On Thursday, May 4th, Strut hosted a live webinar focusing on how VCs can leverage marketing to attract LPs and ultimately increase fundraising dollars. Strut’s former Communications & Marketing Manager, Kayla Liederback, was joined by Sarah Mattina of Venture Forward and Katie Kalmikoff of Katie K Marketing & Events to discuss proven marketing strategies for VC fundraising.

Strut Consulting, the premier venture capital operations consulting firm, is excited to announce the promotion of Nicole Fuller to the position of Chief Operating Officer. In this new role, Nicole will be responsible for driving Strut’s continued momentum, enhancing and expanding client offerings and educational programming for fund managers in the months ahead, as well as building Strut’s internal team, which has grown to over 10 experts in the last two years.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: Time to cozy up around the fireplace, sip hot cocoa, and…. prepare for your audit. Yes, it’s audit season! While you may not be feeling jolly about it, going through the audit process is essential to ensuring your portfolio companies are valued fairly, and it provides you with credibility in the eyes of your Limited Partners (LPs).

We’ve gathered the most common questions to think through while preparing to audit your first venture capital fund. Read on to find out how to get your ducks in a row. 

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) is the government agency responsible for enforcing trade and economic sanctions imposed by the US Government. Essentially, this government agency compiles OFAC’s List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (“SDN List”), which includes individuals and entities owned or controlled by, or acting on behalf of, sanctioned countries, as well as individuals such as terrorists. U.S. persons are not legally allowed to do business with entities or individuals on this list. 

When it comes to raising your firm’s visibility, nothing moves the needle like some good PR. If you’re an emerging manager and recently closed a fund, now is the time to get your story out. While publishing a press release may still be considered a formality, you can make quite a splash by offering a journalist the exclusive on your story before you release it and before the news comes out anywhere else. 

We’ve all heard those “back in the day” stories of fund managers (now legacy mega VCs) who invested in the ugly ducklings (now unicorns) when investors were super selective, and companies rarely got a second look. Well, those days are long gone. In the current venture capital climate, companies have more options, and investors must compete to see the best deals, win them, get bigger allocations than their peers, and achieve a return on investment. This competition has created a critical need for investors to differentiate themselves. Those early in their venture capital career trying to establish a track record, and emerging managers who’ve not yet reached legacy fund status, have to work even harder to rise above the rest, let alone to become a legacy fund themselves.