VC Expert Interview - Highs and Lows
- 03:28
Uzma answers, what are some of the highs and lows that come with working in venture capital day to day?
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Some of the highs that I have felt in my time is seeing initial patient testing, starting with a diagnostic or a product. That is, you know, quite exciting because you, you've worked with the founder on a vision where they're looking at either treating a patient or diagnosing a patient or making an impact on the patient journey. And so when those first units go out on sale and you get your first patients go through the, through the testing cycle, that can be very exciting. because you get the first sort of test in the field winning a deal often enough it's a very long process. a lot of the investments that I have made in my career as a VC have been with founders where there was a long, you know, sort of eight months to a year and a half dating phase of building that trust with them, trying to add value to what they're doing. And it's both way, so they're sort of test driving you to understand whether they want to take capital for you, whether you'd be any useful for them on their board. And you are also getting a feel for the business and getting data points over a period of time of how the team is executing and a better understanding of, of the business itself. And so when you finally get to a stage where you either preempt around or use or issue a term sheet and the founder kind of sort of shakes your hand and is accepted your term sheet, that can be quite, quite paramount because it's, there's a lot of work and effort that has gone into it before into that relationship before you get to the stage of issuing a term sheet. When companies raise follow on funding, that is great validation. So, you know, I think companies will raise every one and a half years to two years they'll raise a new financing. So in that period, they're just executing and building and you're just sort of like waiting for proof points of is this going in the right direction? Am I the only one who has this thesis or is, or do other people also see what I'm seeing? And so when they're able to raise follow on funding round from other investors, that's quite, quite a validation as an investor to see that actually other people are also seeing what your thesis is. In terms of lows venture is inherently risky. A lot of the companies in venture, do not make it. And if you're doing venture right, you should have a very high failure rate. Failure rate. You should just be failing fast and more efficiently. And in that sense it is tough when you are sort of, you know, seeing companies go down. And that can be quite tough. I think in the current market, more broadly, fundraising is very tough. And so we're seeing founders and entrepreneurs really sort of burnt out from this sort of like trying to race through a, a difficult market. I find that both, you know an area where I feel like I can try leaning in and support as much, but also I understand as an investor I'm still at an arm's length from it and, it's quite difficult to see, you know, great founders and great companies just struggling because of where the market is currently.