VC Due Diligence
Module 5: How to Diligence a Fund
Quick Reference Guide
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
1. Assess what matters when evaluating a venture fund as an LP.
2. Assess what matters when evaluating a venture fund as a founder or potential
employee.
3. Compare different investing models.
4. Recognize how to diligence a venture fund as a founder or employee.
Evaluating a Venture Fund as an LP
The key measures to assess a fund are quantitative, qualitative, and the overall investment
strategy. The module explains two common quantitative measures used to diligence a fund
and discusses other measures of success and provides examples of how existing funds
have highlighted their successes.
A fund can be diligenced based on these four aspects:
● Quantitative measures
● Qualitative measures
● Investment strategy
● Other stakeholders
The quantitative measures are:
● Internal rate of return (IRR)
● Multiple
● Portfolio success
● Money raised
● Activities undertaken
● Dollars committed
● Number of investors in their network
● Fund mechanics and fund structure
Components of fund mechanics
● Fees
● Recycling
● Reserves
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● Strategy
Questions for LPs
● Do you feel you have the right amount of transparency?
Do you know what is happening in the fund?
● What is your role in the fund?
o Are you a passive investor?
o Do you get to observe some of the investment committee meetings?
o Are you allowed to co-invest?
o Do you sit on the LP advisory committee?
o What is the role of the Limited Partner Advisory Committees (LPAC)?
● How do you feel about the investment committee process and deal attribution?
What is it like to talk to the founders of the portfolio organizations and work with
them?
Questions for GPs
● What have you learned or changed about your sourcing, selecting, or supporting
strategy over the last decade?
● What have you learned from wins, losses, anti-portfolio?
● What have you learned about the investment committee (IC) process and deal
attribution?
● What have you learned about hiring?
● What is the target size of the fund IV and does that change the portfolio
construction philosophy?
● What is your reserve strategy?
Evaluating a Venture Fund as a Founder or Potential Employee
This module discusses the qualitative measures to examine in the diligence process.
Considering qualitative measures to examine when diligencing a fund, the module presents
questions for you to consider regarding how the investment thesis, business model,
industry, etc. resonate with you.
Questions to consider as a founder:
● Where is a fund in its life and how much reserves do they have?
● Are they going to be able to follow on in the follow-on rounds?
● Are they going to be able to lead your follow-on rounds?
● Does the investment resonate with you?
● Do you like the industry being targeted and their business model, and stage of
development?
● Is the geography interesting to you?
● What about the federal demography they are backing?
● What is their perspective on social impact?
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Fund structure decisions
● What is the duration of the fund?
● Is the fund closed or open?
● What do they invest in?
The four S’s of investment - A fund should have a unique insight into:
● Support
Is the organization better than others at supporting the organizations in which they
invest?
Example:
▪ Metaprop supports their portfolio post-investment with subject matter
expertise and deep insights about trends of the real estate market
▪ Human Ventures and Primary Ventures offer coaching to their founders
● Source
o Are they better at sourcing than other organizations?
Examples:
▪ Insight Partners: Well-known for cold calling startups
▪ Sequoia Scout Program: Has a very broad scout program
▪ Deep Space Ventures: Publishes their sourcing insights
o Who is giving them sourcing?
o What are the stages?
o How are they doing?
o What’s the demographic?
● Select
Is the organization better at selecting deals than other people?
Examples:
▪ Correlation Ventures: Has a data backed way of selecting organizations
▪ Bessemer Venture Partners: Publishes their perspective about the future of
the industry
● Squad
How to diligence a team behind a deal?
Vetting GPs
● Ask about the GP’s track record
o Were they successful angel investor before?
● Ask about the GP’s reputation
o What is the GP known for (e.g., sourcing, selecting, supporting?
o What are the opinions of the GP’s fellow investors and of the people from
organizations the GP has previously invested in?
o What is it like to be on a board with the GP?
● Get a sense of the GP’s unique ability to win deals
o Does the GP have better insight than other people?
o Does the GP have better access to other people?
o Can the GP offer a unique platform to founders?
● Understand the decision-making process of the investment committee
● Learn about the rest of the team
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o Who else is on the team?
o How many people do they have dedicated to post investment portfolio support?
As a founder taking capital, it is important to know:
● How do all the people involved add value?
● What is your strategy of interacting with all of them?
Questions to ask LPs
● What is their overall investment focus and what is their focus within venture capital?
● How much exposure do they want to have to the asset class?
● What is their understanding of the venture capital industry and the associated risks?
● What is their diligence and approval process?
● How do they define success?
Comparing Different Investing Models
There are different models and their areas of investment. The following chart shows the
stage, operational involvement and diversity of the fund.
Invests in Stage Operational How
involvement diversified
Traditional VC Startups Varies Low-medium 10-15 per year
(↑)
(equity)
Angel investing Pre- Low Varies
seed/seed/A
Venture studio Pre-seed High Handful per
year
Accelerator Usually pre- Medium (ST) Two cohorts
seed per year
Corporate VC Varies Low-medium Varies
Secondary Usually later Very low Varies
investing
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Non-equity Startups Usually A+ Usually low Varies
investing
Fund of funds VC funds Varies Very low Highly
diversified
How to Diligence a Venture Fund as a Founder or Employee
This module explains how to diligence a fund and a corporate VC fund, as both a founder
and a potential employee. In these roles, there are intangible and tangible factors to
consider regarding financials and non-financials, and the module provides insight into these
aspects.
Vetting a fund as a founder
Financial aspects to be considered:
● What is the investment’s portfolio IRR?
● What is their cash-on-cash multiple?
● How many acquisitions and IPOs has it had in their portfolio?
● How many failures has it had?
● What percentage of organizations in which it has invested raised a follow-on round?
Non-financial aspects to be considered:
● What sort of reputation does the organization have, from the points of view of other
investors and portfolio organizations?
● Does it always have to lead a round, and does it have an ownership target?
● What is their turnover? Are their alumni successful?
● What is their reserve and follow-on strategy?
● Where is it in the lifecycle of their fund, and is it raising another fund?
Vetting a corporate VC (CVC) as a founder
The financial aspects are like the ones above.
Non-financial aspects to be considered:
● What is the reputation of the organization?
● What does it do in terms of value add?
● What are its timelines and processes like?
● What restrictions is it putting on future fundraising?
● What are their potential exit choices?
Vetting a fund as an employee
Financial aspects to be considered:
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● What is the organization’s IRR?
● What is its cash-on-cash multiple?
● What are its exits and failures, and what percentage of its portfolio is raised in
another round?
Non-financial aspects to be considered:
● How sort of reputation does the organization have?
● What is its turnover? Are its alumni successful?
● What will your role be?
● Will you have autonomy?
● How is the culture like?
● What is the compensation like?
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