When I started in venture, I went looking for something that explained how a fund is actually built and run. There was nothing like it. Fundraising is discussed everywhere; the rest – fund formation, Limited Partner (LP) relationships, portfolio construction – you absorb on the job, within a handful of firms, if you happen to be in the room.
That gap is what I set out to close. Building Your First VC Fund in Europe is an open-source, end-to-end playbook for first-time managers. It is the guide I wish I had when I started my venture capital journey. Three ideas, in particular, tend to change people’s minds about whether they, too, could build their own fund:
There is more than one way in
There are at least three paths into fund management: the angel investor who has been writing personal cheques and wants to do it at scale; the operator who has built or run companies and understands the founder journey first-hand; and the former VC looking to build a fund of their own.
The angel has a track record of good judgment, but not at institutional scale. The operator knows the sector inside out, yet has never built a portfolio. For the former VC, the track record may be there; the question is whether LPs attribute it to the individual or to their old firm’s brand. What LPs respond to is a clear, credible edge, and an honest read on the gap beside it.
The economics are more accessible than you think
Two assumptions stop a lot of capable people before they start: that you need a big fund, and that running one is expensive. Both are wrong. A first fund can be much smaller than the headline numbers suggest and still work economically, and a lean structure runs on roughly €80–150K a year.
The catch is that a small first fund will not pay you much in fees. The first one is really a track record; the economics that matter come later, from carry and from the larger fund it lets you raise next.
You don’t have to raise it all from scratch
The scariest part of a first fund is the cold start: persuading LPs to back you before you have a track record. There is now a layer of programmes built to help with that first close. Some seed emerging managers directly, anchoring the round or writing an early cheque; others back you with the support to bring in the rest. This is not free money, though: a seeder often takes a slice of your management company or carry in return. For a first fund, that trade could be worth it, since the hard part is rarely the terms, it is getting to a first close at all.
There is a lot more inside: how reserves actually work, how carry and the General Partner commitment are set, and the math behind a fund that delivers returns. If starting a fund feels out of reach, it may be closer than it looks.
I have just published it. The full playbook, and the story behind it, is here: Building Your First VC Fund in Europe.
