when trying to recruit him to do his PhD @Caltech!
6) I first met @chranderson from @watershed during admit week but was unsuccessful in convincing him to attend! (he went to @stripe)
6) I first met @chranderson from @watershed during admit week but was unsuccessful in convincing him to attend! (he went to @stripe)
7) @kathyhannun from @DandelionEnergy was an RA @Stanford with Matt Kraning, one of my Expanse co-founders, and Matt was one of the first investors in Dandelion and he introduced me to Kathy
These are ~half of my investments. Most of the others have similar stories. It's *not lost on me* how lucky I was to attend both @Stanford and @Caltech and the impact that my peers at those institutions had on my life (also the technical training)
I know that I've had it easier than most. But it's worth mentioning that there was a 1.8 high school GPA, community college, a deployment to Afghanistan (as a civilian working for @DARPA) and grinding through the ups and down of a start-up just to name a few formative experiences
I'm sharing this thread so that others who want to break into VC can see how some of the pieces came together (at least for me). I couldn't be more grateful to work with my partners @sequoia and know that for every talented person who "makes it" there are thousands who don't
