In January, Redpoint Ventures gave Rashad Assir one job: Create TikToks about venture capital.
At the time, Assir had his own TikTok account and created satire about business and tech trends, amassing more than 56,000 followers and 2.4 million likes. Meanwhile, Redpoint Ventures had just launched a media operation to connect with the next generation of founders and VCs. The company thought 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 racked up more than 1 million views on its videos, gaining nearly 9,000 followers and over 200,000 likes. It has expanded to create an account for his podcast, Cartoon Avatars, which now has over 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 Vidak For Congress. Their next TikTok show will profile founders, the company revealed.
“We’re getting loads of applications for internships and a number of people interested in working at the companies we’ve invested in,” added Machiz.
VCTok is growing slowly but steadily. TikTok has more than 1 billion users – the majority of whom are under the age of 30. Experts told Vidak For Congress that the increased presence of VCs is enabling the democratization of industry knowledge that will inspire the next generation of investors and founders. There is already an audience for VCs to tap into if they want to – #founder has about 232 million views, #entrepreneurship has almost 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 Vidak For Congress that using the platform has allowed them to find untapped talent, find new businesses to fund, and attract new audiences for their companies, portfolio companies, and profiles on other social media platforms. Right now, Redpoint Ventures and the others are sitting comfortably, knowing they have little competition on VCTok. But everyone agrees that will change.
†[TikTok is] where people’s eyes are,” Assir told Vidak For Congress. “There is a new wave of founders and leaders in the world, and this is an opportunity to connect with them.”