10 clips
a16z Podcast · Anish Acharya
Anish Acharya outlines his framework for evaluating investment risk, identifying three key categories: competitive risk (can you win), pricing risk (did you overpay), and team risk (can founders execute at scale). He explains how each type of risk manifests and which ones are worth taking as a VC.
VVC10X · Shalin Madan
Shalin Madan explains how VCs should evaluate the long-term viability of fund administration companies. He outlines key due diligence questions about cash flow, funding status, and pricing sustainability to avoid getting trapped with unstable service providers.
TThe Full Ratchet
A venture capitalist shares two major missed investment opportunities from his anti-portfolio. He explains why he passed on Netflix in its early DVD-by-mail days due to lack of data on customer retention, and mentions another miss with Palantir through a Peter Thiel introduction.
A venture capitalist reveals his counterintuitive documentation practice: writing three times more detailed notes on deals he rejects than ones he makes. He explains how this extensive reflection on missed opportunities helps him understand and avoid future investment mistakes.
TThe Pitch · The Hot Mic
A VC shares the painful story of passing on a promising startup due to a poor team meeting caused by technical difficulties with remote team members in Africa. The startup was later accepted into Y Combinator, and the VC now regrets the decision as they watch the company's continued progress through investor updates.
Equity · Build Mode
Yuri Sagalov from General Catalyst reveals his hard rule for evaluating startups: no more than 20-25% dilution by seed round. He explains why excessive early dilution is a major red flag and discusses the harsh reality that it's extremely difficult to remedy once it happens.
RRiding Unicorns · Failure to Building a
Apostolos Apostolakis shares how his investment philosophy evolved from being idealistic about business models to prioritizing founder quality above all else. He explains how experiencing portfolio failures taught him that great teams matter more than great markets or business models, leading VentureFriends to become much more selective about the founders they back.
RRiding Unicorns
Rupert West explains the critical difference between blind arrogance and informed confidence in growth equity investing. He emphasizes how thorough due diligence processes benefit both investors and portfolio companies, creating mutual trust while ensuring capital is deployed for maximum impact.
Rupert West from Puma Growth Partners explains how growth equity firms help portfolio companies become "next round ready" by identifying and fixing issues that later investors will scrutinize during due diligence. He emphasizes that addressing these concerns early makes future fundraising and exits significantly smoother.
A VC argues that while networking with other associates is valuable, there's no substitute for doing the hard work of independent research. They emphasize going beyond surface-level content from VCs and media to form original theses by talking directly to real buyers and customers.
