Venture Capital Is Just Business: Lessons from Chapati Stands, Microfinance, and AI
Why This Matters When people hear “venture capital,” they picture boardrooms full of billionaires, complex financial models, and Silicon Valley jargon. But the deeper I’ve gone into this world—through programs like Venture Institute, NSF I-Corps, and my own entrepreneurial journey—I’ve learned a simple truth: venture capital is still business. Like running a chapati stand in high school or lending to small SMEs in East Africa, it comes down to the same loop: Get resources. Add value. Deliver results. Grow trust and relationships. The magnitude changes, but the fundamentals don’t. The People Game One of my biggest insights from the Venture Institute is that venture is a people’s game. Limited Partners (LPs) are the customers of a fund, not startups. GPs live and die by relationships—just as I once did when one client made up 50% of my branding business, and we nearly collapsed when they pulled out. In VC, no LP should ever hold more than 20% of a fund. Diversification isn’t just...