Despite many advances in industry transparency over the past ~10 years, much about the actual "jobs of a VC" remains locked inside firm/institutional knowledge and venture's apprenticeship model. With this new series we aim to change that. Our goal is to draw back the curtain on what the actual tasks are that VCs do day-to-day, how you can learn them, and ultimately what's required to succeed. We hope this series will be helpful both to anyone looking to break into the industry and to those who are already practicing, and also for entrepreneurs and consumers of venture capital to understand more about the motivations and activities of those across the table! In this episode we start with sourcing: what it is, why it's important, who does it and when, and -- most importantly -- the brass tacks of where to look and how to do it.   Show Links: SpaceX Launch Emergence Capital Investment Themes M-Hacks (Univ of Michigan Hackathon) Startup Weekend   Show Bookmarks: [05:05] – Thoughts on early-stage VC [07:12] – Why is sourcing important? [12:11] – Sourcing strategies [21:08] – Sourcing tactics (generally) [25:25] – Sourcing tactics according to Andy Ratcliff [41:24] – Breaking out of Systematic VC Sourcing [52:45] – Who does what form of Sourcing?   People Worth Knowing: Sun Tzu Andy Ratcliff Dan Valentine Mike Moritz Peter Thiel Brian Singerman Fred Wilson Brad Burnham Kathryn Gould Greg Gottesman Margit Wennmachers Bill Gurley Chetan Puttagunta Peter Fenton Turner Novak   Companies Mentioned in Episode:                                                                   SpaceX Benchmark Sequoia Sysco Google Madrona Founder’s Fund Paypal Union Square Ventures Twitter Tumblr Foursquare Zynga Flickr Foundation Capital Rover Andreessen Horowitz OutCast Backend Capital Y-Combinator VTS Branch Metrics Cameo Gelt VC Slack Meritech   Episode Specific Terms: Sourcing Asset Class Top Of The Funnel Generalist (Outbound Driven) vs Specialist (Inbound Driven) Referral Driven Proprietary-Deal Driven Investing Thesis Thematic Investing Network Effects Product to Commodity Paypal Mafia Logo Shopping & Brand Halo Follow Acquired: @AcquiredFM, acquired.fm Let People Know You’re an LP on Twitter! Suggestions and Feedback: acquiredfm@gmail.com