5 steps for learning VC: a tried-and-true guide + resources

*cheesy stock photo of money because what else would you use for a blog post about VC?*

At Kickstart Seed Fund, we just hired our new Director of Platform (yay, Karen Zelnick!) and I helped put together a short list of resources to bring her up to speed on venture capital — what it means, what it is, and how we do it. Then I figured, why not share it with everyone?

So here’s that list, broken down into five main steps (plus a bonus at the end for anyone interested in community platforms). Would love to hear any feedback you have on great resources you’ve found and add them!

Table of Contents

• Step one: Know startups.
• Step two: Get your VC basics down.
• Step three: Stay up-to-date.
• Step four: Know your community and live it.
• Step five: Know your fund.
• Bonus step: Learning about community platforms.

Step one: Know startups.

There’s a reason (other than the fact that they made so much money) why you see a lot of successful entrepreneurs become VCs, but not so much the other way around: they know how to run a company. That means they have real, actionable advice they can give to their portfolio companies and have a sense of what works and what doesn’t.