• by Todd Wasserman , March 1, 2023

Venture capital firms aren’t known for their flashy marketing -- yet marketing is an integral component of the most successful companies.

For once, marketing is a prime component in a venture capital firm. MKT1 Capital, a new VC firm led by Emily Kramer and Kathleen Estrich, who formerly worked at such companies as Carta, Box and Facebook, aims to let founders connect with a network of marketing professionals.

Kramer told TechCrunch that “marketers aren’t investing because they’re not getting the opportunity to invest.” She cited stats that show less than 1% of angel investors on investing database Crunchbase are marketers.

Ironically, many VCs are quite adept at marketing. Consider that by one estimate there are some 630 micro VC firms in existence. That means, to stand out, such firms need to publicize what they do and ensure that their “brand” sticks in the mind of investors.

One such example of a VC that markets itself well is First Round Capital, which has a successful Medium blog, pens op-eds for Quartz, HuffPost and Business Insider, and has a podcast that attracts more than 500 listens per episode.

In addition, VC Y Combinator runs a video series called “How to Start a Startup” based on video lectures that its members gave at Stanford University.

The reason that VCs are tapping such media is simple: Before an investor considers putting money into a VC fund, that investor needs to know how the members of that fund think and whether they’re the type to, say, invest in something tried and true or something currently unknown but with tremendous growth potential.

Successful VCs need to be good marketers as well.. That’s why it’s curious why marketing has been such an unheralded part of the mix. Perhaps it’s because marketing, unlike sales, is hard to quantify. But marketing is inevitably part of the reason that sales are good. VCs, of course, understand this. Perhaps firms like MKT1 Capital will help to formalize this understanding.