Austin Investor Spotlight: Rising Star in Venture Capital, Carter Bourassa

We interviewed Carter Bourassa, an associate at Moneta Ventures and the founder of the Austin Young Professionals Happy Hour. This initiative has been instrumental in connecting junior members of venture capital and private equity funds. Carter's experiences and success stories serve as tangible examples of the advantages of networking within the VC and PE industries. If you are a young professional seeking opportunities for networking, collaboration, support for local ecosystems, and the promotion of innovation, we invite you to read this interview to discover how you can participate in the next Young Professionals Happy Hour event.

Here is a snippet from Carter’s biography: I am passionate about innovative technologies and business models. A graduate of Northeastern University, where I studied International Business and Finance, I have previous experience in investment management, growth and venture capital, and start-up finance and operations.

We're excited to learn more about your journey and the incredible community you've built. To kick things off, can you share how the idea for the Young Professionals Happy Hour came about and some of the key milestones in your journey?

Tommy and I were both new to the VC/PE ecosystem and met for lunch to learn more about each others’ firms. We realized we were both doing the same thing - reaching out to our counterparts at other funds so that we could build our local networks. We wanted to find a more efficient way for all of the junior members of VC & PE funds to connect, so we got together a small group of the connections we had made during our short tenure in the Austin ecosystem for our first happy hour. From there, those connections invited their connections, and the network effect just kept expanding the group. We now have more than 85 members representing 46 different funds, both local and national.

What's a success story or two of starting the HH?

Our group has investors at every stage from incubators and accelerators to buyout funds. Making connections with people at every stage naturally lends itself to cooperation and collaboration. A group member from an accelerator might introduce a company to another member at an early-stage fund. The early-stage fund invests, and in a few years might secondary out to a growth fund, which after a few years sells the company to a buyout fund. I think the biggest success our group can have is helping create the connections that facilitate the funding and growth of the next great Texas-based startup, to the benefit of everyone involved in the startup, VC, and PE ecosystem.

What’s been a favorite event you’ve thrown?

My favorite event so far has been our SXSW Happy Hour. We were able to rent out a bar thanks to some generous sponsors and opened the event up to any pre-partner investors who were in town for SXSW. We had 40-50 people attend, many of whom were from out of town. It was great to see all the connections being made between funds from all over the country.

What do you think are the opportunities for Texas’ future that you look forward to?

I think that the Texas Venture Ecosystem is only going to continue to grow. Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen a lot of funds opening offices or new headquarters here in Texas, so the industry at large is still very bullish on what Texas has to offer. With the business-friendly environment, numerous top-tier colleges and universities, quality of life, and the prevalence of big tech companies based in Texas, all the pieces seem to be in place for the overall ecosystem to continue to flourish. Texas has a long history of producing a number of amazing companies like Compaq, Dell, and Texas Instruments, and continues to produce iconic companies like SailPoint, Disco, and Jasper, and this trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

What are the things you like to do in Austin? Places to eat, fun activities, etc.

I’ve loved the food scene here in Austin - some of my favorites are Loro (which has some of the best chicken I’ve ever had), ATX Cocina, and Whataburger. I’ve also spent a lot of time golfing in Austin and the surrounding suburbs and going to races and karting at Circuit of the Americas.