Ramtin Naimi

So part of the reason I'm doing this.

Coming out of obscurity.

Exactly.

But I think that's really the missing link.

And there's other people that work at the firm, and you'd mentioned this earlier, where my name, you hear it more often than abstract.

And I really do want the firm to be abstract.

And I think that'll be beneficial because

Scaling a platform, scaling a team helps when everybody at the team can do things, when everybody at the team can go out and compete, win and support their own portfolio companies.

And if there is a brand weight that they can all leverage to compete, that allows them to all have a more level playing field and doing their jobs.

This was another VC that explained this to me once and I asked him how he identified who to hire for his venture capital firm.

And he said he tends to optimize for people who either already have personal brands or have the ability to build a personal brand.

Very good venture capital firm, strong brands, but he was the one who actually explained to me Sequoia, Benchmark, and Andreessen have incredibly strong brands such that if you're a less well-known individual partner at Sequoia or a less well-known individual partner at Andreessen, you can still compete and win some of the most competitive deals in Silicon Valley because of the brand that you're affiliated with.

And he said, now, the amount of time and resources it takes to build a brand that can compete with those firms on brand is counterproductive to what it takes to be a great venture capitalist.

But building a personal brand is something you do in tandem to being a great venture capitalist.

I asked him to explain, I was like elaborate what personal brand versus venture branding is.

Well, I hear the name Romton multiple times a week.

I hear the name abstract once a month.

That's the difference between personal brand and venture capital firm brand.

And he goes, people know who you are.

Founders know who you are.