The Offense-Defense Dynamic: Striking the Right Balance
PLUS: Former Bessemer Venture Partners EiR building something new
Behind The Scenes
As a venture capitalist, it’s easy to get caught up in constantly playing defense. The endless flow of inbound deals can quickly fill a schedule, leaving little time for anything else. Add to that the critical portfolio work, where responsiveness to founders is a top priority, and it becomes clear how limited time truly is.
A typical VC’s calendar is tightly packed, often down to the minute. Many seasoned VCs are constantly running late, overwhelmed by their commitments. The reason becomes clear: venture capital is, at its core, a client service business. While the role aspires to focus on sound investment decisions, supporting founders, and stewarding capital responsibly, in practice, it involves catering to entrepreneurs as discerning clients and prioritizing responsiveness to LPs. For junior VCs, this also means serving superiors, and even at senior levels, partners are treated as clients, requiring thoughtfulness and support. In this dynamic, time often feels like it’s not one’s own.
This dynamic brings up an important distinction: playing defense versus playing offense.
Playing Defense involves reactive tasks like managing deal flow, supporting portfolio companies, and handling day-to-day business needs. These are crucial but can easily consume an entire schedule if left unchecked.
Playing Offense is about being proactive and strategic, engaging in activities that create long-term value for a career and a firm. This might include deep, focused work like writing or conducting thematic research, proactively reaching out to founders aligned with the fund’s thesis, or contributing to firm-building efforts like events and branding. It could also mean investing in personal growth, such as developing soft skills or building a personal brand to position oneself for future success.
The challenge lies in striking the right balance. How can the reactive demands of the job be managed without overshadowing the proactive strategies that drive long-term impact? What does "playing offense" look like in a role, and how can space be made for it? These are questions worth exploring to define what success in venture capital truly means.
(This article was written by David Beisel from Venture Upward. For full version of this article, you can read them here)
Geeks of the Week
Startup Name: Fintora
Geography: US
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Founder(s) Background: CEO & Co-founder at Mandae (backed by Monashees, Qualcomm Ventures, Valor Capital).
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