E324 | EUVC Awards | Sarah Drinkwater, solo GP at Common Magic on community as investment focus

Celebrating one of the finalists in the Newcomer of the Year category at this year’s European VC Awards, this episode dives deep with Sarah Drinkwater, solo GP at Common Magic.Common Magic is a pre-seed/seed solo GP fund investing in and supporting founders building products with community at their core across Europe and the US. As a small fund, they act like an angel:fast decisionsoperationally usefulcomfortable being the first commitmentSarah Drinkwater has been building communities in tech for over 15 years and building communities for fun for much longer. From advising protocols for Filecoin and Gitcoin on their ecosystem building to growing Campus, Google’s East London space for startups, and growing an angel investing portfolio of 36 startups, she built playbooks and networks that can help founders build powerful communities right from the start.Go to eu.vc for our core learnings and the full video interview 👀Chapters:00:24 Diving into Community00:53 Common Magic's Investment Focus03:07 Sarah's Journey and Achievements04:19 Understanding Community in Tech10:58 Blockchain and Community17:27 Community as an Investment Focus22:19 Fund Structure and Geography22:47 Investment Focus and Strategy23:27 Community and Market Assumptions27:30 Monetization Strategies28:29 Challenges in Community Building35:45 AI and Community Platforms38:38 AI Investment Trends42:29 Fund Status and Future Plans