How to find a unicorn

My friend Mario Gabriele is running a series over at The Generalist on what it takes to get up and running as a VC

This week, he focused on the best way to source legendary investments, including a couple of reflections from me:

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First of all, pick something that genuinely energizes you. For me, it’s been AI above everything else for the last decade.

I spend the vast majority of my time speaking to researchers, founders, and others - whether or not they’re raising or even have an idea, because there’s so much to learn. Say hi - whatever stage you’re at.

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I also believe it’s easy to talk about ‘community’, but you need to contribute something. That’s why we produce the State of AI Report every year, Guide to AI every month, regular essays on Air Street Press, award research grants via RAAIS, and run a regular calendar of meet-ups

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Go where the people are. Sometimes I’m asked why I spend so much time on X, but it’s ultimately where many of the most interesting people in AI share ideas and research

It was thanks to X that I got to know great founders like Ali Madani of Profluent Bio, back when he was at Salesforce Research

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When you're asking lots of people if they think something’s good, you don’t believe in it. It can take years to be proven right, so it's tempting to join the herd, but you have to resist it. I shared some more detailed thoughts on this a few weeks ago:? https://press.airstreet.com/p/gorillas-hype-cycles-and-my-mit-emtech

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And sometimes, you do need to be in the right place at the right time. You can’t control luck, but you can make yourself a bigger target for it. I met the legendary Paul Taylor of Thought Machine via a co-working space.?

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Finally, how you spend your time. I count many investors as friends and firms as good partners - but there’s a lot of VC social stuff you can pass on. If you want to go skiing with people in the same industry as you, feel free, but don’t pretend it’s work.

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Check out The Generalist to read the rest: https://thegeneralist.substack.com/p/how-to-find-a-unicorn I’ll be contributing to some other pieces as the series continues.