I met Will Robbins in person this week, though I had loosely followed his writing over the years, which if you haven’t yet, would recommend. (Thanks CK for the intro) So I was likely more familiar with him than he was with me. And I was reminded as I went back into the archives to a piece he had written a few years back, inspired by this tweet, inspired by Lead Edge Capital.
Separately, it came to my attention, after I wrote the below, that Crest Capital did something similar recently. Great minds think alike, huh?
And call it more of a meme essay, but there is also a hierarchy of information when it comes to what emerging early-stage venture GPs tell us LPs.
- If funds have realized IRR, this is what they report.
- If funds don’t have realized IRR, they report net DPI.
- If funds don’t have good net DPI, they report net TVPI.
- If funds don’t have good net TVPI, they report gross TVPI or fund MOIC.
- If they don’t have good gross TVPI or fund MOIC, they report gross TVPI, including SAFE marks.
- If they don’t have good gross TVPI with SAFE marks, they report select deals MOIC or notable companies they’ve invested in.
- If funds don’t have good select deal MOICs or notable companies in their last fund, they report angel track record.
- If they don’t have a good angel track record, they report follow-on investor names.
- If funds don’t have good follow-on investor names, they report co-investors.
- If funds don’t have good co-investors, they report revenue growth in select companies.
- If funds don’t have good revenue growth in select companies, they report their sourcing channels.
- If funds don’t have strong sourcing channels, they report founders refer them deals.
- If funds don’t have strong founders referring them deals, they report they started a podcast or newsletter.
- If funds don’t have a podcast or newsletter, they report they spoke at a TechCrunch conference.
And of course, special thanks to Max, Irene, Dave, Asher, Christine, Youngrok, and Charlotte for making sure the above hierarchy of information is as accurate as it can be.
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The views expressed on this blogpost are for informational purposes only. None of the views expressed herein constitute legal, investment, business, or tax advice. Any allusions or references to funds or companies are for illustrative purposes only, and should not be relied upon as investment recommendations. Consult a professional investment advisor prior to making any investment decisions.