Why Do So Many VC Podcasts Feel the Same?
Recorded in Chinese
Questions about VC podcasts: who should host, whether portfolio showcases dominate, what thinking could be shared, and why only a few guests have stayed with me.
00:01 In today's audio,
00:03 I mainly want to record
00:05 my observations about
00:09 the VC podcasts I know.
00:11 So,
00:12 I have been listening to some VC podcasts.
00:15 And I wonder
00:17 why some of them
00:20 share fairly consistent patterns.
00:25 For example,
00:27 I have several "whys" I am curious about.
00:31 The first one is:
00:33 I notice that many VC podcasts
00:36 are hosted by managing partners.
00:43 I wonder whether
00:45 putting a managing partner in the host role
00:48 fails to fully use
00:53 the value they can offer.
00:57 Of course, I have also seen
00:58 other examples
01:00 that I think work well.
01:02 For example, the host may be
01:06 the head of PR or brand,
01:08 while the managing partner appears as a guest
01:12 or in the role of investor.
01:16 They are not the host,
01:17 but
01:19 the person being interviewed.
01:21 I feel that this structure
01:25 can draw out
01:29 more information from the conversation.
01:31 When you are the host,
01:34 you need to manage the room
01:36 and guide the flow of the topic.
01:40 But when they are
01:42 the person being interviewed,
01:43 the amount of information they share,
01:45 the position they speak from,
01:46 and how their presence feels
01:49 are completely different.
01:52 So,
01:54 that is one of my "whys."
01:56 Why do some VC podcasts
01:59 choose a managing partner as the host
02:03 instead of someone in another role?
02:05 From my own perspective,
02:11 I think that having a consistent
02:16 brand or content lead with a distinct style
02:20 serve as the host
02:24 might work better.
02:27 Of course, that is only my view.
02:29 Different people see things differently.
02:31 Some VC firms may want to
02:37 tie the podcast closely to a managing partner.
02:41 They have their own reasons for that.
02:44 My second "why" is:
02:49 I feel that several VC podcasts
02:54 use every new episode
02:59 to showcase their portfolio.
03:00 They tell people what they invested in,
03:03 or introduce a newly funded company,
03:09 recruit talent,
03:12 tell everyone
03:13 what the company does,
03:16 or announce an upcoming product launch
03:18 and use the channel
03:20 for a round of promotion.
03:22 It is that kind of showcase.
03:27 I feel that if
03:31 a show keeps doing this over time,
03:37 it underestimates the value of podcast content.
03:41 Of course, I have also seen
03:44 other VC podcast examples.
03:46 There is one show,
03:48 which I will not name for now.
03:50 It also invites
03:53 founders to talk on the show,
03:57 but its conversations feel more
03:59 like accessible explainers.
04:05 They tell listeners
04:08 what the industry does,
04:10 what the company has done,
04:12 and also discuss the startup story.
04:16 The direction of the conversation
04:18 does not make it sound as if
04:23 you are hearing what the VC invested in.
04:27 With that kind of structure,
04:34 the portfolio-showcase feeling is weaker.
04:39 Of course, I do not know
04:42 what most VC firms
04:45 are trying to achieve with podcasts now.
04:48 Podcast growth really is quite slow.
04:53 And I think many people
04:55 make podcast monetization
04:57 sound too simple.
05:00 It is true that podcast monetization...
05:04 To use a metaphor,
05:06 it is like climbing a staircase,
05:08 one step at a time.
05:11 But I think the value of podcasts lies in
05:16 what we call their long-tail value.
05:18 You need to give them time,
05:20 and let time prove their value.
05:24 For example, some
05:26 podcast hosts mention that
05:28 when they visit certain people,
05:32 those people tell them,
05:35 "I have listened to your show."
05:37 That makes the visit
05:40 or conversation go more smoothly,
05:43 because
05:44 when I visit them,
05:45 they already know something about me.
05:47 Another example:
05:50 sometimes during job interviews,
05:52 candidates tell the interviewer,
05:56 "I have listened to your podcast.
05:58 That podcast
06:02 is why I became interested in your company."
06:05 A podcast's value includes
06:09 external communication, and also...
06:12 The example I just gave involved
06:15 something a little like
06:16 sourcing.
06:19 So internally, it can be
06:20 a sourcing tool,
06:23 and externally, a communication tool.
06:26 Mm.
06:28 Now for the third "why"
06:31 I am curious about:
06:35 I notice that much podcast content
06:38 is about what we invested in,
06:43 but not what we are thinking about.
06:49 I am genuinely very curious about this.
06:52 Why are they unwilling to share
06:55 their thinking process publicly?
06:58 I know much of it
06:59 cannot be made public,
07:01 but some of it certainly can.
07:04 Could those parts
07:06 also extend the brand outward,
07:10 and in turn shape
07:13 the VC brand itself?
07:16 Recently, I noticed one organization.
07:20 It is probably not a traditional VC firm,
07:24 but it also works in startups and investing.
07:28 It turns some internal
07:30 discussions into podcasts
07:35 and releases them publicly.
07:37 It is like several investors
07:39 talking together about a topic
07:42 or a trend.
07:44 I think that is very valuable.
07:47 Because I feel,
07:49 based on my observations,
07:52 and since I do not work in the industry,
07:55 I can only rely on my limited view,
07:58 that very, very few investors
08:07 inside VC firms
08:09 publicly discuss
08:13 which sectors they are watching,
08:16 what they look at
08:18 when studying those sectors,
08:22 or, if
08:25 they notice a trend,
08:27 how they follow it.
08:30 Or
08:32 what they have recently observed in Silicon Valley
08:35 or
08:37 in the tech world,
08:38 what has happened,
08:40 and what it means for us now.
08:44 If the direction
08:46 or prediction is right,
08:47 what changes might happen in the future?
08:50 Topics like these seem to be missing.
08:56 When we discuss these things,
08:58 there is no clear person
09:02 or organization standing behind them saying,
09:05 "We discuss these things.
09:07 You can follow us."
09:09 It is as if a person
09:12 or organization
09:14 could build that kind of brand narrative
09:16 and create that kind of space.
09:18 Then when we think about
09:20 these questions,
09:21 we would immediately think, oh,
09:22 there is this person
09:24 or this organization.
09:25 This is what they focus on.
09:26 I can follow them
09:29 and treat them as an information channel
09:30 for getting what I want to know.
09:33 Those are my three "whys."
09:36 There is one more.
09:43 Okay, this one is also important.
09:47 I have helped produce some
09:52 VC podcasts.
09:53 And I have noticed that
09:55 after making so many episodes,
09:57 very few have stayed in my memory.
10:02 They are only a small share
10:06 of all the podcasts I have produced.
10:11 I wonder why.
10:14 Is it because I do not know their field,
10:19 or the industry they work in,
10:22 so they do not leave a deep impression?
10:24 But I...
10:26 For example, I have never worked in e-commerce,
10:29 but I clearly remember
10:32 a guest from an episode about e-commerce.
10:37 She was not a founder.
10:38 She worked at a company
10:42 as a lead for overseas e-commerce operations,
10:45 I think.
10:46 She left a deep impression on me.
10:48 Another example is a B2B
10:54 founder, I think.
10:55 His company went public last year.
10:59 He left a very, very deep impression on me.
11:04 And in a recent episode,
11:07 there was a very young founder.
11:10 No, this is not working, my...