if you can inherit riches; you can inherit debt.

Software startups are selling less equity to VCs per round. Median sold by stage: Seed: was 21%, now 18% Series A: was 20%, now 17% Series B: was 16%, now 13% But round sizes are rising over these years, so it's not less money = less equity sold. Valuations ⏫

couldn’t agree more

Every quarter I send an LP update: Everyone does this through mailing lists. Do not do this. I spend 4-6 hours individually sending personalised emails to each LP. Over 85 emails personally sent every time. Response rate is 95% compared to 15% on a mass update list. Do the unscalable things to build trust and relationships.

this 👇

change is uncomfortable - but this one feels right! ✨ proud to share that ive joined @govclab im supporting emerging fund managers and learning from @adeoressi !! we believe you don’t need permission to be an investor. you need a system. so we built it👇

Heard from @theinformation about VC LPs this week: This 📊 from this week haunted me. For any of us that raise VC $$, this year was anything but quiet. I think this data is wildly understated. Why? 👇🏻 1. This data doesn’t include SPVs. Like them or not, co-invest or single deal SPVs alongside funds are a standard & large part of the industry. This isn’t broad retail offerings, this is just co-invest. My rough and unsubstantiated guess would be that SPVs would double the amount of capital raised this year across the industry. 2. Does it include Growth? Venture Growth or Late stage funds had a huge comeback starting in Q2 with a number of funds launched and being raised. These aren’t “VC” funds but by most LPs put them in the VC allocation 3. Data includes funds that are reported to pitchbook as closed or from filings. May not include funds raised but not yet fina close I do think # of funds continues to be low. The big are getting bigger and the Emerging Manager/Opp Fund boom in ‘21 has not come back @Katie_Roof observations that LPs need liquidity is also spot on, but my observation is that did not keep LPs off the AI / VC sidelines this year, particularly as public market increases provided denominator relief

The secret to success in Silicon Valley is crazy simple. Do a lot of favors. Help people. Be useful. It will all come back to you 10x. Repeat.

so wholesome

I read this in an onboarding document and thought it was so good.

"just make it exist, you can make it good later"

having a reseller agreement is like having a hunting license you still need to hunt

Bessemer owned 26% of Shopify at IPO. They’d led the 2010 Series A at a $20M pre. At the time the company was at a $5.5M run rate & profitable 🤯 They had modeled the best-case scenario as a $400M exit. Shopify is worth $140B today!

“mom your laptop light won’t keep me up because I came prepared!” objection handling at its finest 😂

buttermilk fried chicken wings are my love language

Most people never build anything because they’re scared to look stupid. Good news: no ones paying attention. Ship anyway.

“What if I fail?”  - so what?  You're right back to where you are now the learning

This.

my husband just said he’s never seen an episode of - Friends - Seinfeld - Fraser 🤯🤯 yall… we’re millennials

cohort 10 @FounderUni is BUILT DIFFERENT 200 founders joined for an *optional* session lets goooooo!!

People are surprised when I say this but if you spend just 1 year aggressively building your network in VC, you can meet everyone You may not meet every GP but you can meet at least 1 investor at every firm. This world is very small