New to Venture27 Dec 2023

Ep 012 - Kasey Zhang, VC Investor at Audacious Ventures

Pro-gamer turned entrepreneur turned VC investor? 🤯

In episode 012 of “New to Venture”, I sat down with a friend and fellow Northeastern Alumni, Kasey Zhang. Kasey is a VC investor at Audacious Ventures, one of the best up-and-coming early stage VC firms. Kasey has always impressed me with his drive, knowledge, and intelligence. I hope he does the same for you! Listen to two Northeastern Huskies share stories about startups, college, entrepreneurship, and VC recruiting!

Here are just a few of his crazy accomplishments:

- Founded and sold an Esports startup 🕹️

- Previous Managing Partner at Rough Draft Ventures 💸

- Ex-Professional League of Legends player 👾

- Ex-Director of the Husky Startup Challenge 🚀

Here are some key takeaways from our conversation:

- If you’re looking to break into junior VC roles, you have to do more than just schedule coffee chats and send deal flow. Condense your expertise and value-add into two sentences, and use that as the pillar for your application.

- VC is fundamentally a sales job! It is hugely relationship driven. Hone your ability to evaluate people just as much as you hone your ability to evaluate startups.

- There are only a handful of deals that matter every year. Can you get access to those deals? If not, how can you get access? Answering these questions are key for VCs.

(00:00) - Introductions!

(01:50) - Building and selling Kasey’s business

(10:15) - Highlights and lowlights of entrepreneurship

(13:30) - Intersection between classes and real-world business

(16:29) - How Kasey evaluates startups

(26:19) - Kasey’s path to VC

(30:33) - Rough Draft Ventures and young founders

(34:40) - Junior VC recruiting and disproportionate representation

(43:53) - Ceremonial Final Qs

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