Camp Hustle 2024 Recap

written from the POV of an absolute VC newbie (me!)

Leon and I just got back from Camp Hustle, a 3-day conference for investors held in Los Gatos, CA. I hate calling it a conference, even though that’s technically what it was, but it was more so a gathering of ~250 investor/investing-curious types in a casual, laidback setting. Think networking + programming in breweries, parks, and a big forest with string lights. Hustle Fund is the VC that hosts the event, hence the name “Camp Hustle.” Their tagline for the camp was “An Oasis for Investors,” which was apt for how restful and refreshing it felt to meet so many kind, humble, but also crazy smart people - all fascinated in investing in businesses that are going to change the world.

If you’re reading this and have no idea what a VC or a fund is, don’t worry. Even though I’ve been together with Leon for several years now, I only recently started grasping what his industry is about. Even Leon, who has been working around VCs for nearly a decade now, will tell you that he’s still learning more terms and intricacies of the field. I’ll try to explain some of the more fundamental basics the best I can, in noob language, because I’m very new to it myself:

• Venture Capital (VC): a lot of money that’s given to a (typically new) startup/business to grow.

• VC Firm/Fund: investor(s) that raise money to invest in startups of their choosing. Can just be called a “VC” or a “fund” for short.

• General Partner (GP): the manager of a fund. GPs usually make the final call for which startups get the fund’s investment.

• Limited Partner (LP): rich person that gives money to a VC. They entrust their money to be invested in the right businesses and hope to get a return. When GPs raise money for their funds, they’re getting it from LPs.

• Angel Investor: an individual who invests in startups without being tied to any VC.

If you’re experienced in the world of VC, you probably laughed while reading my attempt at stumbling through the above definitions. I hope you found it entertaining!

Leon’s been working part-time as Hustle Fund’s MBA Associate for the last few months, and has been in their community of angel investors (Angel Squad) since 2022. The supper clubs we’ve hosted have all been for Angel Squad members, so we’ve been able to experience first-hand how genuine, down-to-earth, and once again *super intelligent* the community is. I always feel challenged in a positive way when I’m around people associated with Hustle Fund, because they’re often smarter and more accomplished than I am, but are never obnoxious about it. I think it’s healthy to stay surrounded by people who are smarter than you, at least in doses and with the condition that the environment never becomes toxic/competitive.

So, while Leon’s the VC guy in our marriage, and I am sooo not, I quickly agreed to signing up for Camp Hustle along with him, because I thought why not meet more great people and learn new things?? That’s enough context for now, finally onto the actual recap:

Day 1

Well, this photo quality is…not the best. But just try to imagine a very bustling group of Camp Hustlers gathered at a brewery, most meeting for the first time. This welcome event was the first of many chances to mingle with investors. We put IRL faces to names (Leon has met the Hustle Fund team on Zoom, but has only seen a few of them in person) and heard a mix of “Whoa you’re so tall!” and “I thought you’d be taller…” said to various folks. (Hot tip: probably don’t ever tell someone the latter; disclaimer: this was not me!)

I got my first sampling of the crowd that was attending Camp; some angel investors, some GPs, and undercover LPs - no way of really knowing who they were though; apparently, if you’re an LP, you’re also mysterious and elusive. Overall, the atmosphere was friendly and judgment-free. Everyone seemed to be excited to kick off the week, and there were tons of smiles all around.

Side note: I’m not normally much of a beer-drinker, but I have to say that the sour I tried was absolutely delicious. I would go back to Out of the Barrel just to try it again.

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Day 2

We started off Day 2 with a “Walk and Talk.” If you’re wondering why my photos look so jank, it’s because they’re all screencaps from a personal vlog I was filming for fun. I was so focused on getting videos that I forgot to take good photos!

There were two tracks everyone could choose from: 1) Walk and Talk - Fundraising for Emerging Fund Managers, and 2) AI Coffee Chat + Finding the Best Founders in a Sea of Pitch Decks. Leon and I ended up going to the first track, although I wish I had chosen the second track as it’s more relevant to me as a founder. Alas, separation anxiety got the best of me and off I went to learn about managing a fund. I tried to think of how the session could still be beneficial to me - besides the fact that it’s always good to learn more about the VC ecosystem, I could get inside a fund manager’s head and familiarize myself with an otherwise murky POV.

The Fund Manager talk featured Virginie Raphael and Charles Hudson as main speakers. They’re both managing partners (MPs) at their own funds and answered the countless questions that poured in from investors in the audience. I’m still struggling to understand the difference between an MP and a GP, but I think GPs are more high level and MPs are more involved in day-to-day ops. They can also be used interchangeably, Leon says. Confusing, I know.

My takeaway from the session was that VCs are more similar to founders than one would think. Before hearing more about the process of VC fundraising, I thought that VCs were somehow always flush with cash and founders were the only ones begging for money. Turns out, both parties are rallying super hard all the time to get their $$$. While founders chase VCs, VCs chase LPs. Who knew!

Of course, I had to trade notes with people who attended the other track. The most insightful highlight I heard from the “Finding the Best Founders” talk was an effective strategy to filter out inauthentic founders: first ask them, “How are you doing?” - Answers to this harmless question can be quite revealing.

Next, we went to Campo di Bocce for lunch and bocce ball. Aka more networking! I signed Leon up to play in the bocce tournament without his knowledge, but we got too tired from socializing under the sun by the time it got anywhere close to our turn. We ended up going back to our hotel afterwards for a long cat nap.

By the time we got to the next event, dinner + drinks at another brewery, we unknowingly missed Cyan Banister’s talk. Someone will have to fill us in! Other friends that were also completely spent from the day but didn’t get to nap like we did, however, said that we were smart to get some rest. At least we still got to meet some pretty cool people after the talk.

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Day 3

Well, they certainly saved the best for last with day 3!! Historically, Camp Hustle (NorCal edition anyway) has been a one-day conference held at Saratoga Springs. So I guess the other two days were a buildup to this one. It was well worth our wait.

The day was filled with programming, which I loved. We got to hear from amazing founders (Natalie Gordon of Babylist and Rahul Vohra of Superhuman), listen to the three incredible GPs of Hustle Fund answer an AMA (gems of people - they’re unbelievably down-to-earth for how smart and accomplished they are), play fun icebreakers, see loads of GPs pitch their funds, and attend “bonfires” (aka small group speaker sessions) of our choosing.

Leon and I attended the “How to Differentiate Your Fund” bonfire. I chose it mostly because I think Eric Bahn (one of the Hustle Fund GPs - standing in the above pic with the green flag) is really funny and was facilitating the chat. Next to him is Courtney McCrea (MP of Recast Capital), who is a total BOSS. She’s sharp as a whip and gave brutally honest feedback on how to make your fund stand out in a currently saturated world of VCs.

We finished off with dinner with everyone, during which Leon played a game of cornhole with his colleague turned camp friend, Shankar.

And that’s a wrap on recapping Camp Hustle 2024! Even though I had numerous moments doubting what on earth I was doing at an event where everyone else seemed to know way WAY more than I did, and had accomplished so much that I hadn’t even touched (I’m talking about having raised hundreds of MILLIONS of dollars in their funds), I found myself telling Leon in the following days, “I miss Camp Hustle.” It’s hard to come across so many people that are kind at their core, prioritizing humanity first and intellect second.

Beyond meeting a bunch of seriously great people, I also learned more about VCs than I have in the last four years of knowing Leon. I guess it goes to show how far an immersive environment will take you.

If any of the stuff I wrote about in this post interests you, please consider attending Camp Hustle next year! Or there’s also Camp Hustle ASIA, which takes place in Bali this year (Sept 15-17) 👀 - I’d be lying if I said we weren’t at least dreaming about it!

Thanks for making it this far if anyone’s bothered to read through this rambly recap :) Hope you enjoyed!