Intro

Origins host Beezer Clarkson sits down with her colleague Laura Thompson, fellow LP and Partner at Sapphire Partners, to discuss her recent conversation with Stephen Bluestein, Partner of Primary Investments at Adams Street and formerly Packard Foundation, about what it takes to make (and potentially later break) a franchise fund in venture. Together, Beezer and Laura debrief their top takeaways, including: do the hallmarks of a franchise differ between GPs and LPs (or even amongst different LPs); how does a franchise produce a lights-out 5x or 10x fund at their fund size; is a consistent 2x net good enough; parallels of sports franchises; and, does the right to win with the best founders mean you will then deliver the best returns?

Learn more about Sapphire Partners: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partners⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Learn more about OpenLP: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://openlp.vc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Learn more about Asylum Ventures: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://asylum.vc⁠⁠⁠⁠

Learn more about Adams Street Partners: https://adamsstreetpartners.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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Origins is produced by Sapphire Ventures in partnership with⁠⁠ Pod People.⁠

Nothing presented herein is intended to constitute investment advice, and under no circumstances should any information provided herein be used or considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund managed by Sapphire Ventures, LLC (“Sapphire”). Any offer or solicitation of securities by Sapphire may only be made in accordance with the current offering documents for a managed Fund in which Sapphire is an advisor. Additionally, Sapphire does not solicit or make its services available to the public; such offerings may only be provided to accredited investors and qualified purchasers defined within the Securities Act of 1933 and the Investment Company Act of 1940. Information provided reflects Sapphire Ventures’ views as of a particular time. Such views are subject to change at any point and Sapphire Ventures shall not be obligated to provide notice of any change. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual events, results or the actual experience may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in these statements. While Sapphire Ventures has used reasonable efforts to obtain information from reliable sources, Sapphire makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of third party information presented herein. Nothing presented herein may be relied upon as a guarantee or assurance as to the future success of any particular investment opportunity or strategy. Past performance is not indicative of future results.