Inside the VC War Room: What Really Happens at Annual General Meetings - 6/04/2026

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📰 Today's Edition:

If you've ever wondered what happens behind the closed doors of venture capital firms when they meet with their investors, you're not alone.

As a purple hippocorn, I've been privy to numerous Annual General Meetings (AGMs), and I'm continually surprised by how this critical component of the venture ecosystem remains shrouded in mystery for most founders and aspiring VCs.

For founders, understanding the rhythm and obligations of your investors can provide valuable context for when and how you engage with them.

For those looking to break into VC, knowing what happens during these critical meetings offers insight into the accountability structures that shape fund management decisions.

So let's pull back the curtain.

What is a VC Annual General Meeting?

An AGM (Annual General Meeting) is exactly what it sounds like—a yearly gathering where venture capital firms update their investors on how their money is being managed and deployed.

The attendee list typically includes the limited partners who've invested in the fund, the general partners who manage it, and often selected founders from the portfolio who present their companies.

Timing-wise, there's a definite AGM season in venture capital.

If you're trying to reach LPs during September and early October, don't be surprised if your emails bounce back with "Out of office: Attending AGMs" auto-replies. The fall has become the de facto AGM season for most firms.

The Standard AGM Agenda: What Happens

When you strip away the fancy locations and catered lunches, AGMs follow a surprisingly consistent structure:

Performance Deep-Dive

Fund managers spend weeks preparing detailed performance metrics:

• MOIC (Multiple on Invested Capital): How many times has the fund multiplied the capital invested?

• TVPI (Total Value to Paid In): The ratio of the fund's current value to capital contributed

• DPI (Distribution to Paid In): How much cash has been returned to investors

• IRR (Internal Rate of Return): The rate at which the fund is growing over time

These aren't just numbers on a page—they're the report card for how effectively a fund is executing on its promises to investors.

Portfolio Showcase

Many VC funds invite their most promising portfolio founders to present directly to the LP audience.

I've seen firsthand how a charismatic founder with impressive traction can energize a room of LPs, creating a halo effect that extends to their perception of the entire fund.

Social Component

Most traditional AGMs include social activities—wine tastings, dinners, recreational activities like bocce ball (a surprising VC favorite). These are often hosted in attractive locations like Napa Valley and serve as important relationship-building opportunities.

A typical AGM flows from morning performance presentations to portfolio showcases to evening social activities.

Why AGMs Matter Strategically

AGMs serve several critical purposes:

Fiduciary Accountability: AGMs remind VCs that we're fiduciaries entrusted with other people's wealth—college funds, retirement savings, philanthropic capital. That responsibility demands regular and transparent accounting.

Relationship Building: The personal rapport developed during AGMs plays a crucial role in raising future funds. LPs who feel connected to your team are dramatically more likely to reinvest.

Market Intelligence: AGMs create valuable two-way information exchange between fund managers and sophisticated LPs who invest across numerous funds and asset classes.

The Hustle Fund Approach: Rethinking the Traditional AGM

At Hustle Fund, we've taken a path that diverges from industry norms.

We host our AGMs exclusively online.

This choice reflects our core values in several important ways:

Efficiency First

Traditional AGMs consume enormous resources in preparation time and execution. The logistics of venue selection, travel arrangements, catering, and social activities can occupy a small team's bandwidth for weeks.

By moving our AGMs online, we redirect that time and energy toward activities that more directly serve our portfolio companies and fund performance.

Rethinking Fund Expenses

Here's the crucial point most people miss: AGMs are typically classified as fund expenses rather than management company expenses.

Fund expenses are effectively a loan that must be repaid before any carried interest is distributed. Every dollar spent on elaborate venues or open bars reduces returns to both LPs and GPs over the long term.

Too many VCs treat fund expenses like an ATM when it's really a loan that you do have to pay back, and minimizing those expenses really matters.

This perspective influences many of our operational decisions at Hustle Fund.

Alternative Relationship-Building

Does our online approach sacrifice relationship-building benefits?

We don't believe so.

Instead, we've developed alternative mechanisms for connecting with our LPs throughout the year:

• Targeted, smaller gatherings around specific themes

• Regular digital communications maintaining transparency

• Direct LP engagement with portfolio companies in valuable contexts

This distributed approach maintains strong LP connections without concentrating all relationship-building efforts into one expensive annual event.

Key Takeaways for Founders and Aspiring VCs

For Founders: If your investors seem distracted or unusually focused on portfolio metrics in September, now you know why. Understanding the AGM cycle provides valuable context for when and how you engage with your VCs.

For Aspiring VCs: How a fund approaches its AGM reflects deeper principles about fiduciary responsibility and capital stewardship. Question industry norms and focus resources where they create the most value.

For Everyone: Effective AGMs serve the same fundamental purpose regardless of format—they create accountability between those who manage capital and those who provide it.

The Bottom Line

At Hustle Fund, our unconventional approach to AGMs embodies our broader philosophy: question industry norms, prioritize efficiency, and focus resources where they create the most value.

The best relationship-building with investors doesn't happen over expensive wine tastings.

It happens by delivering returns.

In an industry built on managing risk and uncertainty, that foundation of trust remains our most valuable asset.

Until next time,

Dunky, the “war general” hippocorn

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