VCs look to TikTok to engage with new talent – TechCrunch

In January, Redpoint Ventures gave Rashad Assir one task: Make TikToks about venture capital.

At the time, Assir ran his own TikTok account, creating satire about corporate life and tech trends, amassing more than 56,000 followers and 2.4 million likes in the process. Meanwhile, Redpoint Ventures had just launched a media operation to connect with the next generation of founders and VCs. The firm figured TikTok was the place to make those associations and Assir would be the one to do it for them.

Six months later, Redpoint’s account has collected more than 1 million views on its videos and gained nearly 9,000 followers and more than 200,000 likes. It’s expanded to create an account for its podcast, Cartoon Avatars, which now has more than 5,000 followers and 78,000 likes. Amid increasing interest, the plan is to launch more accounts and shows on the platform and use it to recruit talent and promote their portfolio companies, Redpoint Ventures Partner Josh Machiz told TechCrunch. Their next TikTok show will profile founders, the firm revealed.

“We get tons of requests for internships and a number of people who are interested in working at the companies we invested in,” Machiz added.

VCTok is slowly but steadily growing. TikTok has more than 1 billion users — the majority of whom are under the age of 30. Experts told TechCrunch that the increased presence of VCs allows for the democratization of industry knowledge that will inspire the next generation of investors and founders. There’s already an audience for VCs to tap into if they wish — #founder has roughly 232 million views, #entrepreneurship has nearly 800 million views, #investor has 1.2 billion views, #techtok has 12.4 billion and #entrepreneur has 22 billion views, for example.

Other VCs on TikTok told TechCrunch that using the platform has allowed them to source unexplored talent, find new businesses to fund and attract fresh audiences to their firms, portfolio companies and profiles on other social media platforms. Right now, Redpoint Ventures and the others sit comfortably knowing they have little competition on VCTok. But all agree that’s about to change.

“[TikTok is] where people’s eyeballs are,” Assir told TechCrunch. “There’s a new wave of founders and leaders in the world, and this is an opportunity to connect with them.”