This document provides an overview of the life of a venture capitalist (VC) through various snippets and anecdotes. It describes a typical week for a VC which includes meeting with management teams, conducting due diligence on deals, attending networking events, and dealing with crises at portfolio companies. It notes that being a VC involves hard work, dealing with difficult founders, and constant setbacks and challenges like markets collapsing or competition emerging. The reality involves a high degree of ambiguity, immense time pressures, and frustration as most efforts will produce modest results while only a small percentage lead to rewards. In the end, being a VC is described as a "perpetually humbling business" that is constantly assaulting one with challenges

1. Life as a VC…
Shantanu Bhagwat,
Amadeus Capital Partners

2. VCs are now sexy…
“VCs are now sexy after years of missing
mainstream America. They are the new rock
stars, the new swashbuckling financiers who
heroically forge multibillion-dollar companies
overnight.”
Source (and Copyright): Industry Standard, Feb 14, 2000 and May 1, 2000
“…visit Hummer Winblad in San Francisco
where partner Hank Berry says, ‘we’re on
rocket fuel’.”

3. …and cool !
“I think being a VC is lots of fun…Just look at
the job description. You go around the country
talking to the brightest entrepreneurs, learning
about their best ideas, and helping them grow
their companies…
Source (and Copyright): Josh Newman in “Who wants to be a Venture Capitalist” y Tom Stein in Red Herring (May 2000)
Its mind-boggling that someone could do that
for a living”

4. A week in the life of a VC
• Monday a.m. – Meet management team
• Monday p.m. – Call portfolio co. CTO to dig the
technology
• Tuesday a.m. – Lunch in the City with M&A house
• Tuesday p.m. – Put in Term Sheet; Discuss legal
brief over drinks…
• Wednesday – Complete due diligence
• Friday a.m. – Close the deal
• Friday p.m. – Networking Event
• Saturday – Golf ?!

5. Source (and Copyright): thevc.com
The fun part…

6. The magic word…
Source (and Copyright): www.dilbert.com; Dilbert
Now, wake up!

7. The terrible hangover..
Source (and Copyright): Isaacs, Feb 2001; Kellogg Tech Venture 2001 Anthology, “Lessons for Venture Capitalists”
“West Coast VCs run like a herd of gazelles in
the Serengeti….
…the herd has stopped, and they are trying to
figure out where the water is..”
- Mario Rosati
(William Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati)

8. • Monday a.m. – Meet management team
• Tuesday a.m. – Think hard..what is really
exciting about this deal?
• Wednesday – Crisis at portfolio company; drop
everything
• Thursday 2 a.m. – Miss the last bus home by 3
mins
• Friday a.m. – Printout technology white-paper
for weekend reading
• Saturday p.m. – Prepare discussion points for
8am mtg. on Monday
A week in the life of a VC
(circa early ‘00s)

9. What no one told you about
being a VC
• HARD work…
• Cantankerous founders…
• Sweat, toil and tears…

10. Murphy’s Law …
• What can go wrong will go wrong…
– Founders depart…
• leaving disruption in their wake
– Markets collapse
– Unexpected stumbling blocks emerge…
• technology and otherwise
– …and of course, Competition catches up

11. The Reality…
• High degree of ambiguity
• Immense pressure on time
• Constant balancing act
– How do you allocate your time?
• Frustration
– On average, (at least) 30% of your effort will be
misdirected; 60% will produce only modest
achievement and less than 10% of your effort will
probably show some results/ rewards
• Do you really want to work in such an
environment?

12. Something to think about…
“This is a perpetually humbling business…
You are assaulted every day with dozens of
challenges…
Source (and Copyright): “Burn, baby, burn”, Red Herring (Michael Perkins, June 2000)
It never gets easier”
- Michael Moritz, General Partner
Sequoia Capital and lead investor in Yahoo!

13. Questions, Comments,
Anecdotes...
Shantanu Bhagwat
Amadeus Capital Partners
Email: sbhagwat@amadeuscapital.com
Tel: +44 20 7024 6900