Before becoming a VC, Masha Bucher worked in PR and marketing – an experience that has shaped the way she runs Day One Ventures.
After years of working in communications – including management positions that gave her deep insight into how startups work – Bucher realized she could either use her business knowledge to turn out to be one of the only PR representatives in the industry, or evolve into something more.
“I saw what was happening in the business, and because I understood the context, I understood the business, and because I understood the business, my PR appearances would be very focused on the business,” Bucher told TechCrunch on today’s episode of Equity.
She founded Day One Ventures in 2018 when she realized she could make a larger impact – and achieve higher returns – by investing in start-ups and providing them with integrated PR support. By combining these two functions, she was in a position to help portfolio corporations in a more meaningful way by only supporting stories she truly believed in.
“The structure of PR services is very inconsistent,” Bucher said, noting that PR firms working on a contract basis often are likely to work slower so they’ll stretch payments from clients. “It’s very important for startups to move quickly.”
In addition to hurry, there is a cost barrier: “Early-stage companies shouldn’t have to pay $10, $20, $30 a month for six months to get one ad on TechCrunch. I just don’t think it’s fair and I don’t think it’s sustainable.”
Day One’s integrated model allows Bucher to work with startups at key early stages when they need support most. Younger startups may change or experience a change in founders, so “you have to trust that they will advise and help them make decisions.”
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The company’s financial backing gives it something that many traditional PR firms cannot offer: it’s literally invested in the story.
“I have the ambition to be, ideally, the first investor in the most important and ambitious ideas and companies of our time,” Bucher said. “I think it starts with understanding the industry, understanding the business, and gaining conviction about the business. And once you have that conviction – which you’ve proven by investing in the company – you have the right to present it to reporters with much greater honesty.”
A PR one who has access to every part from the investor deck to the startup’s data room has serious benefits in positioning the company and understanding what’s at stake. For Bucher, this makes the work more compelling. Doing PR for corporations large enough to pay could also be good business, “but that doesn’t mean it’s a good story.”
As with any VC, Bucher is accountable to his investors – in the case of Day One, greater than 70 LPs, including institutions, individuals and greater than 15 founders of the company’s own portfolio. This means her bets should be fastidiously considered. When Bucher selects corporations, he asks not only whether he desires to see their vision turn out to be a reality, but also whether the founder has the ethical and moral compass to keep up his values as the company grows.
As an example, he cites Valar Atomics, a startup developing advanced nuclear reactors. Day one co-led a $130 million round to a startup last month.
“I can’t imagine a better founder,” she said, referring to Valar CEO Isaiah Taylor, noting that she trusts him with matters of “literally life and death.”
This moral filter implies that there are corporations he won’t support, even if they get a lot of publicity. Bucher said she was unaffected by the marketing strategy of Cluely, an AI startup, rage bait and “cheat on everything.” It is slightly proud to have invested in the most modern technologies in areas comparable to reproductive technologies (Orchid embryo selection technology), accessible health care (Superpower) and law enforcement software (Abel report writing tools optimized for artificial intelligence).
Day One’s portfolio includes early bets on corporations comparable to Sam Altman’s World, email app Superhuman and distant work platform Remote.com, with at least 12 unicorns under its belt and a portfolio value of greater than $115 billion. Last yr, Day One closed its Fund III at $150 million, aimed at early-stage founders “solving humanity’s most pressing problems,” and its value has grown over the past six years from $11 million in assets under management to well over $450 million today, Bucher says.
“We want to use communications to advance companies’ business goals, unlock new opportunities and ultimately help them increase shareholder value,” Bucher said.