LTO TURNS 5!

Kristen Ostro - Founder & Managing Director • March 15, 2022

On February 2nd, 2022, Let’s Talk Ops (LTO) turned five years old. It seems like just yesterday a small handful of us met on the Mezzanine of Silicon Valley Bank's former San Francisco WeWork location for our very first get-together.

In those early days, I envisioned the group as me and 20(ish) cherry-picked colleagues in some sort of VC operator “secret society” swapping tips, best practices, and laughs over glasses of wine. Somehow that has turned into a community of over 125 active members in four distinct chapters across the entire U.S. (plus a few international members!) as a formalized and fully functional 501(C)(6) nonprofit organization.

At its core, Let’s Talk Ops is a community of first-class operations powering some of the most successful venture capital firms in the world from behind the scenes. It was built specifically for those in today’s more nascent and non-traditional venture capital roles, such as Director of Operations, Head of Platform, Chief of Staff, Investor Relations, Marketing Director, Community Manager, etc. Our mission is threefold:

After five years of being at the helm of this incredible organization, I thought it would be meaningful and serving on this marked anniversary to share a few things I’ve learned thus far:

We’re Raising The Stakes Across The Entire Industry

I don’t care what your title says or what aspect of a VC fund you’re supporting, we’re ALL touching operations. Your title may not include the word, but I can guarantee you’re in the operational trenches with your early-stage founders while frantically trying to operationalize your own workflows, data management, and programming while collaborating across both the internal and investing teams to get your job done more efficiently. You’re raising the bar.

Your efforts to elevate your respective funds makes it no wonder that internal fund operations and portfolio services (aka platform) are becoming more highly scrutinized by LPs in the fundraising process. Amidst a sea of capital and thousands of VCs currently at market, a fund’s operational acumen and execution can make it stand out from the pack. It can also have an incredible impact on the companies/founders they’re investing in as they attempt to rapidly scale. Don’t believe me? Check out the current list of new and established funds frantically trying to hire for these roles:

• VC Platform Jobs Board

• NVCA

• Nicole DeTommaso’s Twitter

Note: This is just a small sampling of what’s floating out there for public consumption. Many VC job boards exist on private channels with member-only access.

We’re Integral To Each Fund’s Success… But Are Often Unrecognized and Unappreciated

We work around the clock, juggling a multitude of tasks and responsibilities, wearing numerous hats, and executing at top form across the many verticals inside our funds. Given our insights and institutional knowledge, we act as critical decision-makers when it comes to the selection and implementation of the tools and services our firm and portfolio companies utilize. The expectations for performance and perfection are through the roof, every day from everyone.

We are, more often than not, the first call a founder makes to get advice, a referral, or an introduction because he/she doesn’t want to bother the investing team or lead GP/Partner. Many of us have been in our role for 5+ years, and some have long ago crossed the decade mark (raises hand). We champion and evangelize our funds at every touchpoint. We ensure every person who walks away from an interaction with us feels cared for and heard, and that they’ll definitely be a top priority on our ever-growing to-do list. In short, fund managers build their success on our backs and we turn around to ask, “what can I tackle next, boss?” instead of asking, “where’s my raise?” or for a pat on the back.

Sadly, we are consistently underpaid (in comparison to the investing staff), typically underappreciated, often unrecognized, and most definitely overloaded. Burnout is real in this role. I’ve experienced it personally, and I’ve seen many talented, bright stars fade to black after a few years in the trenches.

It is my sincere hope that the professional development training we do at LTO is giving these (mostly) women and (some) men the courage and confidence to fight for the economics they should have and a seat at the table they absolutely deserve within their individual funds. In honor of their journey and their courage, we highlight members who have reached incredible milestones of loyalty and accomplishment at their funds through our Member Spotlights.

Community Is Only As Good As The People In It

A truly great community is the embodiment of its collective membership body. I firmly believe LTO is the absolute best because it serves as a reflection of the people in it. They are humble and hardworking. They give their all and then some, and ask for almost nothing in return. They raise their hand and roll up their sleeves. They sincerely care for each other and are as invested in their colleague's success as they are in their own.

Their enthusiasm, commitment, and passion for this work and for LTO make it worth every hour of free time I’ve ever spent building this community for them, and for me. I’ve relied on LTO as a resource for my professional success just as much as the next member. They’re the reason I’m up at 2am writing this blog post, and I know when I check Slack in about six hours I’ll see members answering each other’s questions in rapid-fire, offering advice and referrals, and cheering each other on at every step.

We Are The Sum Of Our Parts

LTO wouldn’t be one iota of what it is today without:

• Ashley Cravens, our newly minted Co-Managing Director, and my dear friend/VC operator-in-crime.  One hour of your time is worth 10 of a normal human’s and I could not lead this without you. THANK YOU TO INFINITY.

• Our fantastic Board of Directors, representing some of LTO’s best and brightest, ensure our community’s course is charted for success.

• Our member-driven leadership team of internal sub-committees who drive forward all the best-in-class content and initiatives we strive to deliver.

• The experts and coaches who dedicate their time to educating and nurturing this deserving group of change-makers (special shout out to Tanya Geisler who always goes above and beyond for us!). 

• Our amazing, unwavering sponsors who provide the fuel that keeps the lights on and the fire burning bright year after year. We’ve showcased them below. A special shout goes out to Hillary Tyree, who was a day one champion of LTO and SVB, our initial and ongoing supporter!

• Colleague-turned-dear friend, Monique Villa, who helped champion our multi-city chapter expansion in the early days.

And finally, LTO was the brainchild of my dear friend and former VC operator-in-the-trenches, Dan Strickland. I had the pleasure of working with him in my very first Director of Operations role (at Homebrew) while he was in a similar role at Bloomberg BETA. While Dan has long departed for the startup life, it was our time working together in the early days at our respective funds that would serve as the inspiration and initiation of LTO v1. Thank you, Dannitos. You are missed.

★ LTO’s CURRENT AND HISTORICAL SPONSOR FIRMS ★

HAPPY 5-YEAR ANNIVERSARY, LET’S TALK OPS!

You are the gift that keeps on giving and growing up looks good on you. Cheers to where you’ve been, and to all the amazing things in store in the years to come.

If you’re interested in joining LTO, please do!