Behind the scenes of Prayingforexits: going from memes to raising a fund with Mr Exits, Managing Partner of Exits Cap

Join us for a special episode with the one and only #PrayingForExits for an insider view on how sharing memes on social media led him to raise a fund in Sillicon Valley.

Patricia Borlovan

Jan 18, 2024

Transcript

Join us for another episode of the NEUVC series, which is dedicated to those embarking on their journey in the VC. In this episode, Freddie Macpherson, Analyst at Isomer Capital, and Linda Võeras, Associate at Karma Ventures, are joined by the one and only Mr. Exits, who runs Exits Cap.

Exits Cap is a Seed and Series - A fund launched in 2022 focused on investments in the SaaS, Consumer Internet, and Aerospace and Defence verticals. But you may know who we’re talking about from the name of the infamous social media account Praying for Exits.

With over 80,000 followers on Instagram, we all know his memes. Today, Mr. Exits lifts the lid on the US versus Europe by setting up his social media accounts and how they've been useful to him on his journey.

My journey into venture was like a fall into the industry sort of a thing.

Scroll on ⏬ For the chapters & core learnings 🧠

This episode is brought to you in partnership with — Zero One Hundred Conferences, which organizes LP-GP networking events for PE & VC players in various regions in Europe with a global outreach. In the last 8 years, they have hosted 47 events with 1500+ speakers, 6000+ investors, and 11500+ attendees.

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Chapters:

00:00:00 - Introduction to Mr. Exit and His Social Media Platform
00:02:10 - The Journey to Venture Capital
00:03:51 - The Journey to Becoming a VC
00:05:34 - The Impetus for "Praying for Exits"
00:07:12 - Memes and Influence in Venture Capital
00:12:07 - Building Relationships with Founders
00:15:29 - Cold Outreach and High Conversion Rates
00:17:09 - Scrutiny in the Public Eye
00:20:20 - Building a Brand with High Integrity
00:23:42 - Overcoming Anxiety and Staying Genuine on Social Media
00:26:55 - Finding Value in Social Media
00:28:35 - Revealing the Opacity of Venture Capital
00:33:36 - The Value of Attention in Early Stage Companies
00:35:16 - Utilizing Attention for Success in Venture Capital
00:36:57 - Building with Integrity in Venture Capital

Q: What’s the backstory of Praying for Exits?

Praying for Exits started as a journal for me.
As a young VC, there was a lot of things I was experiencing and didn’t feel was very well represented in traditional forms of media around VC at the time. There was TechCrunch, Axios, Information, etc. Large publications dedicated to VC and early stage technology.
But here you could find the glowing reviews of companies, where you’ll read how well they do. I felt there was a huge gap between what was reported and the real world.
I wanted a place to post my own opinions and thoughts on how I thought venture capital was functioning.

Q: What are three learnings from building Praying for Exits?

People that you look up to probably feel the same way that you do about things.
If you find a way to communicate that, you’d be surprised what bond you can build.
There’s a lot more people that care about VC that you think.
I inititally thought this is a small segment of the industry, but every day, every week I see increasingly interesting and diverse groups of people paying attention to what I am doing.
At the end of the day, everything has its flaws.
I came into the venture capital industry without really loving the venture community. I sort of felt ostracized by it in a way and I didn;t really feel I was part of a white hot center, but the other way around.
However, I found that when you become more central to the VC community, there is a lot of beauty in it, and I started to appreciate that.
It’s about the mission of what everybody is trying to do. Especially, if you look at founders who are building things that are really important for the world. It’s inspiring, and I consider myself lucky to be part of this transformational processes.