Yesterday, nearly 50 professionals who are responsible for the branding, media and investor relations at NVCA member firms gathered in Cambridge, MA to discuss best practices across a number of strategic communications topics.  Here are my 5 top takeaways:

1.  From presenter Brian Halligan, CEO of Hubspot:  Content is king.  It is better to have a blog that is "super thoughtful" than one that is updated every day.  In Halligan’s opinion, all VC’s should be blogging about their most important issues and opinions.  It is a new reality for building brand.

2. From Brian Carey, of Foley Hoag:  Healthcare reform will surely impact venture investment in both positive and negative ways going forward.  Yet until implementation begins, it is difficult to determine to what extent.  Comparative Effectiveness Research seems to be the largest unknown.

3. From the press panel of Dan Primack, (PEHub),  Russ Garland (Dow Jones)  and Bob Buderi (Xconomy):  Venture capitalists should consider their entrepreneurs (current and prospective) as their most important ambassadors.  Reporters talk to them all the time.

4. From Astrid Noltemy of Cambridge Associates:  Yes – top quartile DOES matter, but it is only a piece of the puzzle for LP’s when making investment decisions.

5. From LP Communications Panel of John Gray, (Adams Street Partners), Steph Carter (ABS Capital), Jennifer James, (Alta Partners) and Suzanne Cantando (Intersouth Partners).  Venture firms should make it a point to ask their LP’s how they want to communicate.  An annual audit of LP satisfaction goes a long way.

And one last bonus takeaway:  Despite significant economic uncertainty and increased competition for deal flow and fundraising, the venture capital industry remains an extremely collaborative asset class, if this NVCA group is any indication.  We continue to meet twice each year to discuss these issues and further improve our respective brand strategies.  If you are responsible for the branding of your NVCA member firm and are not a member of this group, please contact me at emendell (at) nvca dot org to learn more.