Venture Capital Research Demystified - with Lawrence Lundy from Lunar Ventures

🎯 The Hidden Engine Behind Top VC Funds: Research-First Investing

Just wrapped up a fascinating conversation withLawrence, Partner Research atLunar Ventures, about what truly powers successful venture investing.

Key insights that surprised me:

• Is being a researcher a personality trait? Turns out it's both inherent and acquirable

• Research-led funds are creating a new category in VC - and it's working
• How Lunar Ventures built their "State of Future" project (fascinating approach!)
• Research vs. Data: They're not the same thing (and why it matters)
• AI in research: It's changing everything but not killing the research function

💡Most interesting take: The best VCs are quietly building research powerhouses that go way beyond traditional due diligence.

🔮My prediction: The next wave of venture outperformers won't just have the biggest checkbooks - they'll have the deepest research engines.

Transforming venture capital from pattern matching to deep insight mining.

What's your take? Are research-first VCs the future?

Where to find Lawrence:• LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrence-lundy-bryan/

• Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.lunar.vc/

Where to find Rohit Yadav:• LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohityadav23/⁠⁠

• Newsletter: ⁠All Things VC⁠ (⁠⁠https://yadavrohit.substack.com/⁠⁠)

Topics that we covered in our discussion:(00:00) - Episode intro 

• (04:54) - Being a researcher: Is it a personality trait, or is it teachable?
• (06:47) - Understanding Lunar Ventures and its focus
• (09:52) - Creating differentiation in the VC world based on the research function
• (11:14) - Research-led funds in the market and segmentation of VC funds based on research function
• (12:45) - Building a research-driven investment methodology 
• (15:00) - Research could be a differentiating function as VC funds grow
• (16:11) - Daily life and research at Lunar Ventures (State of Future project, Deep dives, Core themes)
• (22:18) - Role of research in investment due diligence in venture capital 
• (24:06) - Growth of VC asset class and role of research function (plus difference bw. Research and Data)
• (30:18) - The Big Debate: Is Research critical, or should we trust in the Founders
• (32:58) - Advent of AI in the Research Function: Supportive or Disruptive
• (36:56) - What skills are valuable for someone to build a career in Research function
• (39:14) - An interesting thought on the Tech world

Enjoy listening