Hi! I’m glad you’re here. You’ve made it to issue #104 of VC Demystified🪄.

^{My personal mission is to open as many doors as possible for other people and this newsletter is just one avenue to do that. As always, I will continue to post VC insights daily for free across my socials. This newsletter may contain paid partnerships or affiliate links.}

Every week I tell aspiring VCs: share deal flow with the firms you want to join.

And every week the same questions come back: How do I actually send it? What format? Which deals? How many?

This is an art, not a formula. There's no single right answer. What I can tell you is that it needs to be thoughtful, relevant, and genuinely quality, not a random deal you found that technically fits a firm's thesis.

Because here's the thing: sharing deal flow is a direct reflection of your sourcing abilities. When a firm receives your deal, they're not just evaluating the company. They're evaluating you.

If the deal flow is weak, they may think one of three things:

None of those are signals you want to send.

A bad deal flow email doesn't just fail to move the needle. It can actively hurt your chances.

Watch out for these:

If any of these are true, you're better off not sending anything at all.

Know their thesis, their stage, their sector focus, their portfolio. Read their investment memos if they're public. Follow the partners on LinkedIn. You should be able to articulate clearly why this deal is a fit for this firm before you send a single word. One of the easiest ways to show you've done your homework: reference a company already in their portfolio. Something like "this is similar to your investment in X" tells a partner immediately that you know what they've backed and you're paying attention. That one line alone signals more than a paragraph of generic thesis-matching.

Not every good company is a good VC deal. You're looking for a business with the potential for outsized returns, a large and growing market, and a founder who can execute at scale. If you're not sure whether a company clears that bar, keep digging before you send it.

The deal flow you share should ideally come from your actual network: founders you've met through events, communities, warm introductions, or your own outreach. The best deal flow you can send is a company you found before it was obvious, from a founder you actually know.

If you can get on a call with the founder first, even better. Being able to say "I spoke with [founder] last week and was genuinely impressed by X" is a different kind of signal than forwarding a cold pitch deck.

Keep it short. You are not writing a full investment memo. You are opening a door.

My recommendation: send 1 to 3 deals. For each one, include:

That's it. The goal is to be concise, specific, and easy to act on. If a partner reads it in 60 seconds and thinks "this person gets us," you've done your job.

Ultimately, to break into VC now, you have to do something. A resume drop and a strong interview are not enough anymore, especially in this world of AI, where every candidate is polished and every answer is well-structured.

There are many ways to stand out. You have to find the path that feels most authentic to you. Deal flow sharing is one move in a longer game. It works best when you've already been building a relationship with someone at the firm, or when you've made yourself visible through your content, your network, or your outreach over time.

When done well, it demonstrates something a resume never can: that you think like an investor, you have access to quality founders, and you understand what a particular firm is actually looking for.

That's what gets you in the room.

BTW, every week I share 3 new startups actively fundraising with premium subscribers. That's a great place to start. You can access every startup I've highlighted across all 100+ newsletters when you upgrade.