Decoding Venture Capital Research

Research: The Hidden Superpower in Venture Investing 🔥🚀 In any investment process, research is the cornerstone. It’s the critical tool that drives informed, strategic, and profitable decisions. ✅ Minimizes uncertainty ✅ Enhances strategic planning ✅ Builds resilient portfolios While the role of research is well-established in equities, it often flies under the radar in the venture capital space. Yet, in a world that’s increasingly dynamic, leveraging research in venture can offer investors a serious competitive advantage. To explore this vital topic, we’re thrilled to have an exceptional guest with us: Santosh Rao from Manhattan Venture Partners. Let me introduce you to Santosh: 💼 25+ years of financial services experience 📈 20 years as an equity analyst 🏦 Began his career at Prudential Securities and held roles at top investment banks 📚 Double undergraduate degrees + MBA in Finance (U.S.) 📰 Frequently cited in financial journals 🎥 Regular appearances on CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, and more Santosh is currently the Head of Research/Partner at Manhattan Venture Partners, and his expertise in research-backed investment strategies is second to none. Stay tuned for an insightful conversation as we shine a spotlight on why research matters now more than ever in venture capital. Where to find Santosh: • LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/santosh-rao-9544292/ • Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.mvp.vc/team/santosh-rao Where to find Rohit Yadav: • Web: ⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/rohityadav⁠⁠⁠ • LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohityadav23/⁠⁠  • Newsletter: ⁠All Things VC⁠  (⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7081921640367808512/⁠⁠) We talked about: (00:00) Episode intro (01:48) Santosh’s investment research journey: From 1991 till now (04:18) Seeing the Dot-com bubble (05:54) Growth of the private markets and his move (11:54) Research is pivotal to private markets (14:35) Explaining Manhattan Venture Partner’s (MVP’s) business (17:48) Santosh’s role at MVP (22:24) How does a typical day look like in research business (27:08) research is not just about the consumption of knowledge, it’s also about the output (31:53) Difference between public vs. private market research (34:39) Research function within the venture capital ecosystem (40:21) Venture is a conviction game and research builds conviction (41:44) Skills required to build research function (45:39) Advice for newcomers in the Research function (49:11) Staying motivated in Research (51:04) Secondaries are the new IPOs