Bedrock Capital's Geoff Lewis on Vibe capital, the power of narrative violations, and winning in today's market
Venture Unlocked: The playbook for venture capital managers
The Formula for Winning Consistently
In practice, they're not going to invest if they don't like us. At the end of the day, I think a lot comes down to vibe. It's being able to mobilize very quickly and get to a decision fast without short cutting the diligence. And then it's underpinning that with robust diligence and pricing discipline.
Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.
This week we are joined by Geoff Lewis, Co-Founder and Managing partner of Bedrock Capital. Many in the industry know Geoff and Bedrock for their investing in non-consensus companies and founders, and in particular, for popularizing the notion of investing in narrative violations.
Founded in 2018 with Eric Stromberg, Bedrock has $1B+ in AUM. Their portfolio companies include Cameo, Plaid, Flock Safety, among others.
About Geoff Lewis:Geoff was named as one of the Top 100 Venture Capitalists in the world by CB Insights and The New York Times.
Before Bedrock, Geoff was a Partner at Founders Fund for over five years. He was amongst the first to lead sizable early-stage venture rounds in companies including Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT), Wish, Privateer Holdings (NASDAQ: TLRY), Nubank, and RigUp.
Geoff was also an operator as Co-Founder and CEO of Topguest, a loyalty software platform that counted United Airlines, Hilton Worldwide, and Virgin America as clients. Geoff received his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada.
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In this episode we discuss:
03:29 What Geoff and Eric wanted to build when they founded Bedrock06:51 How they decided on working together09:17 How Geoff defines a narrative violation when investing in early-stage startups13:53 How to find companies that are narrative violations?17:10 How investment decisions are made internally at Bedrock21:36 How Geoff views LPs (Clients) and why an interpersonal fit is more important to him than other funds. 25:32 The factors that go into consistently winning deals as a firm29:02 How large players entering the earlier investment stages is affecting Bedrock and the market in general31:52 How healthy is the market right now?34:18 Advice to anyone looking to invest in VC funds today37:13 How the Bedrock playbook has evolved over the years39:26 Can overthinking deals create issues for firms?42:22 What Geoff has learned about firm building45:53 The most impactful piece of career advice he’s received46:35 The most under-estimated quality of a good VC47:47 The people that have inspired him in his career
I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Geoff. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.
Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com
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