VCs Need Storytelling: Day One Ventures’ Masha Bucher Explains Why
▼ Summary
– Masha Bucher founded Day One Ventures in 2018 after transitioning from a PR and marketing career, aiming to invest in startups while providing them integrated PR support.
– Her venture capital model addresses misalignments in traditional PR, such as high costs and slow service, which are critical barriers for early-stage startups needing to move fast.
– Bucher believes being a financial investor gives her greater integrity and conviction when pitching a startup’s story to reporters, as she is personally invested in its success.
– She applies a strong ethical filter when selecting investments, prioritizing founders with a clear moral compass and backing companies solving significant problems, even if it means passing on hyped trends.
– Day One Ventures has grown significantly, managing over $450 million in assets and building a portfolio that includes multiple unicorns by focusing on early-stage founders tackling humanity’s pressing issues.
Masha Bucher’s journey into venture capital was paved by her extensive background in public relations and marketing, a foundation that fundamentally shapes her unique investment philosophy at Day One Ventures. Her career in communications, which included senior roles offering a clear window into startup operations, presented a pivotal choice. She could leverage her sharp business understanding to become a top-tier PR executive, or she could channel that expertise into a more impactful venture. She founded Day One Ventures in 2018 after realizing she could create more impact , and make better returns , by investing in startups and providing them with integrated PR support. This hybrid model allows her to back companies she genuinely believes in while offering them the strategic narrative building crucial for early growth.
Bucher observed a significant flaw in traditional public relations frameworks, especially for new companies. The standard retainer model often incentivizes agencies to work at a slower pace, stretching projects to maintain monthly fees. This approach is fundamentally at odds with the needs of a startup. “For startups, it’s really important to move fast,” Bucher emphasizes. The financial burden is another major hurdle; she questions the fairness and sustainability of young companies spending tens of thousands per month for months just to secure a single media mention. Her solution embeds PR support directly into the investment, aligning the firm’s success completely with the startup’s trajectory.
This integrated approach grants Bucher a level of access and insight most PR firms never achieve. By being a financial backer, she gains entry to investor decks, data rooms, and the founder’s inner circle. This deep immersion allows for more authentic and effective storytelling. She argues that simply doing PR for any company that can pay the bills might be commercially sound, but it doesn’t guarantee a compelling narrative. Backing a company financially gives her something many traditional PR firms can’t offer: She’s literally invested in the story. This investment, she believes, grants her the integrity to introduce companies to journalists with genuine conviction, having already validated the business case with her own capital.
Of course, as a venture capitalist, Bucher is accountable to her limited partners, a group that includes institutions, individuals, and over fifteen founders from her own portfolio. This responsibility necessitates rigorous due diligence that extends beyond market potential. When evaluating a founder, Bucher considers not only the viability of their vision but also their ethical foundation and moral compass. She needs to trust that these principles will endure as the company scales. She cites Valar Atomics, a developer of advanced nuclear reactors, as a prime example, expressing immense trust in CEO Isaiah Taylor’s judgment on decisions with profound consequences.
This ethical filter naturally leads her to pass on certain opportunities, even those generating significant buzz. She was not persuaded, for instance, by the provocative marketing of some AI startups, preferring instead to back mission-driven innovation. Her portfolio reflects this selectivity, with investments in transformative technologies across reproductive health, accessible healthcare, and public safety software. Day One’s portfolio includes early bets on companies like Sam Altman’s World, the email app Superhuman, and the remote work platform Remote.com, with at least 12 unicorns under its belt. The firm has grown substantially, closing a $150 million Fund III last year to back founders tackling humanity’s most pressing challenges.
Ultimately, Bucher views communications not as a separate service but as a core business function. “We want to use comms to solve companies’ business goals, unlock new opportunities, and to help them, ultimately, to grow shareholder value,” she states. For her, powerful storytelling is inseparable from building valuable companies, proving that a founder’s narrative and their financial success are two sides of the same coin.
(Source: TechCrunch)
