Brian Nichols is the co-founder of Angel Squad, a community where you’ll learn how to angel invest and get a chance to invest as little as $1k into Hustle Fund's top performing early-stage startups.

Everyone sees the glamorous part of being a General Partner: finding great companies early, writing checks, sitting on boards, maybe even getting a shoutout when a portfolio company exits. What they don't see is the other 80% of the job that has nothing to do with picking winners.

Let me break down what being a GP actually involves, because if you're thinking about raising a fund or working your way up to a partnership role, you should know what you're signing up for.

The Three Core Jobs

At Angel Squad, we think about the GP role as three main buckets:

1. Fundraising and LP management. You need to raise capital from Limited Partners (LPs), keep them informed about the fund's performance, and maintain those relationships over a 10+ year period. This is way harder than it sounds, especially for first-time fund managers.
2. Sourcing deals and conducting diligence. Finding great companies before everyone else discovers them, evaluating opportunities quickly, negotiating terms, and deciding what to invest in. This is the part everyone thinks about, but it's maybe 30-40% of the actual work.
3. Portfolio support and value creation. After you invest, you need to actually help your companies. This could mean making intros to customers or other investors, helping with hiring, providing strategic advice, or just being available when a founder needs to talk through a hard problem.

Different GPs weight these responsibilities differently. Some funds are very hands-on with portfolio companies. Others are more hands-off and focus heavily on sourcing. But all three buckets need attention.

Fundraising Is The Hardest Part

If you've never raised a fund before, this will be your biggest challenge. Raising your first fund is brutal. You're asking people to give you millions of dollars to invest in risky companies over a 10-year period, and you have zero track record as a fund manager.

LPs will ask questions like:

• What's your edge in sourcing?
• How will you win competitive deals?
• What's your differentiated insight about the market?
• Why should we trust you with our money instead of investing in an established fund?

You need good answers to all of these. And even if you have good answers, most LPs will still pass because you don't have a track record yet.

This is why raising Fund II is slightly easier than Fund I (though still hard). By the time you raise your second fund, you can show LPs actual results from Fund I. They can see which investments are working, how you've helped your companies, and whether you're generating returns.

But even experienced GPs spend a ton of time on LP management. You're sending quarterly updates, hosting annual meetings, dealing with fund admin, managing legal and compliance issues, and constantly thinking about when and how to raise the next fund.

Deal Flow Is a System, Not Magic

People think great GPs just magically meet the best founders. That's not how it works. Deal flow is a system you build deliberately.

Track your deal flow sources. Which conferences yield the most interesting companies? Which scout programs or angel networks are most valuable? Which portfolio founders make the best referrals?

The best deal flow comes from warm intros from people we trust, usually other founders or investors who know us well and understand our thesis. Cold inbound is terrible. A founder you've never met sending a deck through a generic email is almost never going to be a good use of time.

So as a GP, you need to build systems to ensure you see great deals consistently. This might mean:

• Creating content that attracts founders
• Building relationships with other investors who will refer you deals
• Staying active in specific communities or sectors
• Developing a reputation for adding value beyond capital
• Making yourself accessible and known to the founders you want to meet

This takes years to build and requires consistent effort.

Portfolio Support Is Where You Prove Your Value

Writing a check is easy. Helping a company succeed is hard.

The hard part is that every company needs different things at different times. One company might need help with their Series A fundraise. Another might need a VP of Engineering. A third might need customer intros in a specific industry. You need to be flexible and genuinely helpful without being overbearing.

Some founders want very hands-on investors. Others prefer to be left alone unless they ask for help. Part of being a good GP is reading the situation and adapting your level of involvement accordingly.

The Emotional Rollercoaster

Here's something nobody tells you: being a GP is emotionally draining because most of your investments will fail.

You'll invest in companies you believe in. You'll watch founders work incredibly hard. You'll see them overcome obstacle after obstacle. And then, despite everything, the company will still shut down.

The wins are incredible. When a portfolio company breaks out and starts growing 5x year-over-year, it's thrilling. But those wins are rare, and the losses are frequent. If you can't handle watching companies you care about fail repeatedly, being a GP will eat you alive.

The Operations Side Nobody Talks About

Beyond investing, GPs deal with a ton of operational work:

Fund administration and compliance. Making sure your fund is legally compliant, properly structured, and maintaining accurate records.

Back office operations. Processing capital calls, distributions, and handling all the administrative work that keeps a fund running.

Team management. If you have associates, analysts, or other team members, you need to manage them, help them develop skills, and build a functional team culture.

Investor relations. Communicating with LPs, managing expectations, and keeping them engaged with the fund.

Different Types of GPs

Not all GP roles are the same. At a large firm like Sequoia or a16z, GPs might specialize. One might focus on sourcing, another on portfolio operations, another on fundraising.

At a smaller fund like Hustle Fund, GPs wear all the hats. You're sourcing deals, conducting diligence, helping portfolio companies, managing LP relationships, and handling operational issues all at once.

There's also a difference between solo GPs (running a fund alone) and GPs at multi-partner firms. Solo GPs have complete autonomy but also complete responsibility. Multi-partner firms distribute the work but require consensus-building and compromise.

What Makes a Great GP?

The role is demanding, but for people who love startups and want to help founders build companies, it's incredibly rewarding. You get to work with the smartest, most ambitious people, help them achieve their goals, and occasionally be part of something that changes the world.

Just know what you're signing up for. It's not just about picking winners and cashing checks. It's about building systems, managing relationships, supporting founders through the hardest moments of their lives, and somehow staying optimistic when most of your bets don't pan out.

If you're considering a path into venture capital and want to learn from GPs who've built funds from scratch and navigated the challenges of fundraising, deal sourcing, and portfolio management, Angel Squad offers the mentorship and community to help you understand what it really takes to succeed in this industry.