All Things VC

Mori is a biotech startup that makes food last twice as long.  Whether it’s fruits, vegetables, meat, or seafood, Mori extends the consumption timeframe for nearly all foods. How do they do it? Well, here’s how they describe it on their website, which I encourage you to check out: “Our simple ingredients unravel the power of silk protein. From the farm to the shelf, our water-based protective laye...

Founders Fund is likely the most non-consensus VC firm in the industry. Sequoia founder Don Valentine said to target big markets; Peter Thiel said to target small markets. Jeff Jordan says he likes competitive deals as a signal of future success; Brian Singerman says if a deal is competitive, then it’s too late to invest in that industry.  The list goes on and on, but in this essay, I’m going to e...

Last week, I talked about how an investor would analyze a startup building something completely new with high technical risk and low market risk. That company was Loyal, which makes dog life-longevity drugs. From a market perspective, it is one of the most no-brainer investments if they can pull off the tech, which obviously is a huge challenge.  It got me thinking: what are some potential startup...

Something I really appreciate about humanity is our openness to a good debate. We often see this in business. For example, in my last episode, some could say Wal-Mart’s cheapest pricing strategy prevented mom-and-pop general stores from being able to compete and wiped out many small businesses. On the other hand, I would say the cheapest prices model benefitted consumers most, which a free market...

You may be surprised that a podcast that discusses venture capital and startups decided to do a post on Sam Walton, who started his first company in the 1950s, and Walmart, one of the most bloated and uninteresting businesses today.  In 1962, however, Walmart was just a plucky discounting store in Bentonville, Arkansas, a town of less than 5,000 people, that innovated its way to go from $0 in sale...

In this episode, I describe a mock investment thesis on why, based on the public information I have available, I would invest in Synthesis.  Synthesis is an ed-tech platform founded by the creator of SpaceX’s Ad Astra school in collaboration with Elon Musk, a homeschool program for children of SpaceX employees to learn complex problem-solving and communication skills.  I go very deep on 1. The pro...

MDSV Capital could be considered a fund of funds or a Series A investor. How can a firm be both? Well, through their truly unqiue investing model, MDSV has found a way to receive the option to invest in the best startups in the world at the Series A stage; the most competitive stage in venture capital; by having an army of emerging managers sourcing the best startups for them. How were they able t...

For framing, I had never heard of Zacua Ventures until a few weeks ago. Funny enough, their simple, few-paragraph announcement of their new $56m fund really interested me, primarily because they’re a firm focused on investing in the construction tech market. You don’t see that every day, especially in today’s market, where it’s all about AI co-pilots. So, being a contrarian thinker who gets bored...

To recap, we’ve covered how a VC sources, picks, and wins investments into startups. These are the three core tasks of investing in venture capital. What we haven’t talked about yet, and what is present before, throughout, and after these core tenants of investing, is actually running the fund.  There are many aspects to running a fund, which we’ll cover here today, such as: The pros and cons of a...

Welcome to the third post in our five-part series of what makes a top venture capitalist based on insights from current and former partners at Sequoia, Benchmark, Kleiner Perkins, and a16z.  As a reminder, we will look at the following qualities of a good VC: 1. Sourcing 2. Picking 3. Winning the deal / being a good partner / adding value 4. Optimal Fund Size / Liquidity Strategies (when to sell)...

Welcome to the second post in our five-part series of what makes a top venture capitalist based on insights from current and former partners at Sequoia, Benchmark, Kleiner Perkins, and a16z.  As a reminder, we will look at the following qualities of a good VC: 1. Sourcing 2. Picking 3. Winning the deal / being a good partner / adding value 4. Optimal Fund Size / Liquidity Strategies (when to sell)...

Welcome to this new five-part series on the qualities of a top venture capitalist based on insights from current and former partners at Sequoia, Benchmark, Kleiner Perkins, and a16z.  I will publish blog posts and podcast episodes once or twice a week, split into four parts, with one unique bonus essay I’ll reveal later. We will look at the following qualities of a good VC: Sourcing Picking Winnin...

In this episode, I reviewed some notes that didn’t make it into last week’s Accel podcast on why they invested in Facebook, Scale AI, and Flipkart and why they passed on Cisco, Skype, and Flickr . If you want to learn more about Accel, I suggest starting there. I used those notes to generate five questions I’d ask founders if I were a partner at Accel. While I don’t know whether they actually ask...

After discussing two venture firms, a16z and Initialized Capital, both founded in the last 15 years, we’re going way back to 1983, the founding year of Accel.  Accel has been an early investor in massive companies like Atlassian, Slack, Etsy, Discord, and Dropbox, among others. Its portfolio also includes the three companies we’ll discuss today: Facebook, Scale AI, and Flipkart.  Though there have...

Last week, we looked into  why Initialized Capital invested in Coinbase, Instacart, and Rippling . Additionally, we explore how they won the deals, what Initialized Capital's general investment thesis is, and how you, as a founder, can position yourself to get funding from Initialized. After reviewing many of my notes and direct quotes from current and former Initialized partners, I decided I...

It’s rare that a Venture firm invests in 27 unicorns in just 12 years of its existence. It’s even rarer that a venture firm invests in 27 unicorns all at the seed stage, even when it’s just a founder and an idea. It’s EVEN RARER that a firm turns a $7 million fund into over $2 billion in distributed capital for LPs. Put all of those rare feats together, and you get one of the best, if not the best...

Last week, we looked into why a16z invested in Instagram (Burbn), Okta, and Slack (Tiny Speck), why they passed on Uber, Square, and FTX , how they won the deals, what Kleiner Perkins' general investment thesis is, and how you, as a founder, can position yourself to get funding from a16z. After reviewing many of my notes and direct quotes from current and former a16z partners, I decided I woul...

Today, we’re analyzing a16z, the VC firm that was the face of the bull market from 2009 to 2021. A16z fully embraced this movement by raising massive funds right out of the gate (their first fund was $300 million), investing at high valuations, creating a media platform for their VC firm with the help of renowned Hollywood agent Michael Ovitz, hiring hundreds of employees to support startups with...

A few weeks ago, we looked into why  Kleiner Perkins Invested in Genentech, Amazon, and Google , how they won the deals, what Kleiner Perkins' general investment thesis is, how you, as a founder, can position yourself to get funding from Kleiner Perkins and discuss some regrettable passes they have in their anti-portfolio. After reviewing many of my notes and direct quotes from current and for...

A few weeks ago, we looked into why Benchmark invested in eBay, Uber, and Riot Games, how they won the deals, what Benchmark’s general investment thesis is, how you, as a founder, can position yourself to get funding from Benchmark and discuss some regrettable passes they have in their anti-portfolio. After reviewing many of my notes and direct quotes from current and former Benchmark partners, I...

A few weeks ago, we looked into why Sequoia invested in Apple, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Airbnb, and Whatsapp, how they won the deals, what Sequoia’s general investment thesis is, how you as a founder can position yourself to get funding from Sequoia, and discuss some regrettable passes they have in their anti-portfolio. After studying my notes on Sequoia Capital, I realized I had more information to share...

The idea of investors who were former entrepreneurs and engineers backing entrepreneurs and engineers is mainstream in venture capital today. Back in 1972, however, at the founding of the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, startups were presented with different types of institutional partners. Partners that were typically from a finance or sales background and used banking tactics to invest in...

There are a few companies that define a decade of startup investing. In the 1990s, it was eBay. In the 2010s, it was Uber. While these seem like completely different business models today, they rely on a similar theme around network effects that are at the core of the investment thesis of the VC firm we’re going to talk about today: Benchmark.  Benchmark has solidified itself as one of the greates...

Sequoia Capital is one of the most notable venture capital firms in the world. How notable? Well, As of this writing, Sequoia has financed companies worth over $7 trillion, yes, with a T, including three of the top six most valuable companies in the world: Apple, Google, and Nvidia. Founded in 1972 by a former Fairchild Semiconductor sales executive named Don Valentine, Sequoia rose to prominence...

All Things VC brings you the hardest-to-find secrets about why venture capital investors invest in the companies they did, what advice they have for founders, what makes a good VC, and what are some huge mistakes they've made from companies they passed on. I've spent thousands of hours and several years accumulating the best info about VC, so you can learn everything about scaling or inves...