Mediaboss Marketing

A few weeks ago, Lux Capital Partner Deena Shakir found herself showing a preschool class how to turn seed funding into a unicorn. This may seem impossible (after all, kids this age might not even understand the concept of money yet), but it was career day at her childrens preschool, and she wanted to share what she does.

So, she taught them the power of science and innovation with childrens book Ada Twist, Scientist and offered each child chia seeds. She then sat with them as they cultivated their seed funding into a unicorn-shaped chia pet that would eventually blossom.

Eleven years ago, Shakir never imagined shed be talking about venture capital at career day. Shed just delivered the speech From Baghdad to Boston: Dropping the Global H-Bomb at her Harvard graduation, started grad school at Georgetown, and was working a number of side hustles to fully fund her degree. Over the next decade, she held several different types of roles.

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She was a reporter for BBC and an Aga Khan Fellow at The Aspen Institute. She led public-private partnerships for USAID and was a Presidential Management Fellow in Secretary Clintons office at the State Department. Google recruited her to lead partnerships for emerging products, which she did for five years. And before joining Lux in August, she spent two years as a partner at GV (formerly Google Ventures).

Shakir has hit the ground running at Lux. Last month, she announced her first Lux investment in food tech startup Shiru and has since made another investment. She can confidently say theres nothing else shed rather be doing then venture investing. And she truly believes her nontraditional career path, specifically spending so much time as an operator building partnerships across sectors, is an important asset to the founders and CEOs she invests in.

Below, Shakir explains how being an operator and connector across industries for over 10 years offers tailwinds for her current role. Plus, the top three skills she believes founders should look for when evaluating a VC.

The Advantages of Having an Operator Background

Shakirs operating experience sparked her passion in the product world. At Google, she developed partnerships for early-stage products in a range of industrieshealthcare, retail, hardware, AI, and a whole lot more.

This partnership experience also provided her with a wide and deep network. It was her job to figure out who the best-in-class players were in each space, to engage them on behalf of Google, and to get their help launching the product. Today, these are the very same contacts she mobilizes for deal flow, diligence, potential executive hires, go-to-market, and more.

Being an operator for over a decade offered her experience building, negotiating, and closing deals across sectors, an incredibly valuable skill set for a VC.

Three Characteristics Founders Should Look for in a VC

While Shakir believes that there are a wide array of skills and qualities that can make you effective as an investor, there are three phenotypes that stick out to her that founders should seek when choosing a VC to partner with: the networker, the closer, and the coach. Heres why.

1. The Networker. A successful VC must be able to develop and maintain authentic relationships with people. It helps with sourcing new deals, deal flow, corporate and business development relationships, fundraising, you name it. Who you know, knowing what to ask and who to ask, and connecting the dots is a magical skill. A VC who will network on your behalf will add immeasurable value to your company.

2. The Closer. Pitching isnt just for startups these days. For the most competitive deals, its the VCs who have to do the pitching. Its one thing to get a seat at the table, but you also need to be able to close the deal. As a VC, youre always closing: on behalf of your portfolio companies (to corporate customers, partners, and future investors), to LPs, and, of course, to the companies who will give you the opportunity to invest in them. Screen for this quality as you would for a CRO on your team.

3. The Coach. Shakir strongly cautions against underestimating the human side of the job. Being an early stage investor is about more than crunching numbers. A good investor must be able to effectively read a room, to coach her CEOs through trying times, to evaluate the emotional state and motivations of founding teams, and to trust her gut. Building trusting relationships is best done through being real, authentic, and refreshingly transparentall qualities to seek in an investor.

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How This Lux Capital GP Went From The Obama Administration To Google To InvestorPlus, The Top 3 Characteristics Founders Should Look For In Investors...