Investing in Culture with Masha Drokova, Founder of Day One Ventures
The Most Important Thing
Masha simply asked me to relay to listeners to consider that you all are the creators of your own reality, not products of it. If you’re a start-up founder building transformational technology, reach out to Day One.
About Masha Drokova
Masha is the Founder and General Partner at Day One Ventures. Before launching Day One, she was an angel investor and founder of M&A PR Studio, a public relations company that worked with startups like Houzz, HotelTonight, Gett, and Toptal. Prior to cofounding M&A PR, Masha was VP of Communications at Acronis, a data protection company, where she managed PR activities across 18 countries.
She is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and was named by Business Insider as a top 50 PR Pro in tech. Masha has a deep love for our earth and serves as an advisor to Oceanic, a non-profit using VR to bring attention to issues impacting our oceans. She also founded Satio, a non-profit project to connect scientists with philanthropists who want to fund cutting edge research.
About Day One Ventures
Day One Ventures is a San Francisco-based early stage venture capital firm that invests in technology startups and spearheads their communications. Led by angel investor, entrepreneur and communications professional Masha Drokova, the firm is focused on investing in hard-to-imitate tech, impactful companies, and community-driven businesses that will fundamentally change industries and solve some of today’s biggest challenges – social, business, or otherwise. Portfolio companies include Superhuman, Atoms, Yumi, Truebill, Package Free, and more.
The Fund’s name was inspired by Jeff Bezos who explained that as soon as a business reaches Day Two, it’s all over. Day One believes in supporting founders that live every day and make every decision as if it’s the first day of the company.
An early-stage startup’s story, public recognition, and network can greatly impact the company’s success, yet few teams have the resources to fill these roles. That’s where Day One comes in. They are the first VC that takes an active role in portfolio companies’ communications. Day One leverages 12+ years of expertise in communications and marketing to help its portfolio companies grow revenue, attract new investors, hire the best talent, and create exit opportunities.
Episode Overview:
In this episode, I sat down with my friend, Masha Drokova, to discuss her views on startup investing. Masha has incredible experience. She began her career in the public sector in Russia before moving to the US to lead communications for one of the leading data science companies in the world. She started a PR studio and now a venture fund and is an extremely supportive investor with a unique take on identifying winning teams.
She and I discuss the cultural differences between Russia and the US, being an immigrant in San Francisco, immigration policy, learning new languages, and her transition from politics to business. We also discuss intuition, how words manifest our reality, startup founder mental health, and the importance of self-love.
My Favorite Quotes:
“When you’re a kid, you learn all of these words that are randomly put into your head, but you actually never chose them. But when you’re an adult, you can create your reality in your head and your reality is often created through your words.”
“When learning a new language, you get to choose which words you want to keep in your head and in that way get to decide the direction of your life”
“This fund is something that came as a result of my spiritual search.”
“It’s not possible to just evaluate based on fundamentals. Look at the entrepreneur – do I believe in this person? Is he or she doing what he or she truly wants to do?”
“Main criteria for a ‘Day One’ company is an obsession with customers. While other funds look at product, market, and team – we also look ta culture.”
“I like when management and governance is more or less a flat structure.”
“What is very important for people and brands as well is to be very open, transparent, and direct with anyone who is related to your business – whether you’re going through hard times, good times, or normal times.”
“The role of a VC is more about holding space for the founder to confide in you and share their challenges, but that’s different than guiding them.”
“Every successful founder I know does some kind of self work. It may be yoga, psychoanalysis, working with a coach, but it’s impossible to break through without some kind of self -work. That said, if it’s too much that can also be a warning signal.”
“When you’re confident in yourself and in your full power, the external world must resonate with it.”
“A lot of founders waste energy forcing and hustling, instead of reassessing why they are doing what they are doing. Lots of work is not a signal that you are doing things right, but often means there is lots of fear around the results – fear comes from lack of understanding of what you do and why.”
“I found a direct dependence on my mood, productivity, and happiness versus how much time I spend on the internet.”
“There is a way to live when you always have an agenda, but then you recognize that this agenda came from outside - it’s not your own desire, it’s someone else’s desire that you accidentally took.”
Episode Breakdown:
00:00 – Masha’s background
07:00 – Masha’s transition from politics to business
12:00 – Cultural difference between US and Russia
20:00 – On Language
30:00 – America & Immigration on the World Stage
39:00 – Intuition and Creating Your Reality
43:00 – Investing in teams with a ‘Day One’ culture
50:00 – The intersection of culture, team, and brand
56:00 – What is role of VC in relation to the founder?
1:00:00 – Startup founders and self-work
1:08:00 – Founder mental health
1:14:00 – The importance of loving yourself
Episode Links:
Masha’s Info
Day One Info
Other Resources & References
Serguei Beloussov
Acronis
Nashi Youth Movement
Marc’s Info:
Marc Weinstein, host of the Look Up! Podcast is a public speaker for corporations, universities, and conferences. Click here to view past talks and to book Marc
Look Up! Patreon Community
Look Up! Website
Marc's Instagram
Marc's Twitter
Look Up! On iTunes
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