Rick Zullo is the Founder of Equal Ventures. Our conversation gets into Equal’s unique approach to venture capital, thinking more like public market and private equity investors, and why they also think traction is overrated at Seed.
We talk through Equal’s thesis-driven model, employing a team of product owners, only investing in only 3 to 5 themes at once, and Rick’s admiration of Charlie Munger.
We also talk AI - who will benefit the most, what he does and doesn’t like in terms of investing in the space, why venture capital is not really venture capital anymore, and why it sucks to be a Seed investor right now.
Rick also runs the Emerging Manager Circle, a group for emerging fund managers. We get into the origin story of the group, his own struggles raising his first fund, and why talent is leaving the mega funds.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(03:38) Why venture capital isn’t venture capital anymore
(11:33) How founders should approach raising a Seed round
(14:13) The realities of downrounds
(15:55) Rick’s favorite founders that raised little capital
(18:54) Biggest fundraising mistake founders make
(21:21) Why we need to stop funding AI companies
(28:34) How AI will benefit private equity the most
(33:30) Three levels of opportunity in AI right now
(38:36) Why traction is overrated at Seed
(41:38) Investing in businesses with compounding returns on capital
(52:07) VC lessons from PE firms
(56:24) Why Seed investing sucks right now
(1:04:15) The beauty of small exits
(1:12:52) How failing to start a fund in college led to Equal Ventures
(1:20:06) The struggle raising Equal’s $55m Fund 1
(1:23:23) Why the best talent is leaving mega VC firms
(1:30:16) The Emerging Managers Circle
Referenced
* Equal Ventures: https://www.equal.vc/
* EMC Summit: https://www.emcsummit.com/
Follow Rick
Twitter: https://x.com/Rick_Zullo
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickzullo/
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