What A Managing Partner At Hyperspace Ventures Wishes They Had Known Before Entering The Venture Capital Industry
Peter, a Managing Partner at Hyperspace Ventures with prior experience in private investing and family offices, found the product side of venture capital more demanding than anticipated. The most valuable lesson learned was the acute importance of "product management and road mapping," including forecasting capital requirements and revenue generation to successfully navigate funding rounds.
Venture Capital, Product Management, Investing, Financial Planning, Strategic Roadmap
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Peter Fox
Managing Partner
Hyperspace Ventures
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hil|, 2017
N/A
Business Management & Admin
Finance (Banking, Fintech, Investing), Technology
Business Strategy
None Applicable
Video Highlights
1. Product management and road mapping skills are acutely important in venture capital, even more so than initial investment knowledge.
2. Understanding the timeline and capital requirements for product development is crucial for success.
3. Proactive roadmapping helps in assessing revenue generation potential and future funding needs.
Transcript
What have you learned about this role that you wish someone had told you before you entered the industry?
Coming into this, I was fairly familiar with private investing and venture capital. I've also been a partner at a family office for the past seven years, so I have experience investing in many different startups. I felt comfortable with that part.
However, on the product development side, which may be somewhat unique to our setup, I think having product management experience would have been very helpful. This isn't necessarily for all venture capital firms.
It's very helpful to be able to proactively roadmap and see what features we want coming down the pipeline. This includes understanding the timeline and capital requirements.
Whether you're building out the platform or just investing in a company, you need to see how much money and time it will take to reach certain points. You also need to understand if the company can generate enough revenue to continue after spending that capital.
Finally, you need to consider how this all looks in terms of raising the next round of funding. So, product management and roadmapping are things I've learned are acutely important over time.