Marc Andreessen is most famous for his 'tweet-storms'. Why does he do it?
The article below is a fantastic insight into the VC industry leaders and why they are finally adopting a content strategy. Having spoken to a range of VC and Private Equity firms the two topics that seem to reoccur as priorities are:
- Practical information for their targets such as strategies about growth, how to get funding etc; and
- Industry specific information to help position their own expertise as the 'go-to' people within the market.
As Andreessen mentions below, the key objective is to develop transparency and become the trusted adviser to the top entrepreneurs. This is no longer possible just in person or based on existing relationships given 84.3% of consumers start their research online. If you can develop a strategy that includes relevant, timely and authentic content you will quickly standout from the crowd that is beginning to gather momentum. Apart from keeping up with the Joneses why should the market follow? There seems to be four emerging trends:
- Growing interest in content marketing investments.
- The growing need for differentiation.
- The move toward value add.
- Exits are taking longer.
The bottom line is that the portfolio companies of these firms are executing a strategy themselves and in order to keep them engaged and educated it is vitally important the VC's match their behaviour. Not to mention a core group of the portfolio companies rely on content (Twitter, AirBNB, LinkedIn, Facebook etc).
A VC that has developed one of best content strategies is The Fintech Collective. As noted by a range of high profile parties they are a fantastic source of industry news in their niche, Fintech, and become the 'go-to' people in this sector.
Firms know they need to do something and it will be interesting to see how they do it without consuming their precious time whilst still making the content authentic and timely.
In June, Andreessen Horowitz – the $2.5 billion venture capital firm that has invested in such household brands as Groupon, AirBNB, Twitter, and Skype – hired former Wired Senior Editor Michael Copeland to lead its new content strategy. In an October interview with Pando Daily’s Sarah Lacy, Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen explained how the firm uses content to foster transparency and to articulate how it thinks about the world. He went on to describe the benefits of doing so, noting how it “gives entrepreneurs a great deal of comfort to already understand us before they walk in the door.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorieclark/2013/12/03/the-rise-of-vc-content-marketing/
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