Academy companies, alumni and your career speed

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in the last 24 years in Silicon Valley is the importance of people and place. But to summarize it even more sharply, “you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” I have written or said about it before, because it is so important.

This could be your school, your city, or even a mastermind group. But most commonly, it is the company where you work or have worked. This is where you spend a disproportionate amount of your day and time.

That’s why starting your career at a great company is crucial to your success and trajectory. A place full of brilliant, ambitious, entrepreneurial and talented individuals. Places that are known for all the spin-outs and even bigger successes after that.

Back in the day and in traditional industries, it was Goldman Sachs or McKinsey. In Silicon Valley, the most well-known were Fairchild Semiconductors and the infamous PayPal Mafia. In e-commerce in the early 2000s, it was eBay. In Media, Yahoo! was the hotbed from 2002 to 2007. I was really lucky to be there. It broadened my knowledge and gave me insight into what smart really was. I’ve found Coinbase in crypto and Stripe in general to be some great talent pools.

As a VC I was also lucky enough to get into 500 Startups and work there for the time I spent there. It was a bit of a clown show and looked down upon in Silicon Valley, despite Dave being ex-PayPal.

But it was made clear to me that unlike many other VC funds, a huge number of new and successful VC fund managers have emerged from it over the past 4-5 years.

The list is surprisingly long:

Sheel & Jake @Better Tomorrow Ventures (Fintech); Edith @Race Capital; Elizabeth & Eric @Hustle Fund; James & Yohei @Coral Capital in Japan; Pat, Mike, Chris @ Panache Ventures in Canada, Binh & Eddie @ Ascend Capital in Vietnam, Monique Woodward @ Cake Ventures, Asher @ Sukna Ventures in MENA, Pankaj Jain from Saka Ventures in India, Sherif who manages the Dubai Futures Fund, or Neha @ 2048 VC, Tanya @ Southpaw Ventures & Andrea @ Mahway Ventures, to name a few.

I also count myself among this illustrious group with Diaspora Ventures and my personal holding company, Sukna Holdings.

This list of spin-off VC managers, based on a key industry metric, has collective assets under management (AUM) that far exceeds 500 startups, of which there are now 500 globally. (I should note that the key metric for most VC funds is return on cash, so it’s early days.)

This is a testament to the critical mass of talent that was there before at 500 Startups. Something that we haven’t really seen at other places like YC, Techstars, or other big VC funds. And the point I want to make again is that when it comes to choosing a place and a job to work, you should focus on learning, not earning.

And the way to do this? Go to the smartest but most overlooked people. If you surround yourself with super smart people, it will inevitably increase your IQ and acumen. The opposite will happen if you go to the wrong company. So do your homework and be super thoughtful and picky about where you work early in your career. You have no idea how much of a difference it will make and how much momentum it will give you in life.