E132: How Nichole Wischoff Raised a $50M Fund in 5 Months

In this episode of How I Invest, I dive into a conversation with Nichole Wischoff, Founder and Managing Partner at Wischoff Ventures, to explore her remarkable journey of raising a $50 million fund during one of the toughest markets of 2024. Nichole shares her insights on fundraising strategies, the power of media in deal sourcing, and building a personal brand. She also discusses her unique approach to fostering relationships in venture capital and why community and authenticity are key drivers of success in this space. This episode is packed with actionable takeaways for emerging fund managers and anyone navigating the world of VC.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00David Weisburd?

  Double click on that. How does media help you win deals?

• 0:03Speaker 01

  Ultimately, I can get on the phone with anyone. And I really saw that that took about two years. And then I want to say about a year ago now, early 2024. I remember there were founders that had term sheets from super notable funds. I typically try not to chase those deals, but I really liked the business they were building. I love their background. So I remember sending a note on LinkedIn and just saying, you know, like, hey, team would love to meet. I know I'm pretty late in the process, but let me know if you have time. Something that at least I do with other managers, I'm not sure how common this is outside of my little bubble. But we all usually will share a spreadsheet and say, hey, here's everyone I've met with. Here's everyone that has converted in our LPs. Here's everyone that you might actually be a great fit for because they're looking for A, B, and C. And so a lot of us try to just share who are the LPs that are active. And frankly, who are the ones that waste your time?

• 0:48Speaker 01

  There are folks that are just not active that are out there. They want to talk. And then they maybe want a lot of things from you. Like they want to direct invest in some of your companies. And they, you know, just there's some of that actors.

• 0:59David Weisburd?

  Nicole, you pulled off a $50 million fundraiser in one of the toughest markets the summer of 2024. How did you accomplish this?

• 1:07Speaker 01

  In terms of strategy, going out in March, telling LPs, I guess I was sort of bluffing, but I believed it, that I would have a first close and ideally on 50% of the fund around the May timeline and was aiming for a final close in August. And crazy enough, maybe I manifested it, but it worked out. So Sendana came in, anchored the fund and, and, and it was off to the races in five months end to end. The other piece, and then I'll pause, is, is just having a good product, right? So there was some data that came out that was just showing like median IRR and, and, and metrics for funds from the 2021 vintage and 22, both of which are my fund one and two. And we're top decile, right? And so, and we had some really markups in fund too.

• 1:51Speaker 01

  So the product is also great, right? And our distribution has really taken off. So I think there, obviously you have to have something that people want to invest in. One part is just the strategy around like how to raise because it's frustrating and time consuming. And the other is, do you actually have something people want, which was the real test? And it turns out that, that we did.

• 2:08David Weisburd?

  And when you say you have a distribution. What do you mean by that?

• 2:11Speaker 01

  So one piece that's been really important for building the firm is obviously brand building. There's a lot of competition, several funds. So assuming we had the pieces right to even be in business being, how do we actually help founders to do this job and why would they choose us? I have a really deep operating experience. So I was very fortunate to be very early and only work with CEO, co-founders of three now very sizable companies. And so with that, every ton of venture capital, I've built a ton of products, I've hired and fired and figured things out. So having all of that is sort of table stakes to hopefully getting started in venture. The most important piece is how do you continue to have access to great companies? How do you continue to have the right to win and then concentrate in those companies?

• 2:53Speaker 01

  And so we have been from day one, building up the brand, Twitter being like a core part of the business, but also LinkedIn and TikTok now with the podcast. And ultimately it's how many people follow us, know who we are and will pick up our call. And the answer is a lot. So that has been a huge core focus for the brand since we started.

• 3:13David Weisburd?

  And double click on that, how does media help you win deals?

• 3:17Speaker 01

  Ultimately, I can get on the phone with anyone and I really saw that that took about two years. And then I want to say about a year ago now, early 2024. I remember there were founders that had term sheets from super notable funds. I typically try not to chase those deals, but I really liked the business they were building. I love their background. So I remember sending a note on LinkedIn and just saying, you know, like, hey, team would love to meet. I know I'm pretty late in the process, but let me know if you have time. And it was, and since then, in any situation like this, cold message, they respond at 100% of the time. It is Nicole, I've been following you on X for a long time. You're a hustler. I would absolutely love to take a call with you. We've got 500K left, even though there's a lot of interest. Do you have time tomorrow morning? We have earned that right.

• 4:02David Weisburd?

  Cold message.

• 4:03Speaker 01

  And now I would say that that's probably a response and a quick response time, like almost 100% of the time. And that is to get on the phone with just about anyone. So that is what you get from the socials.

• 4:14David Weisburd?

  And that also translates into closing as well.

• 4:17Speaker 01

  100%. It's a warm relationship. They feel. Like they know you. And so it's not like going up to someone like at a random coffee shop and like trying to like get them to take your money, you know, even though that's normally what a first call feels like. So it feels like we skipped that part.

• 4:31David Weisburd?

  What's the limits to that scalability? Would you be able to deploy that into $5 million checks, $10 million checks? Or does it only work on small checks?

• 4:40Speaker 01

  So far, we are proving that we can increase check size. And, you know, I think that hopefully everything else adds out of, okay, Nicole, we want to work with her, but what does she really do? So right, even though I get on that first call and they love the brand, the next question just becomes like, and I I transparently haven't been asked this in a few years, but I don't often get the question anymore from founders like, but, but why should we choose you? Which is good. So it means some things are working. A lot of it is also references like I will have. I'm trying to win a deal. Some of my existing portfolio founders like call in and say, hey, you should really work with Nicole. She's been fantastic for us. So that's super helpful. I'd say look so far, Fund One, our average ownership is 0.7%. I think our average check was around 150K.

• 5:21Speaker 01

  That was the $5 million fund. Fund Two, our average ownership right now is 4.7%. Our average check size is around 650K. So we're swinging pretty like, you know, with smaller checks are around 5% of companies. We've easily been able to do that, no question. I think as we get into the $50 million fund strategy, leading and co-leading most of the time and writing up to, let's say, $2 million checks, we will see. But so far, the the model has been working.

• 5:46David Weisburd?

  Was that your biggest objection when you met with LPs and raising a $50 million fund?

• 5:51Speaker 01

  No, actually. I I'd say the biggest reason people pass is that the fund size was small. So I was really trying to go more institutional and a $50 million fund is very small for folks that need to write 15 to 25 million dollar checks. I would say that, you know, I had a, Sendana, my anchor, gave me an interesting exercise and I ended up sharing this with a lot of my other LPs, which was, hey, Nicole, if you could layer on top of your Fund Two positions to date, so of the 12 to 14 companies you've invested in and your check size in Fund Two, which was six, let's say 650. If you layered on your fund three strategy and went back to those companies, which of those companies do you think that you could have successfully deployed that bigger jack into versus not? And it was a great exercise.

• 6:35Speaker 01

  And I think it ended up being that I would have gotten probably closer to eight and a half, nine percent ownership. And then they referenced every single one of my companies. So they validated that. Like, you know, they probably didn't say Nicole says she could have put two million in, but it was a good exercise and I shared that with every LP.

• 6:49David Weisburd?

  You went public with your process and your funnel. So walk me through that at a high level.

• 6:54Speaker 01

  So out of the gate, I did what I recommend my startups do, which is get every investor in the funnel at the same time. And so out of the gate, I set up 80 calls out of the total 108 first calls. So I think the pipeline was between existing and folks I had already met prior to raising, that was 80. And so within the first three weeks of the raise in March, I had several calls a day, like seven to nine, I think was my max, some 45 minutes, some an hour. And I wanted to get everyone in the data room at the same time. I wanted them to know that that there, that was the goal of the May first close, the final close in August. And so that was what I stuck to. Again, no idea if that was going to work out, but I put my head down and like that was what the expectation was.

• 7:37Speaker 01

  In reality, it took to get to 50% raised and closed, that two and a half to three months. And then from there, that remaining 50% of the funds, so 25 million, took 30 days. I can speak more to that. And then the final month of that, so let's say we were four months in, was really just legal back and forth. So red lines on the LPA, getting docs signed is honestly tons of legwork and actually really expensive from a legal perspective, but that took up about like a month of it. So of the 108 calls, 28 committed. So we converted about 26%. I don't have benchmarks for other funds. I don't know if that's great. I don't know if it's terrible. It worked for us. It's a good number. We got it done.

• 8:18Speaker 01

  An interesting stat, 38.5 million of the 50 million are from six LPs. So we really have. Like four or five, five million dollar checks and then one fifteen million dollar check and then the rest are two million, one million and then a very, very few existing LPs that really wanted to come back in, but I've outgrown that wrote 500K checks.

• 8:40David Weisburd?

  How did you get people to commit to the first close so quickly? In other words, what was your forcing mechanism for getting the first 50% in?

• 8:48Speaker 01

  So that's a really good question. All existing folks, I think there, so there were a few folks and there's specifically single family offices that I had really gotten to know that missed fund two, that said, Nicole, no matter what, like when you start raising, we want in for a million. And so that was three checks that came in.

• 9:06David Weisburd?

  Was this after your fund two was closed? Was it at the tail end? They couldn't get their diligence? Why did they miss fund two?

• 9:11Speaker 01

  It was closed. They saw, I think some press and they're like, we really want to meet Nicole and like, is there any chance you can increase the 20 million dollar fund size and take more capital? And the answer was no. And so we kept in touch for two years. And so whenever I kicked it off, they were very quick to say, send the docs, like we're in, we stand by wanting to commit a million. And I had, I catch up with folks. I try to at least two to three times per year. This is a relationship business. So for the folks also, I really like, I wanted to spend more time with them. So was really, you know, determined to building those relationships. So the May 1 is a really important date and I tweeted about this, but so when I kicked off in March, I had probably, yeah, close by May 1. So in

• 9:55Speaker 01

  that first, let's say two months or until May 1, March, April, almost, gosh, that's, yeah, a little bit. We, so over two months in, I had commitments, like, you know, verbal commitments, they, people were in for just shy of 10 million dollars. And I kept saying, so I had Sendona had anchored fund one and two, but they took a little bit to let me know. So I told all LPs, listen, I expect half the fund to be reserved for existing investors. And so Sendona, I'll never forget, calls me on May 1 and I was nine months pregnant and they said, Nicole, we're in, we're in for 15 million and our only ask of you is that you cap the fund at 50 instead of 60. As I mentioned back in October. I'd floated a $60 million fund cap to existing LPs.

• 10:39Speaker 01

  And so they ended up coming in for 30% of the fund. I was like, of course, I'll cap, you know, I'll cap the fund. I ended up being way over subscribed and they would not budge. But that was, you know, that was the process. And so I had already had a gummy, I said the 10, they came in for 15, we're at 50%. I raced to a close, you know, three weeks after that. So I think it was the end of May. And I emailed, I got great advice, which I think we'll get into, which was, send little drip campaigns, you know, the existing LPs, send them a little drip note saying, hey, here's the progress over the last two to three weeks. So they feel like they're close to it, that the timeline seemed tangible. Again, back to when this closes, not if this closes.

• 11:20Speaker 01

  And so on May 1st, when Sedona called me and they committed and I knew I was like, gonna have that big first close, like I poked and manifested. I emailed every single person that was still in the pipeline and just said, and, and again, this is a good forcing function too, and I even recommend my startups do this. People will hang around the hoop and largely because they're just not interested and can't get there and you need to suss that out as quickly as possible and move on. And so I emailed every single person in the pipeline and just said, hey, here's the update. Huge first close on 50% of the fund. We're still marching towards mid-August for a final close. Let me know if you want to catch up. 25% of people who ended up passing, or maybe 30, passed because of the timeline. Some I just wasn't a big fit for.

• 12:05Speaker 01

  And then the other big reason why people passed were because the fund size was just too small and their checks were too big for the fund, which I also appreciate. I don't want a $25 million check for a $50 million fund. So those were a few of the reasons. One was just the tight timeline and two was the fund size.

• 12:19David Weisburd?

  How do you suss out who's actually interested and who's just hanging around the hoop? Because they don't want to say no. Thank you for listening. To join our community and to make sure you do not miss any future episodes, please click the follow button above to subscribe.

• 12:32Speaker 01

  So I guess what isn't fair, I guess, for LPs is that they do have their own internal timeline. And so it is a balancing act. Sometimes they are not hanging around the hoop. They are actually hoping that they have another 60 days. And so in some cases, LPs say, hey, Nicole, they work on like quarters most of the time. And so they're like, hey, Q3 is not great for us. If this goes into Q4, we're very in. And so a lot of them are hanging around the hoop, hoping that this would hit like an October 1 timeline. And we'd be a Q4 investment. And so a lot of them, when I was getting closer and it was directly within like the August timeframe that I had hoped for, they had to pass. And people communicate that. Or if they try to gatekeep their timeline because they don't want you to write them off,

• 13:16Speaker 01

  then they're kind of, you force their hand. And so a lot of it was just saying, hey, we're still marching towards this. Do you want to catch up? But eventually they just let you know. I'd say by the third touch point, they give you an answer and it's really helpful. But you kind of have to force it. I mean, again, sometimes they do convert. It just depends on their timeline and your timeline.

• 13:34David Weisburd?

  Is it fair characterization to say that the top quartile LPs are very independent when it comes to their decision making? And some of the other LPs are looking for signals.

• 13:43Speaker 01

  Sometimes it's hard to read through the like the lines. And so I actually don't know that it dictated much. Like I think, you know, even when I closed my first institutional, children's came in and I circulated a note and said, hey, we're now at 35 million. We're almost finished or 40 million. It didn't rush anyone's process, which just told me that if they're going to come in, they're going to spend time with you from the start. And even if there's not a lot of early signal, and if they're not, they're not. But I, maybe a few single family offices get excited and they try to follow great LPs. And I don't blame them. But I honestly felt like I, there was no like carrot that I was hanging that got people in or out, even if it was new news on LPs.

• 14:20David Weisburd?

  You mentioned that one endowment told you that they have a 12 month policy before they could even invest. They have to know you for 12 months. Tell me about that. We'll be right back, but first a word from our sponsor. Innovation is a driving force in the world and runs through everything that Reed Smith does. Reed Smith is a law firm that combines pioneering technology with industry expertise in order to solve their clients' most challenging matter. Their approach is grounded in collaboration with a focus on growth, efficiency and customization. Because every client's challenges are unique and their solutions should be too. I'm proud to partner with Reed Smith, a firm that continually adapts to meet their clients' needs.

• 14:58Speaker 01

  That was the only time I've heard that. I will say, though, and I don't know if it is fair to say that this is all endowments. I do know, you know, I was talking to a few other funds that got a few LPs and then they said, Nicole, we closed them in four months. It was just a really tight or got to a commitment in four months and then legal takes like another two. I don't know that it's that common, though I will say endowments are just a different beast. I don't have candidly any endowments as LPs yet, though I've been getting to know several for the past, you know, a year and a half or two years. I find that in a lot of cases, either my fund size is too small, like think a Yale or someone that's huge, or the, a lot of what I experience is that these endowments

• 15:37Speaker 01

  are trying to get exposure to emerging managers, but they have never invested in one. And so it's a lot of phone calls, but no one's converting. But I don't think that's just because of my fund. I think they're just not writing checks yet and just assessing the market.

• 15:52David Weisburd?

  You got a lot of help from other emerging managers like Charlie Ma and Byron at 12 Below. Tell me more about that.

• 15:59Speaker 01

  Look, we are all incentivized to help each other. So, and, and we're thankfully not all raising at the same time, but a few things. One, it didn't dictate, so I would never dictate when I'm going to go to market to raise a fund based on feedback from other GPs about the timing of the market. And actually, thankfully, I didn't do that because I feel like 100% of the time over the last three years, GP says it's a bad time to raise and it is a bad time to raise since 21. And so you can't let that dictate when you go to market. Ultimately, when do you need the capital is when you should go to market. Again, as I said before, if I, it could have taken 18 months, I didn't want to be in a position where I didn't have capital to deploy. And so I went out earlier. And then from there, I did the around the world and I called everyone that I knew that had raised or and

• 16:41Speaker 01

  closed a fund in the past six months. And because that's usually a good benchmark for where the market is, including, you know, Charlie and Madi at Pathlight, and, you know, Byron at 12 Below, and just said, you know, walk me through your raise. I want to better understand like the process, you know, who is active. So something that at least I do with other managers, I'm not sure how common this is outside of my little bubble, but we all usually will share a spreadsheet and say, hey, here's everyone I've met with, here's everyone that Has converted in our LPs. Here's everyone that you might actually be a great fit for because they're looking for A, B, and C. And so a lot of us try to just share, you know, who, who are the like the LPs that are active? And frankly, who are the ones that waste your time?

• 17:22Speaker 01

  There are folks that are just not active that are out there. They want to talk and then they maybe want a lot of things from you. Like they want to direct invest in some of your companies and they, you know, just there's some bad actors. It's not that common. But when you're raising a fund, you don't want to waste any time. And so like the guys I mentioned were all extremely helpful in saying, hey, Nicole, here are the top five institutionals, if you want to go institutional that are looking at emerging managers. We are one they came in, they have more exposure this year that we think that you should meet and we always help each other. I mean, it's one, I can do the same for them. So I'd say every time I get one of these lists, there's probably up to maybe 35% overlap with LPs. So that's not, that's not crazy. There's still a lot of open relationships to build and that goes both ways.

• 18:06Speaker 01

  So where, when Charlie and Marty get ready to go for their next one, or Byron, I hope they do call me and say, hey Nicole, who should we meet? But it's really common and it's very helpful.

• 18:15David Weisburd?

  And how did you build these very trusted relationships? I think a lot of people would love to have these kind of relationships.

• 18:20Speaker 01

  I've taken a very community driven approach to all of this. Like I think it takes a village to get a fund off the ground. And I think it probably takes one to run it. It's just different needs. Ultimately, you are your network. And so I wanted to start get dipping my hands into different networks and working with people that one are awesome. So I really, I mean, there's plenty of fund managers I've met that I was like, we, that is not a relationship I want to build. And there are ones that I just deeply care about. And so for me, it's really natural. Like I want to hang out with Charlie and Marty, even if it's unrelated to the fund, you know, like I've invited them to my birthday party like. And so who are the people I want to spend time with that I can learn from? That, and also things are give and takes outside of its business, right? So outside of helping each other on the fun stuff and there's great emerging manager group chats where we're all constantly,

• 19:06Speaker 01

  some of the best early managers, I would say some are now far from emerging and they have emerged. But that are always talking about like, you know, who do you use for legal on this? Or how do you think about opportunity funds? We're all trying to help each other, which is awesome. I think the other part is also deals. So if you want to meet everyone that's kind of either going to mark up your companies or co-invest with you. And so how can I find like minds, you know, the Charlies and Motties I've done deals with Byron at 12 Below? We were talking about a deal this morning. And so you just, you know, keep the doors open and really just kind of like just feed these relationships because they're really important.

• 19:43David Weisburd?

  Do you find that there's an 80 20 aspect to your relationships, like a small amount of your relationships? Drive a lot of your co-investors and a lot of the help on the fund?

• 19:52Speaker 01

  Yes, I, so Lee Fixel's a mentor and a friend. And I'll never forget, I was probably two years into this, I'm now three, so I guess a year ago. And when I first got started, I cast a huge net, you know, I was like, I am, and I was all over the internet. As I mentioned, I was always posting, still am. And I started to try to do deals with a lot of people, a lot of fund managers that, you know, their names are splash. Over the headlines, like the up and coming GP, you know, whatever. And I wanted to meet everybody and I wanted to do deals with them. And this, this is like, again, very, I think at pre-seed and seed, it takes a village on a cap table. I think as you scale, you don't need as many funds. So in every round, that is.

• 20:33Speaker 01

  And so started doing business with a lot of people and you learn pretty quickly who you do not want to do business with. A lot of it is just their acumen with founders. Some, sometimes it's like from a sense of entitlement, but I've made introductions to my founders. They like, how well do you know that person that called was like terrible?

• 20:50Speaker 01

  Or a lack of follow through or things that are really important to me, like you're going to get your shit done. If you work with my founders, right? Like you're a reflection of me and these introductions are a reflection of me. And so I remember saying to Lee, gosh, I cast a wide net and I met like, you know, I probably 50 other fund managers. And I was like, is it crazy that the list of people I trust and want to work with is probably like eight of the 50? And he's like, no, absolutely not. He's like, I did the same thing when I was early at Tiger. And, you know, you cast a wide net, you meet a lot of people and then that list becomes like eight to 10. So that's happening now and I'm still trying to add people in and maybe push people out. But like, there's only a small group of people that you really trust and that trust takes time.

• 21:28David Weisburd?

  Yeah, almost literally 20%. So you've built up an enormous Twitter followers on a relative basis to VC. Walk me through how you built up your Twitter followers in the very beginning.

• 21:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, so I was not on Twitter and using any form of social media outside of like Instagram personally, probably until 2021. So I raised my first fund while I was still operating at a startup. I just had my head down, knew all of the LPs and had great access. So I was like, great, let's do this. We had a $5 million fund. And I'm in a group chat with Aaron Frank, who was at the time, like an amazing angel investor that fell into the deep dark side and started as a partner at Lightspeed. I say that in a loving way. And Alex Cohen, who's like a popular shit poster and now founder himself on Twitter. And they said, Nicole, you just closed a $5 million fund. Like, you're a VC now. Like, you have to get on Twitter. And so then I hard launched September 2021, saying, hey, I just raised a $5 million

• 22:26Speaker 01

  fund. Like, who should I be? Again, and knowing nothing about it, I think a quick take too, as I spent a few months on it, was people are absolutely nuts. Like VC Twitter is unhinged, absolutely ridiculous. And I'll get into what I really think about it. But, and so my first tweet that really took off, and I was like, wait, I need to like, keep pouring fuel on this, was I posted something I call like my first heater. I had maybe 200 followers. And I said, can confirm, it's 10x easier to raise a $5 million fund than to get 500 Twitter followers. And Alex and Aaron, Alex at the time had 100,000 followers, they retweet this and it totally takes off. I get to my first 1000 followers. And after that, I can't really remember. I would say, I think those first 1000 are the most difficult.

• 23:06David Weisburd?

  Is that a social proof aspect? Like, you get to 1000 and now people take you seriously? Why are those first 1000 so much more difficult?

• 23:14Speaker 01

  It's a human psychology. I don't know. I think you click into someone's profile and you're like, oh, they're kind of legit. People I know follow them. Because if you have 1000 followers, you have at least one mutual with almost like everyone second degree. And so I think when they see that like, there's at least one or two mutuals, you become more legitimate. I feel like that 1000 just sticks out on Twitter. And so that, maybe that's just a personal take, but it felt like that was the hardest. And then after that, like, it felt like it was much faster to get to get going. I think that a few things, and these are, I don't know, hot takes, maybe I'll regret saying later, but like, VC Twitter is kind of broken up into like, I'd say like, three different personas, like pending four, which maybe is the bucket I fall into. One, you have like the deeply insecure billionaires who argue with each other all the time. And then you have, I think, two, they're either associates or partners with like a tiny P,

• 23:59Speaker 01

  who just shadow the rich guys and try to be bullies on the internet, who pitched the same book and call themselves contrarian. And then you have the like total sweethearts, who are the partners who like know that building a brand really matters, but they're so uncomfortable posting online and they are way too afraid to look stupid and to be judged, that they literally just post humble in honor to be a part of like Series A, and then that's the Twitter feed. I'd say what is, I guess, totally like original and really interesting, or the really authentic accounts, I don't know if I can like say that I'm a part of this, but maybe it's what I'm going for, where I just don't give a shit, right? Like if people, and by that, I mean, I don't mind getting beat up on the internet. What I like about Twitter is that people tell you you're an idiot and that you're wrong,

• 24:43Speaker 01

  and in some cases, they're right, and that's refreshing. I learned something, like I'll go rethink, you know, whatever it is that I posted. I have the courage to be myself, which I think is actually like the, like, very, very limited in the world. And so for better or worse, like I, people follow me because I've been open and I've taken an approach that's, I'm going to build this firm in public, I'm going to say what I think, I'm going to say that I don't really buy that there's a lot of money made in AI, and I'll stand by it, and someone can point back to that and say, you know, she was wrong. I, the benefit of doing what I do and never working at a big fund is that I don't have like, an issue with group think, and I don't sit around at big firms and weekly partner meetings and get brainwashed by like, the only things that the partners say can work at the fund.

• 25:27Speaker 01

  And look, founders love it. So the most important thing is, I am relatable to founders, because I'm building something, it's really hard, and I'm saying what I think along the way, even if I might be wrong. And they feel like that it's, it's relatable, and frankly, so do other VCs. Like, you know, so a lot of times I get messages like, thanks for saying, you know, what I can't say, so whatever, we write it midnight.

• 25:49David Weisburd?

  What would be your advice to somebody trying to build out their Twitter brand today?

• 25:52Speaker 01

  I would say the people that really want to do it and are going to be just really good at it are the people that are just that don't even have to ask me. I and I say that because usually the people and GPs, by the way, reach out a lot. Either they have their own funds or they're at like multi-stage funds like Nicole. I know this is important, like, how do I do it? Those people that were in that third bucket? The short answer is if you have to ask that, you're going to be too uncomfortable to probably do it because it is cringey. And I think cringe scales, but a lot of folks are really afraid of that. And I I got a text from. I won't put him on blast, but like a notable seed fund GP, one of my LPs. And he said the other night, he's like, Nicole.

• 26:30Speaker 01

  He's like, we're doing the podcast thing. I'm leaning in on socials. Like you were totally right. He's like cringe scales, basically alluding to my content, probably. And he was like, you were right, like two years ago, like this is an area where you have to invest. It's the future. And I've always said that. And and so. I mean, the the short of it is, if you do need the advice on how to have better tweets, maybe it's working, but it's not like taking off is you have to have something unique to say. And have an opinion. And so a lot of people will tweet, you know, the sky is blue. It's like, great. Well, how do you feel about that? Is that shitty? Is that amazing? Like, have an opinion. You don't have to be relatable, but try to be to the masses, as in stick to your niche. So if it's VC, don't break up, don't ever post about anything other than the VC.

• 27:11Speaker 01

  For probably the first 12 months, like I've gotten more personal. I'll talk about family. I'll talk about things where people get to know me, but you really don't want to go off script. For a little while and keep them short. So people writing novels and trying to like, no one has time for someone they don't know to read three paragraphs. They have time to read. You know, like two sentences. So stick to those things.

• 27:32David Weisburd?

  And do you have a power law to your posts? Like, do like 1% of your posts end up leading to most of your growth? Or is it more linear?

• 27:40Speaker 01

  Definitely more linear. I don't, even when I think back to like notable moments, you know, like I I announce a new fund, I'll get maybe a thousand new or 2000 more followers, which is always like, you know, it's big news. If I.

• 27:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, I would say from a single post, maybe the most followers I've gotten is like two to 3,000. I think even there was like the Keith or Boy, third tier VC thing that happened a couple of years ago. And I think there was probably 2,500 or 3,000 followers that came from that. But right now, we're close to 100,000. So that's not crazy. I'd say on average, I like, there's a stat counter I follow. On average, I think I grow between like 70 and 100 like followers a day if I post every day. So it's just consistent. It takes time. I mean, everyone thinks there's overnight success. It's taken me almost three years to get to 100,000 followers and that's posting one to two times a day for that long.

• 28:28David Weisburd?

  Well, Nicole, we've been in contact since I think roughly May, you were in your ninth month pregnancy, raising your fund. You certainly did not disappoint. How could people follow you and get in touch?

• 28:38Speaker 01

  So one, I'm super active on X and my DMs are open. So that's probably the fastest path to a response. And my handle is just N Wischoff. So my last name, I, you can shoot me a DM on LinkedIn as well. You know, Nicole Wischoff. And my email is Nicole at Wishoff.com. So not really creative here, but would love to be in touch. And again, DMs are open everywhere.

• 28:59David Weisburd?

  Great. Thank you, Nicole.

• 29:00Speaker 01

  Of course. Thank you so much for having me.