UVC: Elizabeth Yin from Hustle Fund on why speed of execution matters for startup success, processes at Hustle Fund to make investments & portfolio support more efficient and how founders can manager their risks
Understanding VC is a deep dive on how venture capitalists work. In this episode of the podcast, Elizabeth shares her journey from being an entrepreneur to becoming a venture capitalist at Hustle Fund. She explains the fund's strategy of investing in startups with a focus on speed of execution, which she believes is a key factor in the success of a startup. With 700 investments under her belt, Elizabeth reflects on her experience as a VC and what it takes to reach the top 1% in the industry. She also shares the processes Hustle Fund has in place to streamline the investment and portfolio support process. Elizabeth discusses how she manages her time and gives advice to founders on managing risk in challenging times. She shares her perspective on startups being a "multi-turn game" and why customer acquisition costs (CAC) often increase for startups.
In this episode you will learn:
- Elizabeth shares the story of how she got into entrepreneurship and subsequently a VC
- What is the fund strategy of Hustle fund?
- According to Elizabeth, why is the speed of execution so important for the success of a startup?
- Having made more than 700 investments in startups, how does Elizabeth rate herself as a VC? What does it take for a VC to get into the top 1% echelon?
- What are some of the processes that Hustle Fund has in place to make investments and portfolio support faster and efficient?
- How does she manage her time as a VC?
- How can founders manage their risk during tough times like we are experiencing now?
- What does Elizabeth mean when she says that startups are a ‘multi-turn game’?
- Why do customer acquisition costs (CAC) almost always go up for a startup?
About
Elizabeth Yin is a co-founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund, a pre-seed fund for software entrepreneurs. Previously, Elizabeth was a partner at 500 Startups where she invested in seed-stage companies and ran the Mountain View accelerator. In a prior life, Elizabeth co-founded and ran an adtech company called LaunchBit (acq 2014). Elizabeth has a BSEE from Stanford and an MBA from MIT Sloan.
Elizabeth has reviewed over 20k startup pitches from around the world in the last few years and has helped numerous portfolio founders raise hundreds of millions of dollars. Her work and writing on startup fundraising have been featured in numerous publications including TechCrunch, Forbes, Huffington Post, BetaKit, and more.
Elizabeth Yin
Co-Founder & General Partner at Hustle Fund
Elizabeth Yin is a co-founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund, a pre-seed fund for software entrepreneurs. Previously, Elizabeth was a partner at 500 Startups where she invested in seed-stage companies and ran the Mountain View accelerator. In a prior life, Elizabeth co-founded and ran an adtech company called LaunchBit (acq 2014). Elizabeth has a BSEE from Stanford and an MBA from MIT Sloan.
Elizabeth has reviewed over 20k startup pitches from around the world in the last few years and has helped numerous portfolio founders raise hundreds of millions of dollars. Her work and writing on startup fundraising have been featured in numerous publications including TechCrunch, Forbes, Huffington Post, BetaKit, and more.
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