Do You Invest in VC funds?

The perspective of a first-time fundraiser

It’s been over two decades since my lemonade stand was primed to be the next big thing in beverages coming out of Seattle.

That was the last time I asked strangers for money. Never built that muscle after that. And at least with lemonade, you have a sign. People know what lemonade is. They walk up, hand you a dollar, you hand them a cup.

Fundraising for a venture fund is different. There’s no sign. Half the people you talk to think LP means vinyl. And I had to learn, mid-raise, that the hardest part isn’t explaining what we do. It’s just asking.

“Just make the ask.”

I hated that advice.

We heard it constantly while fundraising: from other emerging managers, advisors, seasoned VCs. Seems simple, right? But that phrase made me deeply uncomfortable. Asking someone directly if they’d like to invest in our fund felt too forward. Like a cheesy car salesman.

So for the first few months of outreach, I took the indirect approach. My messages looked something like this:

“Hope all is well! I’d love to chat and learn more about your work at X and get better acquainted if you’re open to it. I’m a GP at Daring Ventures investing in...”

I figured a low-stakes ask about their experience would build rapport before I revealed my real intent. This approach had worked earlier in my career when I was building trust before making big asks, like help finding a job.

The result? Wasted time and a stalled pipeline. I had a high response rate and plenty of initial calls scheduled, but nothing moved forward after that.

I was confused. Why isn’t this working?

After Joe and I analyzed our strategy, we realized the problem: You can’t adapt junior-to-senior dynamics to a senior-to-senior relationship.

I’m not an early-career professional anymore. I needed to reframe that I was building peer-level relationships. And what we’re really looking for is a partnership, not a favor.

Being direct and genuine about what we want isn't pushy. It's respectful. It's efficient. It treats the other person like an equal whose time matters. And the indirect approach doesn't avoid the awkwardness. It just makes the other person carry it. They know you want something. Now they're waiting for you to say it.

So I changed my approach:

“Nice to connect! I’m one of the GPs at Daring Ventures. We’re raising Fund I, and I’d love for you to be one of our LPs. Do you have 20 minutes to chat?”

What happened? More responses. More nos. But a far stronger hit rate for truly prospective LPs, not just people who seemed interested on the surface.

Everyone was right. Making the ask felt stressful and cringe at first, but it turned out to be simpler than my old approach. The rejections came faster and cleaner; a quick, definitive answer instead of a long, drawn-out fade.

Since changing my approach, our meetings are with high-signal LPs who move much further through our pipeline. We closed three new LPs because of it.

Being intentional about what I want isn’t rude or off-putting. It’s thoughtful and leads to higher-quality conversations with people who are genuinely excited about what we’re building at Daring Ventures.

Make the ask. The worst someone can say is no. Even that beats time wasted.