Gen Z VCs are entrepreneurial, digitally native, values-focused

AngelList | Matthew Speiser | Oct 8, 2021

“The barriers to entrepreneurship and investing have never been lower, and our generation is very aware of the opportunity we have.”

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Gen Z has become the target market for many new businesses—and founders and venture firms want to work with them. Hence the rise of Gen Z VCs, an online community where young investors swap knowledge and deal flow. Gen Z VCs has grown to 10k members since launching in November 2020.

“Gen Z is unique in that we’re entrepreneurial, digitally native, values-focused, and we don’t accept the status quo,”

said Meagan Loyst, the 24-year-old founder of Gen Z VCs and an early-stage investor at Lerer Hippeau.

Leveraging Personal Brands

“More so than previous generations, Gen Zers are really great at building their brand, and that’s something that’s helped me a lot personally,” said Chang. “The whole pre-seed and seed space is about who you know, and if founders know you because of your brand, it can go a long way towards earning an allocation.”

“I think we owe some of our success to the fact that more founders are coming from Gen Z, and they don’t often get to speak to someone who’s their peer during the fundraising process,” said Doherty. “Founders want people their own age on the cap table because we share a similar worldview.”

Lowered Barriers to Entry

Young investors like Loyst, Chang, and Doherty have benefitted from new technologies and financial tools that make it easier to launch startups and funds, as well as a greater democratization of investing knowledge brought on by the internet.

See:  adopted last year that increase access to private investments. The rule changes allow more investors to participate in private offerings by adding new categories of individuals who may qualify as accredited investors based on their professional knowledge, experience, or certifications.

Gen Zers have utilized these rules to spin up their own funds and invest in their friends’ businesses and funds. Ryan Li, an angel investor and junior at Stanford University, said his classmates are taking the Series 63 exam to earn accredited investor status. Some have also used their crypto fortunes to meet the wealth requirements.

“We’re young in our careers and we have the opportunity to be bold and take some risks,” said Li.

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