"At the day, it's not about virtual or in-person meetings. it's more about people craving connection. Humans are, by nature, social animals. On top of that, we live in a world where we have never been more connected than we are today. The town square is a millisecond click away. We pull up a browser, depending on your Wi-Fi speed, you can see everything on Twitter, LinkedIn, and other platforms." - David Zhou
"In terms of things to be aware of, it depends on the type of limited partner you're talking to. For larger limited partners like institutions, pension funds, endowments, they see venture as more of an asset class. It is a smaller bucket in the private equity portfolio. The private equity to them is a combination of venture, growth, and buyout. For the smaller LPs like individuals, the smaller family offices, the next gen family offices, there's the largest wealth transfer we've ever seen, but it's not always associated with the knowledge transfer. To them, venture is less of an asset class but more of an access class. In that world of understanding venture as an access class, the incentives are still financial return, but it's also deal flow, co-investments, and a bunch of other things. When you're thinking about the LP landscape, or being an LP yourself, what is your primary motivation to be an LP?" - David Zhou
"I remember one of my swim coaches told me that the reason you're interested in swimming isn’t because of friends. While they do help, you're interested in swimming continuously after many years because you've accomplished something. The more you accomplish, the more you naturally you get interested in it over time. And venture is a long cycle, long time horizon. These short wins of ‘I did something that impacted a founder's trajectory’ really helped me want to stay in here longer." - David Zhou
In this episode, Jeremy Au speaks on Silicon Valley thought leadership, On Deck community building, and emerging LPs investing in VC funds.
Keywords: David Zhou, Silicon Valley Thought Leadership, On Deck Community Building, Emerging LPs Investing in VC Funds, USA, VC, Founder Story
