#2 How to become a VC & common founder mistakes w/ Sarah Downey
Learn from a partner at Accomplice VC
Published in
2 min readNov 19, 2021
Inspirational stories plus practical takeaways from the entrepreneurship world. Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Sarah A. Downey is an operating partner at Accomplice VC, an angel investor, and the founder of an upcoming lifestyle app (currently in stealth). She is also one of Dave’s new favorite human beings. She has magnetic energy, a sharp wit, and a deep wealth of knowledge about investing and startups.
Youtube video below:
- 1:15 Thoughts on Medium
- 3:10 Writing process
- 5:00 The “stealth lifestyle company” Sarah’s building
- 17:53 Self-censorship: How to balance speaking your mind without causing trouble
- 21:06 How Sarah made the jump from Director of Community to VC partner
- 22:09 How VCs get paid
- 24:23 Angel investing vs VC 27:00 Balancing 3 jobs
- 29:22 What video games she’s playing
- 31:51 Best way to turn an idea into an income
- 37:44 What’s more important for startups: data or storytelling?
- 41:27 Most common mistakes when raising money
- 47:39 What’s served you more — discipline or passion?
- 48:43: What contributes to success more — obsession or balance?
- 49:58 Closing remarks
We hope enjoy the episode and don’t forget to share it with others.
