I didn't deploy a single dollar in 2026. Until this week.

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I didn't deploy a single dollar in 2026. Until this week.

Yes, I said that out loud.

VCs are supposed to deploy. We have mandates, return timelines, and a next fund to raise. The system rewards motion. I know this.

I still saw thousands of decks, took calls on nearly 500 companies, and passed on all of them. Some were brilliant businesses. Some were exceptional founders. Still passed.

Here's the thing about being in this industry long enough: you develop a feel. Not just for what's good — good is everywhere — but for what's right. Right fit, right timing, right for what WGV actually does. That distinction is a skill. It took me years and some very expensive lessons to build it, and I'm not going to throw it out because the calendar says I should be deploying.

The companies that sharpened me most aren't the ones you'd see on a splashy LinkedIn post. They're the ones that don't exist anymore. The ones where I moved when something was interesting enough rather than when it was undeniably right. I stopped doing that. And this year, I waited.

Then last week: three deals. One week. All of them ones we fought to get into — the kind of fighting that involves a level of persistence I won't fully document here, but that any deal-hungry person will recognize. We didn't get in because we had access. We got in because we were relentless about the right ones.

These aren't just good deals. These are the kind that return funds. The kind you look back on in five years and point to as the reason everything else got easier. I'm not being cute about it — I'm genuinely, obnoxiously bullish.

For the friends who need to hear this:

Sometimes doing it right “looks” like doing nothing.

Months of nothing, from the outside. The voice in your head (and yes, also some people around you) gets loud. The anxiety builds. You spiral a little. You stop trusting yourself. You start wondering if you're actually good at this.

And then it clicks.

And when it clicks, it's magic. Not because you got lucky or the timing finally aligned. Because you did the work. You knew your thesis so deeply, so completely, that you could build what needed to exist rather than settle for what was out there. You knew the industry inside and out. You knew exactly where you were going, and that kind of clarity doesn't come from moving fast. It comes from being a builder. An expert. A creator.

Trust that. Even when it's uncomfortable. Especially when it's uncomfortable.

The best things I've done have always come from conviction, not pressure.

Last week proved it again.

More soon 🤍, stay tuned to find out what these deals are.

All the best,

Rach