Portfolio Management: Awareness, Art and Science

Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Having started my sixth year in Venture Capital, I have started reflecting on the lessons learnt and how best to share this with colleagues working in similar roles.

First things first, it is by far the most mind stimulating, imagination stretching, knee numbing and blood pumping type of work. There are multiple reasons why this is the case, but in my view, the primary one is the ability to work with brilliant entrepreneurs, and help be part of their most amazing journeys.

There is a fair deal in the blogging sphere around the processes and strategies used to originate and qualify an investment in a tech company at early-stage and growth level, but very little is said about the large number of us that end up working with the portfolios, in the post-investment stage.

In my view, this lack of attention creates a considerable gap naturally filled with anecdotes and sector mythology.

Over the last few months, I have started to share some of my approaches and techniques with fellows and friends operating in this space, mainly to identify new ways to improve my approach, but also to understand whether we could identify VC best practices.

Unfortunately, most individuals tasked with portfolio management for an early stage and growth will have limited resources. Even venturing in the academic…