Blogging is an ideal communication mode for VCs, since the relationships they hope to build with entrepreneurs are direct and personal. Blog posts provide a good platform for the VC to share their worldview and reveal their personality, while also putting their overall savvy on display. Even the sites’ graphics convey the personal styles of these movers and shakers, and the useful information they offer is a great free education. Here’s a list of 5 of the best bets in VC blogging; people who know what they’re doing and are willing to bring you along for the informational ride.
David Skok- For Entrepreneurs Now a VC with Matrix Partners, David Skok has the experience of having started up five different companies. He’s seen failure as well as success, and says that he learned more from the failure. In this blog, a selection of pithy, graphic-heavy articles are very nicely indexed, and together they constitute a virtual instruction manual on financial and strategic aspects of starting a business. His emphasis is on facts, figures, charts and graphs, and the absence of sales-y chat is refreshing. A good example of his style is “Designing Startup Metrics to Drive Successful Behavior.”
Chris Dixon- cdixon.org After a start in NYC as an entrepreneur and seed investor, Chris Dixon is now based in Silicon Valley – a vantage point from which he provides a wide-angle view of tech industry trends. He’s good at narrowing his focus from the general to the specific, reporting on the direction that an individual business is taking or providing concrete insights in blog posts like “The Idea Maze.”
Paul Graham – Essays The founder of YCombinator, Paul Graham has a gift for thoughtful, reflective pieces that allow his very human-centered take on business to shine through, together with his extensive experience. His blog is linked to YCombinator’s site, and it includes links to YCombinator's "Hacker News" feed, website, and annual "Startup School." A good example of his writing is found in this essay, in which he unpacks and lays out all the emotional intensity found in startup relationships: “What Startups are Really Like.”
Fred Wilson - AVC Fred Wilson’s blog is more general than many of the others, venturing into the terrain of political and popular culture themes. His blog’s subtitle is “Musings of a VC in NYC,” and that phrase expresses his tone of casual pleasure. He’s a fixture among the VC technocrats, and the vigorous dialog that he hosts in his comment section is a daily stop for many involved in tech startups and funding. A recent and very complete example of the value he provides to his users is the “Firefox OS - Initial Reactions” post. Complete with many photos, it has drawn 140 comments so far, and the conversations that take place in these comments make you feel like you’re a fly on the wall with a turbocharged group of insiders having drinks and swapping ideas.
Mark Suster - Both Sides of the Table Like David Skok and Chris Dixon (above), Mark Suster was an entrepreneur before he moved to the VC side of the table. His focus is on early-stage technology companies, and each polished article gives actionable information. He seems to be a teacher at heart, and he conveys nuts and bolts directions in a clean engaging manner. A great example is his post, “How to Present and Answer Questions in a Team Presentation or VC Pitch.”
Subscribing to a range of these top-of-the-line VC blogs, and engaging in some of the comment conversations, will provide you with a streamlined route to MBA-level knowledge of the overall startup field.
