At Venture Capital Journal, Ryan Hibbison brings a sharp eye and human-first approach to covering the evolving world of private markets. In this Q&A, he shares what excites him most about GP profiles, why venture secondaries are worth watching, and how a pitch can rise above the noise.
What types of stories and trends in venture capital are you most interested in covering right now?
Our mandate at VCJ is pretty clear cut: our audience is LPs and GPs, so we’ll cover anything relevant to them. My favorite story to write is what we call a GP profile where I sit down with a GP and dig into their investment thesis and how they do what they do. On the trend side of things, given how tumultuous the economy at large is right now, private markets investors are having to get creative with how they execute deals and engineer exits, which leads to some really innovative strategies popping up that I’m excited to continue covering.
Are there any emerging trends in the VC space that you find particularly interesting or worth watching?
My scope is limited more to how GPs are investing than what they invest in, but a trend we saw gain a lot of traction last year was venture secondaries. Both direct secondaries and things like continuation funds hit record levels in the venture industry in 2024 and secondaries are not as well understood as primary investing, so it’s been a lot of fun to speak to the small number of experts that are out there and try to communicate the nuances of that part of the market to our audience.
Are there specific sectors or deal sizes that you focus on most at Venture Capital Journal?
We typically don’t cover individual funding rounds at VCJ, unless they’re indicative of an emerging investment trend in the venture market. Because of that, the deals we do cover are typically smaller, Series A and earlier. In 2022 I wrote a mini-series on fitness and health deals that I personally enjoyed because of my background in the fitness space. Healthcare is a constantly innovating sector that’s always exciting to cover, and my colleague David Bogoslaw has become our resident expert on all things related to AI, including agentic AI and data centers, both of which he wrote cover stories on for our print magazine in 2024.
What makes a pitch stand out to you, and what are some common mistakes PR people should avoid?
Despite what some people may assume about business journalism at a trade magazine, the unique human element of the story is still what matters most. I receive countless pitches every day that talk about success metrics, which are great and are certainly needed in a business article, but it’s the people behind those metrics and companies—how they got to where they are and why they do what they do—that really make a pitch stand out. Also, and this happens surprisingly often, if someone sends me a pitch for a story but the embargo lifts within 24 hours, I can’t do anything with that. I need time to do research, schedule interviews, write, and my editor needs time to edit. We do cover breaking news but only if it has implications beyond a single firm or company, and typically will reach out for comment through email instead of doing a full interview.
What’s the best way for PR professionals to send you pitches?
Email or LinkedIn! Being a part of Gen Z, for better or worse, I am chronically online so I typically respond to emails and LinkedIn messages at all hours of the day. Thankfully I enjoy what I do, so if I receive a particularly interesting pitch I’ll jump on it as fast as I can.
