
Minisode: Franchise Funds: Grading Performance
Origins - Inside Venture Capital, Hosted by a GP and an LP
Navigating Career Progression in Venture Capital
This chapter explores the evolving landscape of career progression and recognition in venture capital firms amidst recent cultural shifts. It delves into the significance of appropriate performance metrics and pathways for acknowledging talent, particularly for those not yet yielding immediate results.
Origins host Beezer Clarkson sits down with her colleague Laura Thompson, fellow LP and Partner at Sapphire Partners, to unpack her recent conversation with Jessica Archibald, a GP at Top Tier Capital. They discuss Jessica’s engineering-based analytical approach to answering the question “what makes a franchise?” and discuss some surprising things they learned - Jessica’s view that there’s only one real way to do succession, the importance of breaking good and bad news in a way that creates a performance culture, and whether or not they’re going to adopt Jessica’s policy of assigning letter grades to funds at Sapphire Partners.
Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partners
Learn more about OpenLP: openlp.vc
Learn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vc
Learn more about Top Tier Capital Partners: ttcp.com
Read Laura Thompson’s blog on why venture reserves aren’t always a good thing:
sapphireventures.com/blog/dirty-secret-venture-reserves-are-not-always-a-good-thing/
Read Laura Thompson’s blog on fund recycling:
sapphireventures.com/blog/fund-recycling-moves-the-needle-for-both-lps-and-gps-heres-how/
Read Laura Thompson’s blog on QSBS:
sapphireventures.com/blog/how-lps-gps-and-founders-can-leverage-qsbs-to-make-more-money/
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CHAPTERS:
(0:00) - Intro
(1:08) - Jessica Takes It In a Different Direction
(3:41) - Communicating with your LP base (So There Aren’t Surprises)
(7:15) - Franchise Funds Are Intentional
(9:44) - Getting to 1x DPI in Nine Years
(15:55) - 2x is the new 3x
(19:43) - Giving Funds Letter Grades