Brianne Kimmel

Build a VC network by proximity and intentional touchpoints, not coffees

Brianne explains that her edge came from moving to Silicon Valley and meeting people by proximity at dinners and workshops — and that she rarely takes one-on-one coffees, instead engineering high-leverage touchpoints (like hosting a no-code dinner before angel-investing in Webflow).

“you just end up meeting a lot of people just by proximity. Like, you walk into a dinner, you make 1 or 2 connections, you keep checking in with them, you stay in touch, and that's how you build your network. And, you know, everyone there is going somewhere. Like, you don't move to the Valley pay crazy insane rent prices to not be like in the mix.”

Steal thisSkip generic one-on-one coffees; host events that put you in the room with the specific founders you want to back.

AngelList and Carta turned anyone into a fund manager

Brianne argues the forcing function behind the solo-capitalist boom is platforms like AngelList and Carta that handle back-office, legal and LP connections — but she also spent two years blogging and tweeting to build the track record needed to raise outside money.

“AngelList and Carta have made this incredibly easy. I think the forcing function in venture, which has caused, you know, the ability for anyone to become a VC or to raise their own fund, is these platforms, which basically connect you with investors. They make it really easy to manage like your back office and, you know, you don't have to deal with lawyers and all that stuff.”

Steal thisSpend 1-2 years publicly building a track record (blog/tweet your investing thesis) before you try to raise a fund.

Rolling funds let you market a fund continuously if you have distribution

Brianne explains that rolling funds break the old rule against marketing a fund while fundraising, letting anyone with distribution (a podcast, an audience, great deal flow) continuously bring in new LPs instead of running slow, sequential closes.

“the rolling fund means that structurally you're able to talk about your fund broadly you're able to market your fund, which historically, you know, you weren't able to market your fund when you're actively fundraising. You know, if someone has distribution, if you have a podcast, you know, if you're an active angel investor and you already have great deal flow or you're leaving a high-growth startup and you have a great network, rolling funds are great because you can market it and you can constantly be bringing in new LPs.”

Steal thisIf you have an audience, use a rolling fund so you can market and add LPs continuously instead of doing slow sequential closes.

Stack SPVs and secondaries on top of the core fund for near-term cash

Brianne frames the core fund as just your 'V1' to build a track record; the real near-term money comes from layering on SPVs and buying secondary shares from illiquid employees — playbooks you run once the fund is established.

“Where people start to make a lot of money and make a lot of money in the short term is what I mentioned, doing SPVs or even buying secondary. One of the things that I've been doing a lot over the last year, year and a half, is one of the things that holds people back from starting a startup is the fact that they're illiquid and sitting on a lot of equity at their last startup. And so there are a lot of VCs that are exploring like, what would it mean to buy shares from, you know, employees”

Steal thisTreat the core fund as track-record building; layer SPVs and employee-secondary buys on top to generate near-term returns.

Hopin: 4 to 820 employees and $5.65B in a year

Brianne says Hopin had ~4 employees at its first round; a year after she invested it had 820 employees and was valued at $5.65 billion, with founder Johnny building it because his compromised immune system kept him from in-person networking.

“when they initially raised their first round of funding, I believe they had around 4 employees. I caught up with Johnny last week and they're at 820. So I invested a little over a year ago. They're now valued at $5.65B.”

Wiring money from the parking lot to get first into Pipe

Brianne tells how she chased an intro to Pipe founder Harry Hurst, finally tracked down his number on her birthday, met him at Soho House, committed on the spot and started wiring money from the parking lot — because she knew if she waited the deal would evaporate.

“I committed on the spot. I, you know, started the process to wire the money from the parking lot. Like, I'm sitting there on my birthday, late to my own birthday, laptop out, doing all of the things to get ready to wire money for this company because I knew if I waited, it wasn't going to happen.”

Steal thisWhen you find a deal you believe in, commit and start the paperwork on the spot — momentum dies if you wait.

'No one cares until everyone cares' — how fundraising snowballs

Brianne's heuristic for startup fundraising: founders feel ignored until suddenly everyone piles in. The last 12 hours are chaos because once one investor commits, interest snowballs into a flood of texts, calls and emails.

“no one cares until everyone cares. And that's how it always works. Like, the last 12 hours of fundraising is always a mess because once people— once someone hears that someone else is investing or someone else is interested, it just all snowballs into like a huge amount of texts and phone calls and emails.”

Pipe: from $9M post-money to north of $2B

Brianne reveals she invested in Pipe at roughly a $9 million post-money valuation, and the company is now worth north of $2 billion — an example she uses to show how much capital is chasing strong founders before traditional milestones.

“when I invested in Pipe, it was at like a $9 post and now they're worth north of $2 billion. And so that's not saying like, wow, you're a world-class investor, like you've changed this company.”

Returning a $10M fund on paper in 18 months — then don't over-raise

Brianne says her first fund (a bit north of $10M) returned itself on paper within 18 months, and uses it to argue against the urge to immediately raise a $100M fund: start where you are, build concentration with SPVs and secondaries, and don't overextend your reputation.

“For Fund 1 to raise a little bit north of $10 million and to return it in the first year and a half, like, that's a pretty safe bet, um, and one where I didn't overextend myself in a way where it could impact my reputation. That's something that I do encourage people. I'm like, start with where you are today, um, and find ways to keep building concentration over time.”

Steal thisRaise a fund you can credibly return rather than the biggest one possible; protect your reputation and build concentration over time.