Back to the Bay
Joining DCM Ventures
Welcome to the tenth edition of Black Box. Last time, I discussed what I look for when sourcing startups. This time, I continue on that theme with some personal news.
The first time I heard about startups and venture capital was during a career trek sponsored by the entrepreneurship center at Dartmouth. I was curious about tech but applied mostly because the two-week trip was completely paid for. As a recent sophomore, I hadn’t even created a LinkedIn profile yet.
The Seattle leg came and went, dominated by a two-day residency at Amazon. We did spend a morning at Madrona, but I reasoned that because I had never heard of what they did or any of the startups they invested in, it must be less important than the Everything Store. I still hadn’t bothered to look up VC by the time we arrived in the Bay Area, making me probably the most venture-illiterate person to ever share a table with Tim Draper:
It took a visit to Y Combinator for me to pay attention. Talking to founders in the 15W class, I started asking myself whether I believed in their vision for how the future should work (or at least, the small part of the future that they were building). Many ideas seemed outlandish, but a few were intriguing and I nodded along as the entrepreneur explained excitedly. I was still wrestling with my positions on several startups as we pulled up to our hotel.
The next day, Norwest hosted us. Listening to VCs describe their work for the second time, I realized that what I was doing at YC was not only intellectually fulfilling but also an actual job. In fact, the exercise I was doing in my head was called thesis building and people could both test those theses by investing in such startups—and earn a lot of money if they were right. I couldn’t think of a more interesting thing to do. I wanted to learn more. I needed to learn more.
So I came back. My first internship was at Personal Capital, a fintech startup in the Financial District. However, I was living in former military housing on Treasure Island because it was friendlier to my hourly wage than living in the city proper. I didn’t mind though because being hourly also meant my work-life was more than reasonable. This gave me the time I needed to meet with people, study (Venture Deals, anyone?), and fall in love with the city. Looking at the San Francisco sunset from the island, the grey-blue Ferry Building up against the water and the yet-uncrowned Salesforce Tower aglow somewhere behind it, I vowed that the next time I come back, it would be as a VC.
That was six years ago.
Venture is a notoriously difficult industry to break into; suffice to say the time it took for me to succeed speaks to how real that was in my experience. What I’d like to focus on instead is gratitude. The saying that doing something hard takes a village is trite because it’s true, but what the saying doesn’t include is the fact that many villagers — most, if you come from an immigrant family like me — are people who will help you for no reason. Half of my mentors are cold outreaches who just decided to keep checking in on me. Several are chance encounters from “extracurriculars” and events with whom I keep in touch. Miraculously, more than one is a Personal Capital colleague from all those summers ago. That they bothered to answer me then (and still do!) puzzles me, but I am extremely grateful to each of them.
I am also grateful for the incredible luck that I have experienced. I happened to have a mutual connection on LinkedIn with my now principal, the mutual happened to like his hiring post, and I happened to see it. DCM turned out to be a thesis-driven, early stage VC based in the Bay Area that invests heavily in the development of its associates. I was fortunate to be offered a chance. None of this was guaranteed, and I don’t take any of it for granted.
But gratitude is not enough. I’ve worked with enough startups as an advisor to know that founders walk a much harder path than wannabe investors. To all the entrepreneurs going through hell right now, take care of yourself and keep grinding. Shoot me a note at jiwang[at]dcm[dot]com if there’s anything I can help with, especially if you’re (getting) ready to raise. I mean it. Without the kindness of then-strangers, I wouldn’t be where I am now. It’s time for me to do the same for others.
And with hard work and some luck, we will get your venture out of the storm and back to the bay too. I’ll meet you there. ∎
Founders and fellow investors, I'd love to chat! Feel free to reach out on LinkedIn, email, or on Twitter @jwang_18. Talk soon!
Of course, I am also grateful to my parents and friends if for no other reason than enduring my constant talk about VC for years. Apologies in advance — it will only get worse now that I actually am one.
Programming note: Given this transition, I’m not sure what my publishing cadence will be going forward. I do intend to continue writing regularly once things settle. Hopefully my investing experience will provide inspiration for more interesting articles. Thanks for your patience in the meantime!