The Reality Check: Treating Your Fund Like the Business It Is

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If you tell someone outside the industry you’re launching a Venture Capital fund, they usually picture the glamour: the high-stakes deal sourcing, the pitch meetings, the hunting for unicorns. But if you ask any Emerging Manager what their actual day-to-day looks like, the answer is usually very different. It’s operational fires, regulatory hurdles, and a constant battle for bandwidth. In our latest discussion, we sat down to talk about the side of fund management that rarely makes the headlines.

The consensus? A fund isn’t just a pot of money; it’s a startup business. And building that business requires a shift in mindset - from "how do I close this deal?" to "how do I plan for the next ten years?"

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The "Duct Tape" Trap

When you’re launching Fund I, the pressure to keep costs down is immense. We see it all the time: managers who try to cobble together the cheapest admin solutions or legal templates to save money. As we mentioned in the video, the mindset is often, "I’ll glue that together. I’ll duct tape that up. That’ll save me ten grand."

But VC is a long game. You’re entering into relationships with your LPs that will last a decade or more. Decisions made to save a few quid in Year 1 often cost significantly more - in both capital and sanity - by Year 4.

At Thema, we operate on the ethos of "Built by GPs for GPs". We know that while tech-enabled reporting is necessary, it isn't sufficient. When things get complicated, you don't want a dashboard; you want to pick up the phone to a human who understands the economics of the entire fund life, not just the launch phase.

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Protecting Your Mental Capacity

The most finite resource an Emerging Manager has isn’t capital; it’s mental capacity.

You launched your fund to do what you’re best at: sourcing deals and adding value to founders. Yet, without the right infrastructure, you can easily find yourself pulled in a dozen different directions, managing back-office compliance instead of your portfolio.

As noted in the discussion, many managers eventually ask, "Who is actually telling me how to run this?" The assumption is that the operational side just "happens." It doesn't.

Our role isn't just to provide FCA coverage or tick regulatory boxes; it is to provide the oversight that frees you up to do your job. We act as the operational guardrails, ensuring that while you are chasing alpha, the business foundation remains solid.

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Prioritisation over "Tick-Box" Compliance

As Olivia - our Head of Compliance - mentioned in our conversation, her previous life as a consultant had led her to a somewhat blinkered perception that compliance should always be the number one priority.

But the reality of the Emerging Manager is messier than that. Chronology matters.

If you’re in the thick of LP conversations, the jurisdiction of your fund is an "LP forwards decision." That needs to be solved first. The pitch decks, disclaimers, and regulatory filings must follow the commercial reality, not the other way around.

This is why we offer monthly office hours and workshops  - to help you distinguish between what needs to be done now and what can wait until next quarter.

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Building for the Long Haul

We don't view ourselves as a simple service provider; we view ourselves as a partner in your firm's lifecycle. You aren't just building a portfolio; you are building a franchise that needs to sustain itself through Fund II, Fund III, and beyond.

Don't build your fund with duct tape. Build it with a partner who understands the chaos, helps you prioritise the noise, and has the institutional experience to help you navigate the opaque ecosystem of regulation.

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Watch the full conversation on LinkedIn to hear more about how we view the partnership between GPs and their operational teams.

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