10/31/2023 0 Comments Mac conference baltimore![]() So that became a thing and I got really good at - networking. I was just an engineer with my two co-founders and then we got exposed to networking and the value of networking, the value of having a network, and I was the only person in the team that didn’t mind talking to people all day, every day. When I started my first company in 2010, I didn’t know what a VC was, I didn’t know what a startup was, I didn’t know what networking was. So, if you did not come from an experienced VC background, how did you have the know-how to be putting information out there? Because, for me, when I got started, I didn’t know anything about this stuff. I think what it is - so the way my Twitter works is I give a lot of content just around venture, how venture works, how VCs evaluate.Ī lot of educational content. Why were they following you to begin with? So I recognized that like, “Oh, if I talk to these other GPs, GPs can invest in funds, too.” And that just essentially became a strategy. And as I was having conversations, several of them started committing money to my fund. So I just started setting up meetings with these folks because I wanted to talk to them about - one, I wanted to get better at what I do, and two, I wanted to learn how to raise. It wasn’t just founders, it was other VCs. And I’d recently started tweeting consistently, but I noticed that as I tweeted more VCs were following me. And really what happened was, I wanted to raise a fund, I didn’t have a network of LPs, so I wanted to learn more. So, in about a little more than a year, I’ve gained over 50,000 followers. In the way of - so, for context, in June of last year, I had 2,500 followers on Twitter. Twitter is the reason why I raised my fund, I wouldn’t have - I don’t think I’d have a fund today, if not for Twitter. So then when I have a company that needs help, I can go to my Twitter community like, “Hey, Twitter, can anybody help my founder XYZ?” And they almost always come through. I built my Twitter community in a way that people know I care about helping folks and I actually help folks a lot. Specifically for me, as a solo capitalist today, my secret weapon is Twitter. Ya, that’s great! But, I mean, having a business development background - well, this is a network industry. I actually think having a business development background is better. We talked about the new faces of venture and a lot of people said to get into venture you should have an operating background. What were you and the panelists discussing? You’ve just come from a panel discussion here at PreMoney in Miami. ![]() MAC’S PANEL DISCUSSION AT THE PREMONEY CONFERENCE Subscribe here to tune into future episodes of Rise of the Next on major streaming platforms. His advice to underrepresented founders: don’t get mad, get even. The social media platform enabled him to build a network in the VC community and learn about the world of venture capital. On our podcast Rise of the Next, Mac tells us how he raised his fund the most unconventional way–by using Twitter. He founded Baltimore-based RareBreed Ventures a little more than a year ago to invest in pre-seed and seed founders outside of the major tech hubs. At our PreMoney conference which we recently held in Miami, Mac Conwell joined us on a panel of emerging VCs.
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