In today's world, creating compelling and engaging content is essential to getting noticed in almost every industry.

Venture capital is not immune. Having truckloads of money is half the battle. With the top 20 or so of several thousand firms generating 95% of returns, VC firms have their work cut out for them.

This is why emerging managers and less well-known VCs are making content a central pillar of their deal flow generation strategy.

Here are ten we love, including a couple of more established players.

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20VC

20VC founder Harry Stebbings started his venture capital podcast, 20VC from his mum’s kitchen table. He was just 19 and had no contacts in the VC industry.

He used the podcast to build relationships with prominent VCs and startup founders, and break into VC. The eventual popularity of the show and the personal brand and contacts it helped Stebbings develop led to his raising US$140M to start his own fund at the age of just 24.

AirTree

One of Australia’s biggest venture funds, AirTree, has diligently used content and startup resources in particular to become a go-to online destination and a top-of-mind VC fund for Australian founders looking for capital. Specifically, it publishes countless how-to guides, administrative templates, and open-source contact lists for potential capital sources, that differentiate it from other Australian firms.

Even after marking down many portfolio companies by 30% in the recent downturn, AirTree’s IRR on its funds is 49%, also making it one of the best performing venture capital firms in the world.

Mac the VC

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In fall 2020, McKeever Conwell II (Mac the VC) left his job.

He had just 2,500 followers on Twitter. A year later, he had 60,000 followers, having actively worked on building it on what is the social media platform of choice for entrepreneurs and VCs.

He used his newfound online brand to start Rare Breed Ventures, a $10M venture fund investing in Black and Latin founders outside large tech ecosystems. Mac says that 80% of the money he raised came through connections on Twitter.

Blackbird

Australia’s Blackbird VC has published hundreds of articles, videos, and podcast episodes, which it uses to further its brand and visibility amongst Australian founders.

Its content features a mix of guides on leadership, product and culture, marketing & sales, capital raising, as well as founder stories that serve to highlight its portfolio companies.

Blackbird closed its fifth fund in 2022, worth $1B, and as of June 2022, had recorded an IRR of 56% and a return of $10B, making it Australia’s and one of the world’s best-performing venture firms.

Check out my interview with Blackbird founder and partner, Niki Scevak, below.

‍Jason Calacanis

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Long before the All-In podcast made him a household name within the broader business and politics community, Jason was using content to build his personal brand and get access to quality deal flow. His podcast, This Week In Startups, was launched back in 2009 and today boasts over 1,800 episodes. His book, Angel, was also used to help him establish a name for himself amongst the broader community of investors and prospective LPs in his funds.

Calacanis recently used his brand to raise a $100M fund publicly via Twitter using the 506(c) designation, and was quickly oversubscribed.

First Round Capital

First Round Capital is a prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm that implemented a content marketing strategy with great success.

The firm's Medium bloghas more than 50K followers and its podcast attracts thousands of listens per episode.

First Round has made approximately 460 investments and recorded 170 exits to date.

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Matt Turck

Matt Turck, or as All-In's Chamath Palihapitiya called him on the show, "a guy called Matt Turck", has been capturing the attention of VC Twitter with his unique brand of self-deprecating one liners, memes, VC humor, and the occasional legitimate insights on tech. The managing director of New York's FirstMark Capital now boasts over 80,000 Twitter followers.

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Benjamin Gilbert & David Rosenthal

Ben (Pioneer Square Labs) and Dave (Kinderarden Ventures) have been hosting the incredibly popular Acquired podcast, where they go deep on the stories behind the most iconic companies. From SEGA and Nintendo, to CostCo, Apple, and NIKE.

Acquired has been ranked the #1 Technology show on Apple Podcasts, and boasts an estimated 400,000+ monthly listeners across all podcast players. The show has gotten so popular that they duo have hosted live podcasts in arenas...yes, arenas! See below if you don't believe us.

The personal brands that the duo have developed have made them household names in Silicon Valley, helping to cultivate relationships with founders, fellow VCs, LPs, and key industry players.

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a16z

And last, but not least, Andreesen Horowitz.

a16z's educational canon represents one of the most comprehensive sources of information for founders across myriad vertical and horizontal topics - whether it's finding product market fit, firing up growth, or improving hiring, or AI, web3, and biotech.

a16z consistently and frequently publish podcasts, articles, reports, and tweets, with co-founder Marc Andreesen now becoming a regular fixture on The Joe Rogan Experience, one of the world's most popular and all-consuming podcasts.