Online resources that help you embrace Venture Capital | by Paulina Szyzdek | Oct, 2022

On Oct 14, 2022

Some time ago I reflected on my journey from banking to VC investing and I put together resources that I used during the transition.

I’ve learned a lot over the past three years. I’ve met thousands of inspiring companies and people who do what they do with a true passion and who build disruptive, long-lasting products on the market. It’s been an incredibly self-developing and mind-blowing time that made me realize that I eventually found my path and that I’m going in the right direction in my life and that supporting founders is the most rewarding job I could’ve ever imagine. So remember, it’s just your determination and real passion that matter. You can learn everything else. The process of learning and discovering new things is fulfilling and joyful. The process of discovering your passion is one of the most important things to go through in life.

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” — Mark Twain

After this lengthy introduction, below you can find some ideas on where to go to better understand this mysterious world of Venture Capital.

20 Minute VC by Harry Stebbings. Harry is the Founder of The Twenty Minute VC, the world’s largest independent venture capital podcast with over 100,000 listeners, partnerships with Mattermark and ProductHunt, and guests from over 200VCs including the likes of Accel, Kleiner, Y Combinator, Benchmark, and Index. He is also a contributor for TechCrunch covering all things startups and VC funding and has recently joined Jason Lemkin at Saastr to build out the platform and expand into new verticals.

WoVen — Women of Venture by Canaan is a platform that fosters community and programming for women across the innovation ecosystem. WoVen represents women in venture capital, venture-backed companies, and other adventuresome women in healthcare, tech, and business.

Voices of Women in Venture by Maddie Callander.
A curated playlist of podcast episodes featuring the voices of female leaders in venture capital. Many VC podcasts exist, but so few feature women’s voices. Now you can listen to them here, new episodes are added weekly.

Founders and Funders by Alumni Venture Groups. An AVG podcast where Entrepreneurs & Investors discuss building great companies.

Invest Like The Best by Patrick O’Shaughnessy. In each episode, I speak with the most interesting people I can find, whose stories will help you better invest your time and your money, and teach you how to play with boundaries in your own life. You will find links to each episode and the corresponding show notes at the bottom of this page.

Venture Stories Podcast by Village Global — Venture Stories by Village Global takes you inside the world of venture capital and technology, featuring enlightening interviews with entrepreneurs, investors, and tech industry leaders. The podcast is hosted by Village Global partner and co-founder Erik Torenberg.

Product Hunt Radio– A weekly podcast with people creating and exploring the future. Tune in every week with Ryan Hoover as he’s joined by founders, investors, journalists, and makers to discuss the latest in tech. It’s not always entirely about VC but a lot of content is related to founders, startups, angel investors, VCs. A lot of inspiration and examples of extraordinary people.

a16z Podcast by Andreessen Horowitz. The a16z Podcast discusses tech and culture trends, news, and the future — especially as ‘software eats the world. It features industry experts, business leaders, and other interesting thinkers and voices from around the world. Multiple episodes are released every week.

Angel: The Podcast by Jason Calacanis. Great interviews with angel and institutional venture capital investors.

Intangibles by Steve Berg. The podcasts are about the traits, behaviors, and qualities that entrepreneurs can cultivate to help them become more successful.

The Full Ratchet — A podcast dedicated to demystifying the world of Venture Capital. Almost 200 episodes done by Nick Moran.

DealMakers by Alejandro Cremades. The DealMakers podcast features entrepreneurs that have been successful with M&A transactions or capital-raising efforts.

The VentureFizz by Keith Cline.

Swisspreneur– Swiss market in the podcasts. Relatively new but a really good source of what is happening in the Swiss market.

The Pain of Scale by Notion Capital

Associated hosted by: Francesca Baillieu, Lois Ollerenshaw, and Petra Müller

The Bootstrapped VC by Backstage Capital

Startup School Radio by YC

Traction by NextView Ventures

Collective Wisdom for Tech Startups by Founder Collective

Ventured by Kleiner Perkins.

Human Proof of Concept by Janelle Anderson of city life sciences.

Venture perspective by Scale Venture Partners.

Origins by Notation Capital. A podcast about Limited Partners, created by Notation Capital.

Lead by Menlo Ventures.

Greymatter by Greylock Partners.

Acquired by David Rosenthal of Madrona Ventures.

The Arena by Kauffman Fellows.

Femstreet

Accelerated

Inside Venture Capital

Going VC

Exponential View

Strictly VC

The Information

Term Sheet

The Hustle

Yet Another (ex-)VC Blog by John Gannon. One of the best sources of information about VC, is how to get a venture capital job, career paths, what it is, and how to progress in this particular business. It’s seriously, the go-to source for anyone trying to break into venture capital. John came up with the idea to create a VC Academy and accept applications from people that want to excel in their skills, work on projects as if they were a VC, and get an experience that will be crucial while talking to the companies during interviews.

Feld Thoughts by Brad Feld. Brad has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures. Brad is also a co-founder of Techstars.

Ask The VC by Fred Wilson. Fred is a venture capitalist since 1986 and writes frequent, almost daily posts about the market, and startups from a VC perspective.

17,000 credits blog: there and back again essays on venture capital, technology, and everything in between written by Jordan Kong.

TechCrunch and VentureBeat professional news websites publishing daily info, and events in VC and startup environments.

VC Academy– Venture Capital Education to accelerate your career. VC Academy offers several courses you can purchase and complete in your own pace. You can have a mentor or just do the assignments on your own. They have a huge library and source of reports about VC you can use. There are also free options you can also benefit from without buying the full courses.

Venture Hacks — run by Angel List

VCdium– VCdium is a place to discuss the business of VC. Its goal is to facilitate a better understanding of the work behind every deal and valuation — lifting the veil on an industry that often plays its cards close to the chest.

The Startup Station — is particularly recommended to future VC-to-be candidates

as well as startup founders. Everything you need to know in order to model and value early-stage software and service startups you can find in this condensed but beginner-friendly course!