I have been a VC for over 12 years, and while it’s not too long a tenure, it also isn’t a short one.

But if you can change your mind in a few minutes, imagine how much you can change in a decade. During this time, I have definitely grown in my experience, thoughts and approaches.

The journey hasn’t been a linear one, but I thought maybe this is a good time where I reflect and share my learnings for the benefit of others.

Many of these values (and lessons) that I have learned may not be new to you, but as values go, they are unique to everyone, and everyone applies them differently. But I do hope it provides you with a different perspective through my lens.

(Re)building trust

If building a business is tough, the next hardest thing to build is trust, especially one that has been broken before.

Also Read: 5 lessons from 5 years in venture capital

Building trust is a long-term game, and speaking in investment terms, it starts from the early stage, and you need to keep investing time and effort to make sure it gets stronger. For trust to get to the stage of being unconditional and truly mutually cherished is akin to getting to the unicorn stage- not easily done and not as common.

Trust is the most important currency we speak of in the VC world (or at least within AJWC). The value it brings is almost immeasurable. When we have mutual trust between us and our stakeholders (investors, founders, and also especially between partners), conversations become more honest and impactful, deals close quicker, and we are seen as a partner of success rather than just as an investor.

For me, I have also learned that trust needs to be equally strong between co-workers and co-partners. Having my trust broken once before in a business partnership, I became more resolved that in my new partnerships and ventures, it is vital for me to work with people who are not only trustworthy but also value it as much as I do.

Lastly, trust in yourself is often forgotten too. You will learn that there will always be naysayers or detractors who will try to bring you down. But you need to trust in your own abilities, actions, and conscience to rise above all the negativity.

We talk about trust between people, but trust is also about believing in yourself to be able to achieve your goals and be the best version of yourself.

Integrity

So how do you command trust? What kind of person do you trust? To me, it would be someone with a strong sense of integrity.

Having worked in the corporate world (in Credit Suisse and Citibank) for over 10 years, the importance of possessing strong integrity (in myself and the people I work with) played an inherently critical role in further shaping my professional career and how I approach my relationships with my co-workers and clients.

Having worked with different people and faced different challenges and opportunities, I also got to witness (and learned the hard way) how a person’s sense of integrity can be tested in different situations and sometimes that integrity is compromised over short-term gains, thus ruining relationships that took years to build.

I value a friend, a partner, and a colleague who has an unwavering sense of integrity. That is the number one quality I look for in a founder too, because that is the kind of founder that commands respect from his team and who will do the right thing for his team and company.

Being authentic

Trust and integrity then bring about authenticity in the way you present yourself, run the company, and work with founders and investors.

When we were raising fund 1, the best thing we had was our trust in our network. We hustled and went out hunting and farming investors, and it took us over a year to close our first fund. A lot of hard work and time was put in to raise that first round.

What we told ourselves was that there is no shortcut to this, and whatever it is, we have to be authentic and be real about what we can do and achieve and not overpromise to get investments.

I believe that being authentic helped us gain not only the trust of our investors to raise our first fund and showed them who we truly are, what we are capable of, and how we will run our firm.

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Authenticity in our relationships with our founders is equally important. We knew the kind of partnerships and roles we wanted to play in our portfolio investments, and we were always upfront with would-be founders on our approach to active involvement and open communication. This ensures a right fit between the founders we invest in and us.

Onwards

I have learned many lessons from my professional and personal journey, and I know those lessons will continue to come my way. But as I was once told, if you learn and grow from them, they become valuable lessons. If you don’t, they will remain regrettable mistakes.

In our industry, where failures are costly and challenges can rife, I am very glad that we are able to build a great team at Alpha JWC who uphold those values and work very closely like a family to make things happen for all our stakeholders and most of all our portfolio founders.

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