Building a Brand in Venture Capital

In this episode of How I Invest, I connect with Gregor von dem Knesebeck, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Blue Future Partners. Gregor shares the story of building a successful fund-of-funds focused on venture capital, emphasizing brand building, portfolio construction, and navigating the unique challenges of venture investing as a family office. This episode provides insights into venture capital portfolio strategies, the power law of returns, and best practices for fund allocation. A valuable listen for emerging fund managers, family offices, and anyone exploring fund-of-funds strategies.

Highlights:

Building Blue Future Partners: How Gregor and his brother co-founded the firm and learned the importance of brand building for success in venture capital.

Family Office Venture Allocation: Exploring the ideal venture capital allocation, ranging from 1–2% in Europe to 10–20% in U.S. endowments.

Three Pillars for Venture Investing: Fund-of-funds, direct investments, and investing in funds—and the pitfalls of skipping steps.

Portfolio Construction: Blue Future Partners’ concentrated strategy—focusing 80% of capital on 10–12 names within a 15–20 fund portfolio for each vintage.

Managing LP Relationships: Avoiding "tourist LPs" and small check investors that lead to inefficiencies and time-consuming micromanagement.

Venture’s Power Law: Understanding why a few outsized returns drive the portfolio and how it contrasts with private equity’s return dynamics.

Long-Term Venture Horizons: Why venture requires a 20-year investment horizon, cyclicality, and resilience to market downturns.

Lessons Learned: The difficulties of timing vintages, managing global complexity, and balancing personal sacrifices with business growth.

Value Add for LPs: Blue Future’s initiatives such as the Family Office Academy and GP Accelerator Program to support education, fundraising, and matchmaking in the venture ecosystem.

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Guest Bio: Gregor von dem Knesebeck is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Blue Future Partners, a fund-of-funds specializing in venture capital. With a strong focus on European and U.S. markets, Gregor combines his passion for technology with his expertise in fund management to support GPs and LPs in building sustainable, high-performing portfolios. Blue Future Partners emphasizes long-term partnerships and aims to create outsized returns through a curated portfolio of top-tier venture funds.

Our Podcast now receives more than 200,000 downloads a month. Are you interested in sponsoring an episode? Please email me at dweisburd@gmail.com.

We’d like to thank @Carta for sponsoring this episode!

#VentureCapital #VC #Startups #OpenLP #AssetManagement

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SPONSOR: Carta is the all-in-one suite for private fund operations. Carta’s software-based approach takes fund administration out of the spreadsheet and into the modern age with powerful solutions and intuitive interfaces, all on one platform. Their suite of products and expert services help funds at any stage with up-to-date insights and automated workflows to get them to the next level. Learn more at: https://z.carta.com/10xpod

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Stay Connected: X / Twitter: David Weisburd: @dweisburd Gregor von dem Knesebeck: @gregorio

LinkedIn: David Weisburd: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dweisburd/ Gregor von dem Knesebeck: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorvdk/

Links: Blue Future Partners: https://www.bfp.vc/

Questions or topics you want us to discuss on How I Invest? Email us at dweisburd@gmail.com.

(0:00) Episode preview (1:45) Building Blue Future Partners (3:51) Family office venture asset allocation strategies (5:20) Challenges for family offices in venture capital (7:19) Portfolio construction (9:27) Fund of funds time diversification and LP management (10:20) Sponsor: Carta (13:08) Adding value to LPs through a fund of funds (14:25) Lessons learned (16:03) Early mistakes and personal sacrifices in VC (18:58) Closing remarks