Parting advice: fundraising as finding fit

Ben Choi from Next Legacy joins David on El Pack to answer your questions on how to build a venture capital fund. We bring on 3 GPs at VC funds to ask 3 different questions.

Gilgamesh Ventures' Miguel Armaza, also host of the incredible Fintech Leaders podcast, asks Ben what is the timing of when a GP should consider raising a Fund III.

Similarly, but not the same, Strange Ventures' Tara Tan asks when an LP backs a Fund I, how do they know that this Fund I GP will last till Fund III.

Arkane Capital's Arkady Kulik asks how one should think about building an LP community, especially as he brings in new and different LP archetypes into Arkane's ecosystem.

Ben manages over $3.5B investments with premier venture capital firms as well as directly in early stage startups. He brings to Next Legacy a distinguished track record spanning three decades in the technology ecosystem.

Ben’s love for technology products formed the basis for his successful venture track record, including pre-PMF investments in Marketo (acquired for $4.75B) and CourseHero (last valued at $3.6B). He previously ran product for Adobe’s Creative Cloud offerings and founded CoffeeTable, where he raised venture capital financing, built a team, and ultimately sold the company.

Ben is an alum and Board Member of the Society of Kauffman Fellows (venture capital leadership) and has also served his community on the Board of Directors for the San Francisco Chinese Culture Center, Children’s Health Council, Church of the Pioneers Foundation, and IVCF.

Ben studied Computer Science at Harvard University before Mark Zuckerberg made it cool and received his MBA from Columbia Business School. Born in Peoria, raised in San Francisco, and educated in Cambridge, Ben now lives in Los Altos with his wife, Lydia, three very active sons, and a ball python.

You can find Ben on his socials here:

X / Twitter: https://x.com/benjichoi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bchoi/

OUTLINE:

[00:00] Intro

[05:05] Ben's 2025 Halloween costume

[06:44] Jensen Huang's leather jackets

[07:24] Jensen Huang's answer to Ben's one question

10:05] Enter Miguel, Gilgamesh Ventures, Fintech Leaders

[14:43] What are good signals an LP looks for before a GP raises a Fund III?

[22:35] Why does Ben say 'established' starts at Fund IV?

[25:08] Who's the audience for Miguel's podcast?

[27:52] In case you want more like this...

[28:32] Enter Tara and Strange Ventures

[32:46] How does Ben know a Fund I will become a Fund III?

[36:53] How does Ben know if a GP will want to build an enduring career?

[40:58] How does Tara share a future GP she'd like to work with to Ben?

[42:43] Marriage and divorce rates in America

[43:34] What should a Fund I do to institutionalize?

[46:28] Should you share LP updates to current or prospective LPs?

[48:57] Enter Arkady and Arkane Capital

[51:09] How does one think through LP-community fit?

[1:01:31] What's Arkady's favorite board game?

[1:03:08] Ben's last piece of advice to GPs

[1:09:50] My favorite Ben moment on Superclusters

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