VC Twitter: A Guide
Note: This article was originally published on Medium here.
A number of undergraduate students with an interest in venture capital & startups have reached out looking for the best news sources on the VC industry. The same goes for investment bankers, startup employees (“operators”), former founders, and people of a variety of backgrounds looking to make the switch into venture. Regardless of your background or motives, if you’re looking for the best ways to stay up-to-date on all things venture & startup related, I strongly believe Twitter is your best starting point.
Part I: Make a Twitter / Up Your Twitter Game
Twitter can change your life
Twitter has emerged as the ideal environment (IMO) to follow leading VCs, digest their thought leadership in real time, and to build your own presence by engaging with the VC Twitter community. To understand the power of Twitter, check out the success of David Perell:
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The latest Tweets from ????? ?????? ? (@david_perell). "The Writing Guy" | Host of the North Star Podcast…
twitter.com
By creating a business teaching people to write and launching a podcast, combined with clever content creation & networking on Twitter (!!!), Perell used leverage to become a global voice with over 50,000 Twitter followers and was even featured on Off the Chain, a podcast run by VC Anthony Pompliano. Hopefully his story sells you on the value proposition of making and establishing a brand on Twitter. If you’re just starting out, this guide should help you get off the ground with a new account:
^Recommended at 2x speed
Part II: Follow the best VCs
To stay up to date on VC, what could be better than digesting all of the thoughts/opinions of the best VCs, interacting with them directly, and hunting down the news they reference? This was impossible in the early days of VC when the industry was opaque and kept behind closed doors. But now, the internet (and Twitter in particular) gives you unfiltered access to the thoughts, opinions, and daily lives of iconic venture investors. You’d be negligent if you weren’t at least reading/following their activity, let alone interacting with them.
To get into the digital “inner circle” of VC, I suggest you follow these VCs/Angels and turn on notifications for all of their tweets. This list will keep you up-to-speed on VC in real time:
(1) Bill Gurley
It’s called Benchmark for a reason
Bill Gurley (@bgurley) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Bill Gurley (@bgurley). VC @benchmark, Investor: @grubhub, @zillow, @uber, @stitchfix…
twitter.com
(2) Marc Andreessen
The internet? He kind of invented it
Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Marc Andreessen (@pmarca): ""A record-low of U.S. workers earned poverty-level wages last year…
twitter.com
(3) John Doerr
The King of OKRs
John Doerr (@johndoerr) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from John Doerr (@johndoerr). Passionate about helping missionary entrepreneurs create the Next Big…
twitter.com
(4) Semil Shah
Finding needles in a haystack
Semil (@semil) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Semil (@semil). Investor via @HaystackVC focused on seed-stage investments // Venture Partner w/…
twitter.com
(5) Brad Feld
Brad Feld (@bfeld) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Brad Feld (@bfeld). I'm a VC at Foundry Group. I live in Boulder, Colorado, invest in software…
twitter.com
(6) Fred Wilson
Fred’s avc.com is the best VC blog
Fred Wilson (@fredwilson) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Fred Wilson (@fredwilson). I am a VC. New York City
twitter.com
(7) jason
Probably the most famous angel
[email protected] (@Jason) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from [email protected] (@Jason). @mikebloomberg angel: @uber @thumbtack @wealthfront @datastax…
twitter.com
(8) Cyan Banister
FoundersFund → Long Journey
Cyan (@cyantist) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Cyan (@cyantist). UDW - Uncultivated Dark Web. San Francisco
twitter.com
(9) Geoff Lewis
Narrative Violations → amazing outcomes
Geoff Lewis (@justGLew) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Geoff Lewis (@justGLew). Founder & Managing Partner, @Bedrock . Prev: Partner @ Founders Fund…
twitter.com
(10) Mark Cuban
Shark with a lengthy portfolio
Mark Cuban (@mcuban) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Mark Cuban (@mcuban). Entrepreneur. Shark tank. Investor. Mishegas. Author…
twitter.com
(11) Jack Dorsey
Invented this whole Twitter thing
jack ?????? (@jack) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from jack ?????? (@jack). #bitcoin
twitter.com
(12) Guy Kawasaki
Guy Kawasaki (@GuyKawasaki) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Guy Kawasaki (@GuyKawasaki). Chief evangelist @Canva; board of directors @Cheeze; and brand…
twitter.com
(13) Justine and Olivia Moore
The “Venture Twins”
Justine & Olivia
The latest Tweets from Justine & Olivia (@venturetwins). Identical twins & investors @CRV. Stanford '16. Subscribe to…
twitter.com
(14) Anand Sanwal
Very insightful
Anand Sanwal (@asanwal) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Anand Sanwal (@asanwal). Please buy a subscription to @cbinsights. I owe people money…
twitter.com
(15) Mark Suster
Views from Both Sides
Mark Suster (@msuster) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Mark Suster (@msuster). 2x entrepreneur. Sold both companies (last to @salesforce). Now…
twitter.com
(16) Marvin Liao
Marvin "Polymath but really Just Generalist" Liao
The latest Tweets from Marvin "Polymath but really Just Generalist" Liao (@marvinliao). Ever curious: Tsundoku, Reader…
twitter.com
(17) sarah kunst
She’s sort of done everything
Sarah Kunst (@sarahkunst) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Sarah Kunst (@sarahkunst). Pitch me via https://t.co/Nmp7BAVDEj. @marieclairemag contributing…
twitter.com
(18) Reid Hoffman
Connected the world
Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman). Entrepreneur. Investor. Strategist. new world of work
twitter.com
(19) david cowan
Jedi equivalent of a Founder & VC
davidcowan
The latest Tweets from davidcowan (@davidcowan). I take credit for others' work at Skybox, Twitch, LinkedIn, Rocket…
twitter.com
(20) Harry Stebbings
20Minutes not 60 Minutes
Harry Stebbings
The latest Tweets from Harry Stebbings (@HarryStebbings). ?? @twentyminutevc, ?? w/ @fdestin @piadiri @Stride_VC, ??…
twitter.com
(21) Vinod Khosla
Early to the whole “computer” thing
Vinod Khosla (@vkhosla) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Vinod Khosla (@vkhosla). entrepreneurship zealot, grounded technology possibilist, believer in…
twitter.com
(22) David Cohen
One word: Techstars
David Cohen (@davidcohen) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from David Cohen (@davidcohen). Founder and Managing Partner at @Techstars. Proud first round…
twitter.com
(23) Sarah Hodges
A Pillar of the Founder Community
Sarah Hodges
The latest Tweets from Sarah Hodges (@hodges). Partner at @Pillar_VC (Seed ??) | Founder at @Intelligent_ly | Past…
twitter.com
(24) Garry Tan
Garry ?( ? )? (@garrytan) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Garry ?( ? )? (@garrytan). Forbes Midas List #21 - Cofounder @Initialized. San Francisco, CA
twitter.com
(25) Jeff Chang
Jeff Chang?? (@JeffChang30) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Jeff Chang?? (@JeffChang30). Angel investor helping founders bend their growth trajectory…
twitter.com
(26) Anthony Pompliano
Keepin’ it Off the Chain
Pomp ?? (@APompliano) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Pomp ?? (@APompliano). Co-founder & Partner at Morgan Creek Digital. I write a daily letter…
twitter.com
(27) Lo Toney
GV → Plexo
Lo Toney
The latest Tweets from Lo Toney (@lo_toney). busy vc @PlexoCapital formerly @GVteam. iPhone: 37.809624,-122.234406
twitter.com
(27) Ben Horowitz
Andreessen Horowitz; multiple books
Ben Horowitz (@bhorowitz) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Ben Horowitz (@bhorowitz). Cofounder of @a16z. Author of The Hard Thing About Hard Things. New…
twitter.com
(28) Balaji S. Srinivasan
Highly credentialed but anti-credentialism
Balaji S. Srinivasan (@balajis) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Balaji S. Srinivasan (@balajis). Not big on credentialism, need multidisciplinary effort vs…
twitter.com
(29) Hemant Taneja
Unscaled thesis
Hemant Taneja
The latest Tweets from Hemant Taneja (@htaneja). Investor. Entrepreneur. Author of Unscaled. Silicon Valley
twitter.com
(30) Elon Musk
Come for the knowledge. Stay for the memes.
Elon Musk (@elonmusk) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Elon Musk (@elonmusk). ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
twitter.com
(31) Chetan Puttagunta
Again, the name Benchmark is earned not given
Chetan Puttagunta
The latest Tweets from Chetan Puttagunta (@chetanp). GP @benchmark; Currently: @elastic, @sketch, @duffelhq…
twitter.com
(32) Jeff Morris Jr.
ChapterOne (not to be confused with this)
Jeff Morris Jr. (@jmj) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Jeff Morris Jr. (@jmj). Founder of @ChapterOne, a product fund that helps you build things…
twitter.com
(33) Tim Draper
OG Venture Capitalist
Tim Draper (@TimDraper) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Tim Draper (@TimDraper). Founder of @DFJvc, @drapervc, @Draper_U, @IYS_Org. Menlo Park, CA
twitter.com
(34) Barry Eggers
At the speed of light
Barry Eggers
The latest Tweets from Barry Eggers (@BarryEggers). Founding partner @lightspeedvp. 4G Californian. Fan of elephants…
twitter.com
(35) Zak Kukoff
Emergence; empathy
Zak Kukoff (@zck) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Zak Kukoff (@zck). One man party round. Investing in enterprise at @EmergenceCap. See my best…
twitter.com
(36) Adam Draper
Giving you a boost
Adam Draper ?? ??
The latest Tweets from Adam Draper ?? ?? (@AdamDraper). We invest $500k into Founders building Superpowers. Managing…
twitter.com
(37) Patrick Collison
Helping you buy stuff
Patrick Collison (@patrickc) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Patrick Collison (@patrickc). Fallibilist, optimist. Stripe CEO. [email protected]
twitter.com
(38) Naval Ravikant
Naval
The latest Tweets from Naval (@naval): "How to Get Rich (without getting lucky):"
twitter.com
(39) Brian Armstrong
Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong). Co-founder & CEO at @Coinbase Co-founder @GiveCrypto…
twitter.com
(40) Richard Dulude
Rich Dulude
The latest Tweets from Rich Dulude (@RichDulude). // Co-Founder & Partner @UnderscoreVC // $225M earliest stage venture…
twitter.com
(41) Nan Li
An obvious one to follow
Nan Li
The latest Tweets from Nan Li (@nanli). venture capitalist @ Obvious; technology, music, culture enthusiast. San…
twitter.com
(42) Erik Torenberg
Takes a village to (fund)raise a startup
Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg). Co-founder @Villageglobal & @beondeck & @tokendaily. Positive…
twitter.com
(43) Mitch Kapor
OG Founder & VC
Mitch Kapor (@mkapor) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Mitch Kapor (@mkapor). https://t.co/SchwLDuiFs. Oakland
twitter.com
(44) Jason Shuman
Jason Shuman ??
The latest Tweets from Jason Shuman ?? (@BoatShuman). VC @PrimaryVC | Former @Uber Driver, @CoriginVentures, CoS for…
twitter.com
(45) Scott Kupor
Sharing secrets of venture capital
Scott Kupor
The latest Tweets from Scott Kupor (@skupor). Managing Partner at Andreessen Horowitz; Author of Secrets of Sand Hill…
twitter.com
(46) Nic Carter
nic carter
The latest Tweets from nic carter (@nic__carter). this is a decentralized account with centralized characteristics. the…
twitter.com
(47) Alex Wilhelm
Equity Podcast; prepare to laugh
alex (@alex) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from alex (@alex). Journalist with @TechCrunch. Co-host: Equity. @lizaswagner's partner…
twitter.com
(48) Hunter Walk
Homebrew not Cold brew
????????? (@hunterwalk) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from ????????? (@hunterwalk). You'll find me @homebrew, Seed Stage Venture Fund w @satyap. Previously…
twitter.com
(49) Elad Gil
Master of High Growth
Elad Gil (@eladgil) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Elad Gil (@eladgil). Entrepreneur and Investor. San Francisco CA
twitter.com
(50) David Lee
SV Angel → Refactor
David Lee
The latest Tweets from David Lee (@davidlee). Chairman @refactor. Some people call me Das. Tweets about tech, business…
twitter.com
**BONUS: VCBrags**
Prepare to laugh
VCs Congratulating Themselves ?????? (@VCBrags) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from VCs Congratulating Themselves ?????? (@VCBrags). They're adding value? And they're very proud of…
twitter.com
If you’re still reading, you now have an excellent Twitter feed which keeps you informed of developments in the venture capital space in real time (can’t emphasize this enough). It’s fascinating to go from reading about your VC idols in articles to seeing what they’re up to day-to-day and dissecting their thoughts. You will learn an incredible amount by doing so. You’ll also probably be the first to here about job opportunities (within VC and with portfolio companies).
Part III: Leverage the “Following” feature
In addition to all the advantages outlined above, a hidden advantage of following the best VCs on Twitter is that you can see who they follow. Although Twitter has its own algorithm recommending who you should follow, it’s not the best method of finding great accounts. The total arbitrage play is to go to the account of one of your favorite VCs and follow the people they follow. In fact, a majority of the VC Twitter accounts that I used for this list came from scanning Semil Shah’s following list:
After clicking into the “850 Following” highlighted above, I was able to find a ton of top-tier VCs to add to my following list. You can use the strategy of (1) “follow everyone they follow” or (2) “follow the coolest people they follow” and either one should help you quickly grow to a meaningful list of accounts followed.
Part IV: Interact (Like, Retweet, & Comment)
Source: Here (Also a good read)
There’s no golden rule for how to interact with the VCs on Twitter, but the golden rule itself is probably worth keeping in mind at all times (disclaimer: Twitter is notorious for leading to battles so try not to be trigger happy and remember that you want to feel okay with your Tweets well into the future). Start by simply liking Tweets that really resonate with you, and as you being to feel more comfortable, retweet, retweet with comments, leave regular comments, and tag people. As time goes on, the process will feel fluid and you’ll be well on your way to getting noticed in the wild, wild west of VC Twitter.
Now start Tweeting!
Matt Snow
Find me on Twitter:
Wealth Management Advisor
2 年Matt, thanks for sharing!
Investor at Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund
4 年You left Huston Collins off your list!
Macro Peanut Market Analyst
4 年Nice work Matt
Senior Enterprise Account Executive @ Splash
4 年David Aronica
Vice President of Marketing at Aiera
4 年This is really legit