“Why would you stay invested in a company for 18 years?”
A founder asked us this recently. TRUTH BOMB ALERT:
The question itself says a lot about how venture capital is typically perceived.
Most founders are conditioned to believe that startups need to scale aggressively within fixed timelines. Many enduring businesses simply do not compound that way.
Markets evolve slowly. Business models take time to mature. Distribution compounds over years. Trust compounds even slower. (In short - Reality hits)
If you are building a meaningful company, it is going to be a decade long journey. Investor alignment becomes critical.
Most venture funds operate within fund-cycle realities. They need liquidity, DPI and markups within a certain timeframe. Naturally, this shapes behavior around growth expectations, follow-on rounds and exit timelines.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that structure.
But some businesses structurally require patient capital say manufacturing, deep-tech, infrastructure, healthcare, supply chain and several B2B categories where value compounds first linearly and then exponentially.
At
@MalpaniVentures, our philosophy has always been rooted in an ownership mindset. We don’t look at companies as short-term financial positions. Being a family office comes with its benefits as well.
Some of the best businesses are built slowly and over very long periods of time.
P.S Also, 18 years of staying invested gave us a 450x return :)