Most Important Skills for a Partner at Morado Ventures LLC
For a venture capitalist at Morado Ventures LLC, tech savviness and analytical skills are crucial for "constructive conversation" with founders and for evaluating numerous pitches. The ability to identify patterns in successful companies and build a network, coupled with either broad ("a little bit of knowledge in lots of different fields") or deep sector expertise, are also key to success in this role.
Technology, Analytical Skills, Networking, Pattern Recognition, Business Acumen
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Henry Sohn
Partner
Morado Ventures LLC
UC Berkeley
n/a
Anthropology, Sociology
Finance (Banking, Fintech, Investing), Technology
Finance
Disabled, Immigrant
Video Highlights
1. Tech Savviness: A basic understanding of technology and the ability to engage in intelligent conversations with technologists and founders is crucial.
2. Analytical Skills and Pattern Recognition: The ability to analyze pitches, understand markets and competitors, and identify patterns in successful companies and founders is key.
3. Networking: While not necessarily needing to be an extrovert, comfort and skill in networking with people across the industry is important for success
Transcript
What skills are most important for a job like yours?
We're tech company investors. In this business, you don't necessarily have to be an engineer or a technologist per se. I've met people in my industry who aren't, but you want to be tech-savvy.
You want to have at least an aptitude in technology. You need enough understanding of the basic underpinnings of what's being built to have an intelligent conversation. This is because you'll be talking to founders and operators.
You want to have a constructive conversation, so having that understanding is important. You also want to be analytical. You're presented with many different pitches and ideas, and you need to be curious enough to dig in deep.
You should understand the technologies, markets, players, and competitors. Being analytical is important, as is pattern matching.
Over time, you'll see many companies and meet many founders. You'll eventually conclude that founders with certain traits or that give you a good feeling tend to be successful. You're trying to look for those patterns in others.
Networking is also important. You want to be comfortable networking with people. I'm an introvert by nature, but I've learned to be a networker over time, and that's something that can be learned.
In this business, you either want to be a "Dante" or "deep." Being a "Dante" means being somewhat shallow in many different areas because you cover fields like AI, crypto, manufacturing, agriculture, or health tech.
So, you may need a little knowledge in many different fields. Alternatively, you can be very deep in a specific vertical, perhaps with a master's or PhD in machine learning. I've met people who have either of these traits, and it seems to work.