Diary of an Emerging Manager - Part 2: The First Steps
XoXo, Venture Whisperer (The VC Gossip Girl)
Editor’s Note – Andreas Munk Holm, co-founder of eu.vc
Venture capital is tough, and every fund manager has their own war stories. This is one European emerging manager’s raw take on building a fund from scratch—no filter, just his truth.
He critiques public money in VC, calls out accelerators for self-interest (the focus of this one), and questions whether impact investing delivers real returns. And that’s just the start.
We’re sharing this to spark discussion. Agree or not, let’s debate—healthy discourse makes us all better. Let’s dive in.
As I wrote in the previous log entry, not long after meeting our friend from Singapore, we found ourselves in a virtual classroom. Having delivered hundreds of workshops over the years, it was a strange experience to suddenly be a participant in an accelerator program designed for emerging managers this time, or so they promised).
We were super excited and pumped, and we couldn't wait to sign our LP commitments.
Unfortunately, we quickly realised that we were actually stuck in a sales funnel - not a real accelerator. Surprise, surprise… The Simpsons knew it again…
Still, we wanted to understand what it takes for an emerging manager to bring our first fund to life. (Spoiler: it sounded way easier than it actually is.)
The program introduced us to some random people—ex-big-tech employees, ex-VCs, ex-tech consultants—who had apparently created their first fund simply by asking a few friends to pull together a few millions. (Just like that)
Listening to them, I wasn’t sure what they were trying to sell us: their back-office services or the ultimate American VC dream. You know, the one where everyone just has $500k lying around to chip in when a buddy decides to set up a fund. They swore up and down that this model works everywhere in the world.
Growing up in a post-communist country, I had serious doubts—but hey, whatever. 😅 So I listened carefully, waiting for the BIG SECRET to be revealed. We sat through six sessions before bailing—not doing the assignments and basically hitting our ChatGPT limitations. 🤷♂️
Despite the program being very American (maybe too American for someone from the EU), extremely salesy, and repetitive, I’m actually glad we participated.
Yes yes - it was obviously a marketing tool, but I’m still thankful for the opportunity.
You might wonder why, after such a lukewarm review?
Well, here’s the thing: even though the program could’ve been much better with minimal extra effort, we did learn three key things - and you should:
You CAN secure money from private individuals quickly. Forget institutional LPs—you don’t need them. This was great news for us since we know several angels. Most importantly, it worked! Our first LP ticket came from a UHNWI friend. (Strangely it was true)
There’s a pattern in the fund thesis. Everyone seems to be focused on AI or DeepTech, paired with some socioeconomic or environmental angle (gender equity, net-zero, etc.), almost as if there’s a template for it. Genuine ideas were rare, but those few stood out because they were rooted in real motivation to solve a problem.
Lesson learned: Raising for a fund is like raising for a startup. If your problem statement is weak or your motivation isn’t authentic, you’ll just blend into the crowd.General Solicitation is a nightmare. Seriously, unless you’re an LP or raising a fund, you probably won’t come across this in your life—but it’s a headache. You absolutely need to stay on top of compliance here.
(Do not tell anyone, but we ran a basic compliance check with ChatGPT before sending stuff to your lawyers—it sure saved a few bucks. On a positive note, the program included a ChatGPT-like platform trained on their data, which made it super accurate and up-to-date on related matters.)
So, that was our first experience as wannabe fund managers working with peers, creating the first version of our materials, and validating our thesis. We started to understand what lies ahead, but here is the thing: You don't know that you don't know, right? This is especially true for fund finances - something we will explore in the next “episode.” Onward and upward! 🚀
This article is part of a series featuring real lessons, insights, and practical advice on building a venture capital firm. Read Part One - The Decision here.
XoXo, Venture Whisperer (The VC Gossip Girl)
Upper East Side Ventures
