I'm announcing two things today.
First, I've finished raising the first Brooklyn Bridge Ventures fund--tallying $8.3 million. This is what I set out to do just about two years ago when I first broke out on my own and started raising, so I'm thrilled to say that it has finally happened.
I'm not going to do too much of a victory lap, though, because it bugs me a little when startups do it, and I'm a startup, too. Fundraising is not the goal, it's the means to an end.
One of the reasons why I'm announcing at all is because I realized that it had been a while since I said anything about the progress of the fund--and if you're an industry person, you might have started wondering. Was the fund enough to keep me going? How many more investments could I do? How where things going? These are things that other VCs think about, but founders who come to pitch don't think about too much.
That's also why I'm finally launching a real website at brooklynbridge.vc. When you blog, tweet, Instagram, etc., as a VC, sometimes your own website becomes an afterthought. It's important, though, to summerize what you're all about and the deals you've done so people get a sense of what to send you and how you've done. This site was my holiday project and I had a little fun with it.
So there ya go. Thanks to everyone who supported me along the way, especially to the awesome team at First Round who gave me the opportunity to build a track record, to learn how to be a board member, how to leverage the help you provide portfolio companies, and figure out how much I wanted to avoid long weekly partner meetings. :)