A fresh approach to ecosystem health

In recent weeks we’ve been exploring how stakeholders across the VC ecosystem can harness the power of community to drive better outcomes for founders. In this instalment, Octopus Ventures investor, Rich Bolton unpacks his fresh approach to networking: a weekly, VCs-only run club, designed to build the relationships that underpin VC syndicates.

Every Tuesday at 7.30am, runners meet in Regent’s Park for a 5k run at a conversational pace. Sign up at the bottom of the page.

A recent spell on paternity leave gave me time to think. Humans are social animals, and VC is all about relationships. On paper, firms may work in competition, but as any seasoned investor knows, venture capital rewards collaboration.

We need more, not less, and happily London’s lively tech scene is full of opportunities for individuals to build relationships with their colleagues at other firms. Still, as I considered the usual networking opportunities, it struck me that there was room for innovation.

While evening networking events most certainly have their place, as a parent of two under the age of three, if I do manage to get away it needs to count. And it’s not unusual to come away from one feeling like, maybe, it didn’t quite tick all the boxes I needed it to.

As I headed back into the office, with my availability for the London VC nightlife ecosystem compromised, it felt like a good opportunity to try an experiment. As a bona-fide exercise fanatic (with a firm belief that the AM is the best time to do it) I launched VCRunClub. Three months later, this is what I’ve learned.

The trick to running it smoothly, is running slowly

When it comes to networking events, there are always some barriers to inclusivity. Alcohol, for example, offers an (artificial) shortcut to intimacy, but it can put people off for a myriad of reasons. Yes, zero-alcohol options now abound (in terms of both environment and beverages) but when I was setting up VCRunClub, I was particularly interested in the possibilities introduced by the shift in emphasis.

Exercise is a shared human activity as fundamental (if not more) as drinking together. Working up a sweat, humans build bonds. And unlike the conciliatory (or gregarious) effects of raising a glass, it has the added benefit of being good for us. It might explain why in London today, run clubs are having a moment.

Still, it’s common to see fragmentation, as faster runners peel off to their preferred pace. That’s fine when the point of the exercise is solely, well, exercise. But VCRunClub isn’t about setting a new PB. In the spirit of making it as inclusive and, from a networking perspective, as rewarding as possible, we set out to discourage this. From the very first outing in Regent’s Park back in April, we set the pace to ‘conversational’.

With the run timetabled to fit into participants’ busy morning routines, setting off at 7.30am, there isn’t too much scope for hanging about before hitting the office. Getting the pace right to ensure that constructive conversations could happen during, not just before and after, allowed us to maximise the opportunity for dialogue – and ensured participants of all levels felt comfortable and included.

It’s also, perhaps counterintuitively, a less intimidating space than you might find in a bar. A gentle lope around a park puts everyone on the same level, with the shared vulnerability of breathlessness serving to dilute the kind of ‘performative professionalism’ that might, in other contexts, make individuals or groups feel off-limits. Running together creates solidarity, as well as space for measurable improvement. Watching a newcomer’s confidence and fitness building from one week to the next, it’s hard not to feel a more authentic sense of connection. It’s a kind of trust that has the potential to unlock more meaningful business outcomes.

Build it and they will come

Starting out was a new experience for me. One of the many luxuries of being a VC investor is that I comment on others work, rarely taking the risk of starting something on my own. The night before the inaugural run I lay awake, thinking: what if no one came?

Thankfully, with a venture like this the stakes are fairly low. The worst case, I told myself, would be a faster 5k, some exercise before the office and maybe a slightly frustrating start to the day. As it turns out, the worries were misplaced.

The most we’ve seen on a run is about 30, when we collaborated with London Tech Week to market VCRunClub as a side event, but we’ve got up to 15 regular attendees from a wide base, with new members joining each week. It’s a good number, enough for varied conversation, with around 90% of the members unknown to each other beyond the parameters of the run club. Attendance number is also not the definition of success.

While parenthood was a key motivator in looking to disrupt the evening event paradigm, the limitation hit on a wider truth. It’s not just parents but anyone with unsympathetic schedules who find themselves excluded from the usual soirees. It led to me wondering whether, perhaps, a structure that (may inadvertently) create a crowd of regulars, risks also introducing blind spots or biases: in appealing to a slightly different crowd, I hoped to widen the pool of perspectives – and the opportunities that come with it.

Even so, community is a strange thing to build – especially for someone in an industry that prizes accelerated growth. The outcomes I was aiming for are very different to what a new AI-native social media company, for example, might be after. As it became clear that VCRunClub had the potential to scale, it became equally clear that for it to really work, it needed to stay relatively niche.

Keep it focused

In creating a forum for London-based or visiting VCs to connect, get to know each other and explore opportunities to work together, I knew it needed to keep a sharp, industry focus. Inclusive? Yes. But centred around VC.

It goes without saying that investors love to meet new founders – and there are plenty of opportunities for this. Pitch and Run offers just what it sounds like and, having started in New York, has since spread to seven other cities around the world. Rally offers another great example, bringing together a community of founders and investors around exercise.

Founders also stand to gain a lot from opportunities to mix exclusively with their peers – gaining valuable advice from those further along in their growth journey and building out their networks. Sure enough, Founders Running Club does an amazing job, bringing them together in dozens of cities around the world.

Targeting VCs specifically to bolster our community doesn’t just mean sharing hot tips on start-ups to watch. It means forging opportunities for meaningful collaboration. It also serves a useful social function. Some of our community members are new to the city, and VCRunClub offers them a great opportunity to meet likeminded colleagues in the industry. And, ultimately, although it may not be aimed at founders – it works to their benefit. A more integrated, collegiate community of VCs, ready to share tips and join forces, has a directly beneficial impact on the start-up community.

Simplicity and consistency are key

One of the things that’s been most heartening about setting this up has been confirming the truth, that sometimes simplicity is key. There were no major overheads to setting up VCRunClub: it was just a question of picking a time and a place. Now, “all I have to do” is show up every week.

Clearly, with people heading to work, there was a question of what people should do with their bags, but we solved this by ensuring there was a Zipcar on hand to serve as a bag drop. It really doesn’t get more complicated than that.

It’s still early days, but already the simplicity has borne fruit. Beyond newcomers to London, building new connections in the city, we’ve had members helping broker introductions to help with due diligence on companies. It’s also been invaluable for people earlier in their careers: the setting offers an informal space for them to get to know others in the industry in a less intimidating context than bigger networking events present.

Time will tell, but after three months, it feels like the seeds of a community have been sown. Inclusive regulars, happy to welcome newcomers, sharing time (and generating some endorphins) all before the workday begins. It’s not just valuable exercise, but an exercise in forging the links that set our industry apart. Now it’s a question of watering well (no kidding – hydration matters in the heat!) and, hopefully, seeing it flourish.

Collaboration and partnership are the key to ensuring the tech ecosystem has the resources and shared purpose it needs to thrive. My hope is that through connecting industry professionals we can continue to forge the partnerships we need to cement the UK’s reputation as the first choice for any founder, hoping to build world-changing businesses.

Signing up and the future

If you’re a London-based VC, and think you might like to try it out – get in touch. You can sign up on our Luma calendar, here.

And, as I mentioned, I’m always on the lookout for ways to make this more inclusive. If you have any thoughts on how VCRunClub can be made accessible to the widest-possible range of VCs, I’d love to hear from you.