This Is What the Road to Success Looks Like for a Venture Capitalist

This Is What the Road to Success Looks Like for a Venture Capitalist
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These Questions originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.

Answers by Bill Gurley, General Partner at Benchmark, Longhorn, Gator, on Quora:

A: First, I was very fortunate to build a reputation in the tech community as a successful sell-side analyst on Wall Street. Second, Frank Quattrone brought me to Silicon Valley as part of creating DMG Tech Group and promised to "introduce me to every VC he knows." Which he did.

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A: Unfortunately, these things are not mutually exclusive. You need to do both. That said, there is a very famous Warren Buffett quote that you may enjoy as an answer here: "When a good management team meets a bad business, it is the business that exits the relationship with its reputation intact."

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A: I believe the key to success in venture capital is to find a defining way to differentiate yourself. It is not a winner-take-all game, and there are a large variety of ways to win. If you look at the most successful VCs I think they are more different than alike. So the real question is, how have the paths changed by which you would create differentiation? Obvious answers include the use of social media, understanding new themes and topics, and finding innovative ways to have a voice. Hustle mattered then and now.

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A: The past few years has been remarkably successful for VCs due to the rise of the Unicorn ecosystem. That said, these record returns are "on paper." In other words, the actual cash returns haven't actually been delivered to the LPs (our customers). Making sure that the results are real and not imaginary is the number one challenge of our time.

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A:1) Read even more than you did.

2) Thank the people (more) that helped you along the way.

3) When Larry and Sergey ask for $110 (pre-money), say, "Yes, we would be very excited about that."

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