Twitter is a great source of information for startup investors, providing an abundance of recent blog posts and current events while shrinking these messages down to 140 character previews. Each venture capitalist and entrepreneur uses Twitter in a different way, delivering a different mix of news, blogs, opinion, and other content. Many use it to publicize their own blogs, as well as sharing interesting posts written by others.
Whether you are new to the industry and want to find out what venture capital is all about or if you are a veteran looking to stay up to date on the latest developments, the following Twitter accounts have you covered.
1. Fred Wilson (@fredwilson)
Fred Wilson has been a venture capitalist since 1986, working with Euclid Partners from 1987 until 1996. He co-founded the investment fund Flatiron Partners in 1996 and shut it down in 2001 after the burst of the bubble. Wilson co-founded Union Square Ventures in 2004 and remains a partner at the firm. Union Square Ventures’ portfolio includes Twitter, Tumblr, SoundCloud, Etsy, and Kik, among others.
Wilson usually tweets once or twice per day, adding quality content to your timeline without cluttering it. Much of Fred’s Twitter activity links to his blog at avc.com. He posts to his blog on a daily basis and also does a good job of engaging with followers by posting in the comment section.
2. Chris Dixon (@cdixon)
Chris Dixon is currently a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm that invests in everything from seed stage startups to growth capital. Dixon is a co-founder of SiteAdvisor, as well as Hunch (acquired by eBay). He has also personally invested in Kickstarter, Codecademy, Pinterest, and Skype, to name a few.
Dixon doesn’t post to his blog as often as others in this list, but the content he posts is definitely worth a read. With that said, his Twitter account is a good place to find out when he’s posted something new. He also shares a lot of blogs with relevant content written by others.
3. Dan Primack (@danprimack)
Dan Primack writes about private equity and venture capital as Senior Editor for Fortune, a position he has held since 2010. He is well/best known for the daily Fortune publication, Term Sheet. Prior to Fortune, Primack was editor-at-large at Thomson Reuters. It was here that he launched peHUB.com and its wire mail service.
Primack’s Twitter account is a one-stop shop for what’s currently happening in the venture capital world, as he frequently comments on different stories evolving throughout the day. He covers a range of topics, from the current state of the economy to last night’s ball game.
4. David Skok (@BostonVC)
Like many others on this list, David Skok writes from the perspective of a VC who started as an entrepreneur. Skok started his first company at age 22, and has since founded four companies in total. He has been a General Partner since 2001 at Matrix Partners, a firm focused on early-stage software and communications companies.
Skok blogs about topics like viral marketing, lowering the cost of customer acquisition, and SaaS metrics. His blog, For Entrepreneurs, was ranked #2 in Forbes’ list of 100 Best Websites for Entrepreneurs. He also tweets a great deal of relevant information, including topics like recent acquisitions and exits.
5. Jeff Bussgang (@bussgang)
Jeff Bussgang is a partner at Flybridge Capital, a venture capital firm he joined in 2002. He is yet another VC on this list with a wealth of entrepreneurial experience. Bussgang was a co-founder of Upromise and held an executive position with Open Market. Currently, he teaches entrepreneurship as a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School.
Bussgang is a frequent twitter user, (and his content is worth a look.) His appropriately named blog, Seeing Both Sides, is a great resource for both investors and entrepreneurs. If you’re looking for a longer read, his book called Mastering the VC Game has something for every investor.
6. Brad Feld (@bfeld)
With multiple blogs (listed below), a VC resume a mile long, and involvement with multiple non-profits, it should come as no surprise Brad Feld is the most followed venture capitalist in the industry. Feld co-founded and remains a Managing Director at Foundry Group, an early-stage venture capital firm. Prior to Foundry Group, Feld also co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and Techstars in addition to founding Intensity Ventures.
Feld tweets links to his blog, Feld Thoughts, but he also links to other current topics via other blogs and news sites. He has two other blogs, Startup Revolution and Ask the VC, and has written a handful of books that are great assets for entrepreneurs, such as Venture Deals and Startup Communities.
7. Rob Go (@robgo)
Rob Go is a co-founder and partner at NextView Ventures, a seed investment firm focused on internet enabled innovation. He spent the first 17 years of his life in the Philippines and Hong Kong, and has previously held roles as a VC at Spark Capital and working with product marketing at eBay.
Go tweets a lot of great information for entrepreneurs, with different topics such as upcoming bootcamps and summits, blogs and advice, and insight into Boston and NY startups. He also uses Twitter to link to startup and investing content on his blog and the blogs of other VCs.
8. Chris Sacca (@sacca)
Chris Sacca manages a portfolio of over 50 startups through Lowercase Capital, one of the largest venture funds in the United States. Sacca previously held a variety of roles, from Silicon Valley attorney, to advisor for President Obama’s 2008 campaign, to Head of Special Initiatives at Google.
Sacca was both an early adopter and investor in Twitter, so he has been on the site for a while. He tweets more frequently and about a greater variety of topics than many others on this list. Although Sacca doesn’t have a blog of his own, he makes up for it by retweeting a lot of blogs and articles form other sources.
9. Mark Suster (@msuster)
Mark Suster brands himself as a 2x entrepreneur after successfully selling both his companies (one to salesforce.com). He joined Upfront Ventures as a general partner in 2007, a firm that ranks as the largest in southern California. Suster also founded the mentorship program Launchpad LA and serves on his alma mater’s business school venture capital fund.
Suster is fairly active on Twitter, sharing posts and links from others as well as providing a lot of his own content. Suster has a lot of informative and well-written posts for entrepreneurs and investors on his site Both Sides of the Table. He recently said he is “back to blogging more regularly” and has a new post every few days. In addition, his engagement in the comment sections might be as helpful to new investors as the posts themselves.
10. Bryce Roberts (@bryce)
Bryce Roberts co-founded the early stage investment firm O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures (OATV) in 2005 and remains a Managing Director of the firm. Some of his investments at OATV include Foursquare, Bit.ly, and Parakey, which was Facebook’s first acquisition in 2007. Prior to OATV, Roberts lead numerous investments with Wasatch Venture Fund, as well as co-founding Open Source Business Conference.
Roberts Tweets links to to many different websites and blogs, including his own. He doesn’t blog as often as some others, but provides thoughtful posts when he does. Because he blogs about once or twice a week on average, following him on Twitter is an easy way to find out when he’s posted new content.
Following Twitter accounts like those listed above will make it easier to keep up with emerging companies, technologies, and trends. Having earlier access to this insight provides an advantage over those not using Twitter. The accounts you follow will depend on the type, mix, and frequency of the information you choose to have on your timeline, but you can’t go wrong with using this list as a starting point.
