Emerging Institute vs. Coolwater

When we started VC Lab nearly four years ago, we were laser focused on one thing: Helping create 10,000 brand new venture funds around the world. 

Why? Because when there is a cluster of venture funds creating a tech ecosystem, billion dollar startups result. And billion dollar startups can help solve humanity’s greatest problems. 

We are well on our way, having helped create 1,000 new funds, with a breakout fourth quarter of 2025 where we launched as many new funds as the rest of the year combined. 

But something inevitable happens when you help create 1,000 new funds. In a few years, those funds need to raise a second fund. Or a third. Or in a few breakout cases, a fourth. And nearly every fund we’ve launched has asked us to work on their next one.

But because we had so focused on creating 10,000 new funds, we didn’t have a great way to help these funds. 

Why did they need help? 

Raising a Fund I is hard. But it’s around $10m on average, you are mostly pitching a story and a thesis on your track record before you ever became a VC. You are primarily raising money from high net worth individuals. These high net worth folks could be a rich uncle, an ex-boss, or your neighbor down the road with the big fancy house. 

Sure, you’ll get 19 no’s for every yes. But you are largely convincing one person to believe in you with their own money. And it is much easier to convince someone who already likes you to invest in your new fund.

For one thing, you now have an institutional venture capital track record now. That’s either good news or bad news, and a surprising amount of it comes down to how you present it. You don’t have DPI, you barely have 1.0 TVPI, and now you’re supposed to show that off confidently to a multi-family office? Yes.

To do this right, you need a different deck, different presentation strategy, different data room, different everything. 

The pitch, the process, the timelines, the expectations and the bar for pitching institutions is a completely different process. Small mistakes you may have made that didn’t matter in Fund I, could be devastating when it comes to diligence in Fund II. 

Mistakes are normal, showing how you’ve fixed, recovered, and learned from them is vital. 

So what happened in the vacuum in the market while we were focused only on helping Fund I managers? 

What always happens in capitalism. Other players sprung up to capture the market opportunity for those funds. The largest one is Coolwater Capital. 

We knew it had to be different. Built on providing value first, not by coercing GPs into predatory terms that undermined what they’re already fighting to build. Build on giving back to the community and the rest will follow. 

That thing was the Emerging Institute. We believe it’s the absolute no brainer option if you want to launch your second or third fund in the strongest possible way. 

Cost: The Emerging Institute is completely free. There are no hidden clauses or equity stakes we take in your fund. In fact, the opposite is a possibility: Our Decile Capital fund of funds regularly invests in the best funds in the cohort and funds that complete the program have the opportunity to pitch the fund, in addition to a dozen other institutional LPs. 

What’s in it for us? Our biggest fans want to work with us, that’s why we offer Decile Partners. But that’s completely up to you.

Weekly office hours with real experts and mentors: This is a 8-week program and you get weekly office hours with the very best members of the Decile community: Our senior leaders, our best managers, the top investors in our community looking to work with Emerging managers – today. You are getting ready to pitch institutions, and our reputations are on the line too. We are bringing the best people we know to get you ready via 1:1 meetings, focused just on you. 

The hard work before the intro: Lots of people can introduce you to institutions. That does nothing if your pitch isn’t right, or your data room isn’t tight. One of the most valuable things we do is a complete review of your previous fund, bespoke strategies for fixing any issues, folder-by-folder guidance on developing your data room according to best industry practices, past deal review and presentation prep, and real institutional LP diligence and feedback to test your readiness. 

Access to LPs (Beyond Just Demo Day): Other programs like Coolwater offer a Demo Day where you may get an LP to look up from their phone for a minute – and that’s fine. It’s an efficient way to make a first impression on several LPs at once. We offer one too. 

But Demo Days are not really how LPs invest. On average it takes six months to a year, in the best case scenario. This isn’t Y-Combinator, There isn’t the same urgency in a venture fund. One and done is not going to do it. 

That’s why we have other ways to network with LPs beyond a single make-or-break Demo Day. We provide a safe environment where LPs come to speak candidly about their diligence process, and share what they feel works best. This is the best low stakes environment to make a warm introduction. LPs know that only the best managers graduate from our programs. The numbers are in your favor too.

Offering the best program on the market also means it’s rigorous. Out of the 1000’s of managers who apply to our programs, only an average of 30 firms make it into Emerging Institute. Out of those 30 only 50% graduate. We drop managers who don't show up and tune in. For that reason LPs in our community know who is worth their time, and trust in the quality of the vetted few who graduate. 

It’s a clear no-brainer: A free program with more 1:1 mentoring from industry experts that gets you ready to pitch LPs and gives you more than one day to meet, engage with, and impress them. From the only company in the space that’s already launched more than 1,000 funds.
Apply for our next cohort here.