Reading
The VC Reading Canon — sequenced so each layer lands instead of washing over you.
This sits on top of the study plan and roadmap. Those tell you what to do; this is what to actually read, in the order that makes each thing land. Rough total at ~5hrs/week: 12–15 months if you absorb it — which is the point.
Tier 0 — Mechanics
Read first, no shortcuts. Everything later assumes fluency here.
Checkpoint — You should be able to explain a SAFE, a valuation cap, a pool refresh, and liquidation preference stacking to a non-technical friend without notes.
Tier 1 — How startups actually grow
Business literacy — operational stages, SaaS math, benchmarks.
Checkpoint — You should be able to look at a SaaS company's basic metrics and immediately have an opinion on whether they're healthy for their stage.
Tier 2 — The craft of investing
How VCs actually think — public writing from working investors.
Checkpoint — You should be able to read a startup's pitch and immediately generate 2–3 non-obvious questions about it, not just restate what they told you.
Tier 3 — Dev tools, infra, open source
Your engineering background becomes edge — spend real time here.
Checkpoint — Pick three companies in this space and articulate, without notes, what's actually defensible about each versus what's just a feature.
Tier 4 — Fund mechanics
The investor's own business — carry, LPs, portfolio construction.
Checkpoint — You should understand why a fund's math forces power-law thinking, and why a VC might pass on a genuinely good business that just isn't big enough.
Tier 5 — Sharpen your reasoning
Adjacent but essential — argument craft, uncertainty, judgment.
Tier 6 — India-specific
Worth building even with a geography-agnostic stance — local pattern-matching.
Ongoing habits
Subscribe permanently — not sequential.
Tier 0 — Mechanics
Brad Feld & Jason Mendelson — Venture Deals
Book. The single most important item on this entire list. Read cover to cover, twice if needed. Term sheets, caps, discounts, preferences, boards — everything mechanical.