VC 101: How Venture Capital Really Works (No Finance Degree Needed)

🎯 This episode is sponsored by Read AI, a meeting co-pilot that takes notes, analyzes meeting sentiment, and shares smart next steps for you and your team. Try our favorite productivity tool for free for 30 days here: www.read.ai/tigersisters 👀Sign up for our newsletter: https://cherieluo.substack.com/ 🎁 Win a $100 gift card — and help shape our next episodes: https://forms.gle/jJWK219wzztjRc8W9💌 Want to partner with us? Sponsorships and brand deals: [email protected]🧠 Think venture capital is just for tech bros and finance guys? Think again.In this Tiger Sisters episode, we break down how venture capital really works — and how you can borrow the frameworks VCs use to make billion-dollar bets (and apply them to your own career, finances, and love life).𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲:◦ What VCs actually do (explained in plain English)◦ How investors evaluate startups — and how to evaluate yourself the same way◦ Why venture capital is a power game, not just a money game◦ The dark side of VC nobody talks about (and the pressure that comes with it)◦ 3 frameworks you can steal from investors to level up your own life decisions🎙️ Subscribe to Tiger Sisters on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube📩 Fill out our listener survey (linked above!) for a chance to win a $100 gift cardSubscribe & tap the 🔔 so you never miss a new episode. And if you love it, drop a review and rate us ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!⏰ Timestamps00:00:00 What even is venture capital? 00:01:14 Case studies from HBS, GSB & real angel deals 00:03:35 Pre-seed to Series E: The VC funding ladder 🪜 00:05:53 Airbnb’s $600K seed round to $100B IPO 00:09:40 How VCs really evaluate startups (3-part framework) 00:13:06 TAM: Total Addressable Market vs. actual market 00:14:29 Why VC is a power game (not just a money game) 00:17:48 Burn book of venture capital 😈 00:19:10 The real pressure that comes with raising VC money 00:21:23 The biggest mistake founders make, according to Stanford 00:26:07 3 ways to apply VC thinking to your own life 00:29:56 “I turned down Harvard Business School” 🤯 00:30:46 Your mini-exercise: Make the bet you’re scared to make ❤️ Check out this video's meeting report and transcript by Read AI: https://app.read.ai/analytics/meetings/01K04XRBE4G4HQ6Q0ATCSETWHY?utm_source=Share_Nav🐯👯‍♀️ Tiger Sisters — Your Wall Street & Silicon Valley Big Sisters Decoding Money • Power • Love✨ New episodes every Monday | Shorts all week ✨What you’ll get (and keep):▫️ 🚀 Ivy League Cheat Sheets – no $250K tuition required▫️ Personal Finance Playbooks – salary jumps, investing, money psychology▫️ Networking Scripts – behind $100M+ deals, job offers & VC intros▫️ Real talk with unicorn founders, VCs, and billionaires▫️ Mindset Resets – career clarity minus the pricey life coach▫️ Fashion, Wellness, and Time Hacks that actually workWhy trust us?▫️ Cherie Brooke Luo – 100M+ views demystifying big tech, finance & MBAs▫️ Jean Luo – ex-Goldman, ex-Snapchat exec, 50+ AI patents, startup investor▫️ Together: 4 Ivy degrees built billion-dollar product lines • two startups – decoded for you💛 LET'S CONNECT:~ CHERIE ~🤳🏻 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/cherie.brooke📱 TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@cherie.brooke✍🏻 My Substack – https://cherieluo.substack.com/👩🏻‍💻 LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherie-luo/~ JEAN ~🤳🏻 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/jeanluo_/👩🏻‍💻 LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanluo🎵 Music by Sammy Signal: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2HsyknHuxhT8RoZfn5rqMS🍵 Sisters Matcha & SISTERS Merch – www.sistersmatcha.com🌀 Everything else – https://amzn.to/3z0dx5b👀 Read AI's downloadable guide to Agentic AI and Generative AI: https://shop.beacons.ai/cherie.brooke/e60ea9c0-0630-4d48-81c6-70708b2c205c