The Best Advice for Raising a Venture Fund: Lessons From GPs and LPs

Over the past year, Nathan Beckord, CEO of Fundingstack and host of the How I Raised It podcast, has spoken with a wide range of emerging fund managers about how they built their firms and raised capital.

Across those conversations, different strategies and fundraising journeys have surfaced, but several patterns keep appearing. The managers who make progress tend to have a clear reason their fund should exist, start building LP relationships well before a fundraise, understand which investors are actually a fit, and create momentum once the process begins.

We've pulled together some of the strongest lessons from those conversations, along with advice from the LPs and GPs who have experienced the process firsthand.

Here are some of the best pieces of fundraising advice we've heard from the people actually doing it.

Kane Hsieh, Root Ventures: Know Your Edge

For Kane Hsieh of Root Ventures, the first question an emerging manager should answer is simple:

Why should founders choose you?

Root has built its identity around highly technical founders. Its partners come from engineering backgrounds, the firm makes only a handful of new investments each year, and it tries to meet founders before they even have a polished pitch deck.

Kane applies the same thinking to fund managers.

"Have a pitch for why you have alpha or why you have an edge."

That edge doesn't necessarily mean having the most specific industry thesis. It could come from your network, technical expertise, geography, founder relationships, or an unusual ability to see opportunities before other investors.

The important thing is that it needs to be real.

Lesson: Before asking LPs to back your fund, be able to explain what you can see, access, or do better than other managers.

Nisha Dua, BBG Ventures: Start Building LP Relationships Early

Nisha Dua's experience building BBG Ventures shows just how long LP relationships can take to develop.

Some LPs took 18 months to convert. One relationship she started during an earlier fundraise took four years before becoming an investment.

That makes it difficult to think about fundraising as a campaign with a defined start and finish.

Nisha describes it like this:

"It's a very iterative process... you're building the funnel as you go."

The pitch evolves. The LP list evolves. Your understanding of what investors care about improves with every conversation.

Most importantly, relationships continue between fundraises. Regular updates, shared events, warm introductions, and simply staying present can gradually turn familiarity into conviction.

Lesson: Some of your most valuable LP relationships may begin years before they're ready to write a check.

Courtney McCrea, Recast Capital: Find Your People

Courtney McCrea has evaluated venture managers from both sides of the LP equation. Her advice to emerging managers is not to try to satisfy every investor.

"Don't twist yourself into a pretzel trying to be all things to all people."

Different LPs will give you different advice about fund size, strategy, portfolio construction, and even your partnership structure.

Trying to incorporate all of it can leave you with a fund that doesn't really resemble the one you wanted to build.

Courtney's advice is to figure out who you are first, then find the LPs who genuinely believe in that vision.

She also recommends matching your target LPs to the actual size and structure of your fund. A $10 million Fund I shouldn't spend months chasing institutions whose minimum commitment is larger than the entire fund. Family offices, HNWIs, foundations, and strategic investors may be much more realistic targets.

Lesson: Don't build your fund around what every LP wants. Find the investors who want what you're building.

Danielle Patterson: Treat Family Offices Like Long-Term Partners

Family offices can be attractive LPs for emerging managers, but Danielle Patterson points out that they're also highly fragmented. There is no standard process or single approach that works across the market.

That makes research especially important.

Before reaching out, managers should understand what a family office invests in, whether it backs funds or invests directly into startups, who makes investment decisions, and what matters to the family itself. Danielle recommends building a focused list of high-quality prospects rather than treating family offices as a giant database.

The relationship also shouldn't begin with a pitch.

Engage first. Learn about them. Reference something specific. Show why you're reaching out to them, rather than simply adding them to a fundraising campaign.

Her advice is particularly relevant to emerging managers because family offices can think beyond a traditional institutional allocation.

Lesson: With family offices, relevance and familiarity matter much more than a perfect fundraising email.

David Zhou, Alchemist: Build Relationships Before You Need Them

David Zhou, mentor at Alchemist Accelerator, approaches LP fundraising from a relationship-first perspective.

His advice is straightforward:

"Whether you raise it today or tomorrow, you should start building relationships now."

He doesn't recommend waiting until a fundraise begins to start networking.

Instead, talk to people when you have nothing to ask for. Learn about their priorities. Make introductions. Host small dinners. Create opportunities for people to actually get to know you.

David particularly favors intimate gatherings of six to ten people, arguing that smaller events make it easier to build genuine relationships than large conferences.

And his philosophy extends beyond traditional LP circles. For smaller funds, he suggests talking to lawyers, accountants, bankers, and other professionals who may themselves become LPs or introduce you to one.

Lesson: Your fundraising network should be built continuously, not switched on when you need capital.

Renata Quintini, Renegade Partners: Qualify Your LPs and Create Momentum

Renata Quintini has spent years on both sides of the venture table, including building Renegade Partners and previously working with institutional investors.

Her advice for emerging managers is to distinguish between interest and actual fundraising progress.

Before spending too much time with an LP, ask:

• Have they backed Fund I managers before?
• Do they participate in first closes?
• How does their investment committee make decisions?

A great meeting isn't necessarily meaningful progress.

As Renata puts it:

"A no is better than being strung along."

Once you have genuine prospects, momentum becomes important. Renata recommends soft close dates, anchor LPs, and clear timelines to prevent the fundraising process from drifting indefinitely.

Lesson: Build a realistic pipeline, qualify investors early, and create enough momentum that the fundraise keeps moving.

Winter Mead, Coolwater Capital: Make Sure You're Actually Fundable

Winter Mead's advice starts with something many emerging managers overlook: your thesis needs to connect to your own experience.

A fund shouldn't simply target an attractive market. The opportunity needs to be large and repeatable, and you need a credible reason for being the person to pursue it.

Winter gives the example of an entrepreneur who has built and exited multiple companies in a particular sector. That person may have a much stronger case for a specialized fund than someone who simply has an impressive venture résumé.

There's an important distinction here:

Being fundable isn't necessarily the same as being useful to founders.

LPs want to know that the manager can actually help companies succeed, not just identify an attractive category.

If you don't yet have the experience or credibility for a particular thesis, Winter suggests building it yourself by investing your own money and paying attention to the space.

Lesson: Your strongest fundraising story is often the one where your background naturally explains why you are the right investor for the strategy.

Final Thought

There isn't one formula for raising a venture fund.

Kane Hsieh says to know your edge. Nisha Dua shows why LP relationships can take years to develop. Courtney McCrea argues for finding the investors who genuinely believe in your vision. Danielle Patterson emphasizes research and relationship-building with family offices. David Zhou says to start building relationships before you need them. Renata Quintini focuses on qualification and momentum, while Winter Mead brings it back to the fundamentals: why you, why this strategy, and why now?

Taken together, the advice points to something simple.

The fundraise is only one part of building a venture firm.

Your thesis, network, reputation, portfolio, LP relationships, and track record all compound over time.

The managers who understand that don't just raise a one-off fund.

They build something LPs want to keep backing in perpetuity.