My First Venture Deal Wasn't What I Expected

17 years ago I started writing for a newspaper, interviewing people to share their stories. Today I'll share one of my own... How I invested $3 million into a Major Seattle Venture Capital Firm.

I've always been a hustler and when I joined the tech industry as an agency recruiter in 2011, I got some great advice from T.A. McCann. "Interview tech executives and start a blog series...Add value to them for giving you their time..."

That's how I met the Big Cheese. Let's just say the Big Cheese has led some of the most significant funding rounds for some of Seattle's brightest stars. I attended a live interview he gave and I summarized an article about the event, published, and shared with the Big Cheese, all before the TV Station had even started their article.

...Fast Forward 5 years to a point where one of my strongest alliances in the industry was promoted to leading the portfolio of Venture Capital Firms for his $7 Billion Trust Fund. The very first meeting he took, looking for Venture Firms as a means to grow capital, was with the Big Cheese, all thanks to me.

Over 7 years, I've added value for the Big Cheese by shared information, creating content, and researching everything that could be relevant to my career or his. He said I was the first person he didn't know, to lead to an investment for his firm.

Can you believe that? In his 20+ years of Venture Capital, no one has every been able to add value to his career from out of the blue. This taught me that leading with value pays off way more than only focusing on your own agenda.

Now, I didn't receive a Finder's Fee for this one, which would have been close to $100k. However, I know that the goodwill that this work earned me is far more valuable than that.

When it comes time to pitch my own startup... I'm sure you can guess who I'll call. Though, what excites me even more is that I know the Big Cheese will always answer my call.

(This is not the Big Cheese in the Photo...It is T-Mobile CEO John Legere)