Ghostbusting the Scariest VC Myths 🕸️

October brings ghosts, goblins, and… term sheets. In the spirit of spooky season, we’re busting some of the myths that haunt founders and early-career investors — from “you need warm intros” to “VC is only for the rich.”

👻 Myth #1: “You need a warm intro to get funded.”

The truth: 70% of early-stage deals now start with cold outreach or open calls. Funds like Hustle Fund and Notion Capital welcome founders who shoot their shot.

🧠 Resource Drop:

• Signal by NFX – find investors open to cold outreach

• Examples of Cold Outreach Emails to VCs (Atlanta Ventures) — real-world email samples showcasing what works and what doesn’t.

🕷️ Myth #2: “Only ex-founders or finance pros can work in VC.”

The truth: The best investors come from everywhere. Former teachers, athletes, operators, and analysts — all bring unique insight to pattern recognition.

🎃 Myth #3: “Female-founded startups don’t get funded.”

The truth: While women still receive less than 3% of VC funding, that number is growing — and there’s a rising ecosystem backing them.

🔥 Founder Feature:
Rachel Sanders, Co-founder of Rootine

Rootine personalizes daily nutrition through data — raising $10M+ in funding and redefining precision health for women.

🧛 Myth #4: “VC is all about money.”

The truth: The best investors build relationships that last longer than any cap table.

💡 Fund Feature:
Female Leaders VC Fund
An Australia/Asia-Pacific based fund targeting series A/B investments in high-growth companies led by women founders. Their stated strategy: invest in female-led teams overlooked by traditional VCs and generate strong returns.

Why it matters: By focusing on gender-diverse founding teams and backing them at meaningful scale, this fund is addressing systemic capital gaps and showing how performance and equity can go hand-in-hand.

Webinar tomorrow!

​Girls Into VC is honored to host Julie Castro Abrams, Managing Partner at How Women Invest and CEO of How Women Lead, for a powerful conversation on the future of women’s leadership and capital. A nationally recognized gender and racial justice activist, Julie has spent her career building women-owned companies, expanding economic access, and reshaping boardrooms to reflect the diversity of our world.

​As a serial founder, venture fund leader, and award-winning advocate, Julie has mobilized thousands of women to launch businesses, secure board seats, and invest in one another. In this fireside chat, she’ll share her insights on changing the structures that hold women back, building strategic boards, and rewriting the narrative around who gets funded.

Opportunity Spotlight:

NEA Fellowship — Venture Capital Fellowship Program
📍 Remote
🔗 Apply Here

New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is looking for student Fellows passionate about venture capital, entrepreneurship, and technology. Ideal candidates are engaged in their campus startup ecosystems and bring backgrounds in engineering, product, or design.

Fellows gain hands-on experience in VC, develop an investment thesis, collaborate with NEA investors, and connect with peers driving innovation on campus.

📅 Applications close November 3, 2025

Pillar VC Co-Founder Match — Boston
📍 Back Bay, Boston
🗓 Wednesday, October 29th | 5:30 – 7:30 PM
Register Here

Looking to meet your future co-founder? Pillar VC’s Co-Founder Match events bring together top engineers, product minds, and business builders to spark new startup ideas and partnerships. It’s an excellent space to connect, exchange ideas, and learn what it really takes to “start-up.”

AI Boom: Free Trading Simulation at UC Berkeley on October 29th from 5:30–7:30 PM (PT)
📍 UC Berkeley
🔗 Register Here

This is a hands-on virtual event (partnering with Morgan Stanley and UBS) where students get to step into the roles of Sales Trader and Asset Manager, build their own $20 million portfolio, and experience what working in markets is really like. The simulation is completely free and open to all students - no prior finance experience needed.

Aaru — Deployment Lead
🌎 Remote / Flexible Location
🔗 Apply Here

Aaru, a cutting-edge startup rethinking the science of prediction through multi-agent systems, is hiring a Deployment Lead. Ideal for candidates with backgrounds in investment banking, consulting, or finance, this is a people-oriented role focused on driving implementation and client success.

Impact Ventures — Capital Access Managers (Part-Time, Contract)
📍 Fort Worth, Frisco, & Dallas
🔗 Apply Here

Entrepreneurs First — Associate
📍 Remote
🔗 Apply Here

Amex Ventures — Investment Manager
📍 New York City
🔗 Apply Here

2048 Ventures — Associate
📍 Boston
🔗 Apply Here

Figure.ai — Various Interns
📍 San Jose
🔗 Apply Here

Eniac Ventures — Investor
📍 NYC
🔗 Apply Here

Rho — VC Partnership Lead
📍 NYC
🔗 Apply Here

Commonweal Ventures — Venture Fellow
📍 NYC or Austin preferred
🔗 Apply Here

🔮 Deals of the Week

• Sesame (U.S.) secured $250 M Series B for AI-powered smart glasses, signaling strong investor confidence in wearable AI.

• Fal.ai (U.S.) raised $250 M, pushing its valuation above $4 B to expand its multimodal AI platform (image/audio/video).

• Crusoe Energy Systems (U.S.) pulled in $1.38 B Series E to build AI-centric data centre infrastructure with cleaner energy solutions.

✨ No Tricks, Just Truths

The scariest part of VC isn’t failure — it’s never starting.
This Halloween, remember: the best founders chase what others fear, and the smartest investors look where others won’t.

See you next week,
— The GIVC Content Team 🕸️