“Our best GPs are talking to their founders all the time. And our best GP relationships, we talk to all the time.” — Apurva Mehta
“If you can’t handle something going to zero, then you shouldn’t do one.” — JD Montgomery
Apurva Mehta is the co-founding Managing Partner of Summit Peak Investments, a fund-of-funds that boasts a portfolio of both venture fund investments and direct investments, including the likes of Affirm, Anduril, Airtable, Opendoor, and Wish, just to name a few.
Prior to starting Summit Peak in 2018 with his co-founder, Patrick O’Connor, he previously served as Vice President and Deputy Chief Investment Officer for the Children’s Hospital Endowment Portfolio in Fort Worth, Texa. From 2008 to 2011, he was the Director of Portfolio Investments at The Juilliard School in New York City. Apurva began his career in investment consulting and investment banking at Citigroup and Lehman Brothers. He was recognized for his expertise when he was named to aiCIO Magazine’s Top Forty Under Forty in 2012 and 2013 and honored as a Rising Star by Institutional Investor. He holds a BBA in Finance from The George Washington University.
You can find Apurva on his socials here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apurvaamehta/
JD Montgomery leads the Family Office division at Canterbury Consulting and is a seasoned advisor with nearly four decades of experience serving prominent families with a focus on strategy, organization and measurement. Based in Newport Beach, he serves a select group of multi-generational families and helps them navigate the complexities of wealth, purpose, and legacy. Mr. Montgomery partners with his clients to help them optimize the allocation of their resources across generations. Over the years, Mr. Montgomery has developed a deep network of relationships in the venture capital industry. He has helped his clients gain meaningful exposure to venture funds and direct investments and develop relationships with leading innovators and investors globally. He is a Managing Director, shareholder, and board member at Canterbury Consulting. He graduated from Stanford University and holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.
You can find JD on his socials here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jd-montgomery-6161341b/
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also watch the episode on YouTube here.
OUTLINE:
(00:00) Intro
(01:53) How did this episode come to be?
(06:56) What do LPs get right/wrong with co-invests?
(12:06) GP best practices for co-investments
(14:35) How do you know a GP is capable of pre-empting a round?
(16:37) How often should GPs be talking to their portfolio founders?
(17:52) Why Apurva goes to AGMs
(18:17) How Apurva/JD stays in touch with GPs
(23:33) The ask
(24:01) Solo GPs
(31:42) Types of solo GPs who join multi-stage firms later
(34:32) What’s the skew in the benchmarking data?
(39:22) What lawyers don’t tell you about carveout capital in LPAs
(44:46) LPA terms that LPs redline
(45:44) Carry ratchets that LPs hate
(48:15) How higher fees impact IRR
(49:39) Outlandish fees on SPVs
(50:49) How much should a GP’s salary be?
(52:56) Cashless GP contributions
(53:59) Do $1T outcomes change venture math?
(59:17) Should private market investors be public market investors?
(1:04:30) What made Apurva nervous? What does he love?
(1:07:57) What does JD love?
SELECT LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:
- Canterbury Consulting
- Summit Peak Investments
- Patrick O’Connor
- Uber
- NOMO Ventures
- Rahul Prakash
- Kate Rohacz
- Nikhil Basu Trivedi
- Footwork
- “The Rose of the Solo Capitalists” by Nikhil Basu Trivedi
- General Catalyst
- Benchmark
- Jack Altman
- Alt Capital
- Sequoia Capital
- Pat Grady & Alfred Lin on Uncapped
- The Benchmark Partnership on Uncapped
- Cambridge Associates
- Carta
- Aduro Advisors
- MSCI
- SpaceX
- OpenAI
- Alfred Lin
- Upfront Summit
- “Sequoia’s Alfred Lin: $10T Companies Are Coming”
- Jerry Colonna
- Reboot by Jerry Colonna
- Lehman Brothers
- The Julliard School
- Cook Children’s Health Care System
SELECT QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE:
“If you can’t handle something going to zero, then you shouldn’t do one.” — JD Montgomery
“Our best GPs are talking to their founders all the time. And our best GP relationships, we talk to all the time.” — Apurva Mehta
“If I’m going to an AGM to learn about what’s going on in our portfolio, I am not doing my job.” — Apurva Mehta