20VC: The Biggest Misconceptions & Hardest Truths About Seed Investing Today; Why The Best Founders Don't Need You, Why Uncapped SAFEs Are Good, Why Reserves Are Bad, Why Signalling is BS, Why Price Doesn't Matter with David Tisch & Terrence Rohan
Feb 5, 2024
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David Tisch, Managing Partner of BoxGroup, and Terrence Rohan, Managing Director of Otherwise Fund, discuss the biggest misconceptions in seed investing, including the inefficiency of the market and the importance of being price-insensitive. They debunk the concept of signaling and emphasize the negative impact of reserves. They also highlight the significance of investing in the best companies for great returns and building strong relationships with founders early on.
Seed investing requires conviction in the potential of a startup, even when it's not obvious to others.
Seed investors must navigate the challenges of valuations and the unpredictable nature of early-stage investing.
Maintaining a strong network and brand reputation is crucial for accessing the next generation of exceptional founders.
Deep dives
Seed Investing: The Importance of Conviction
Seed investing requires conviction in the potential of a startup, even when it's not obvious to others. The best founders have the ability to see and win, making them better investors. Building long-term relationships with founders is crucial and allows for access to attractive opportunities. Reserving capital for follow-on investments is important but requires careful consideration of fund allocation. The seed market is ripe for disruption due to market expansion, generational changes, and founder options. Seed investors must navigate the challenges of valuations and the unpredictable nature of early-stage investing.
The Challenge of Picking the Right Startups
Picking the right startups at the seed stage is challenging and requires intuition and a deep understanding of the founders, their vision, and the market. Seed investors cannot rely on consensus or groupthink but must trust their gut instincts. Founders, in particular, have an advantage in picking startups due to their strong networks and domain expertise. However, not all founders are automatically great investors, and seed investing remains a difficult and uncertain task.
Navigating the Reserve Allocation Dilemma
Deciding on reserve allocation is a complex task for seed investors. Balancing initial investments with reserve funds requires careful consideration of fund size and deployment strategies. Over-reserving can lead to missed opportunities, while under-reserving can limit the ability to support portfolio companies adequately. Secondary sales and liquidity events can provide additional options for liquidity, but these decisions must be made judiciously to maintain healthy relationships with founders and ensure maximum returns.
Staying Relevant and Adapting in the Changing Landscape
Staying relevant as a seed investor requires adapting to the ever-changing landscape of technology and markets. Maintaining a strong network and brand reputation is crucial for accessing the next generation of exceptional founders. The ability to understand emerging trends and identify promising opportunities is a constant challenge. While AI and automation may impact certain aspects of funding and cost reduction, the need for initial seed capital and the value of human relationships with founders remain essential.
The Importance of Personal Capital
Having personal capital is crucial as it allows individuals to have control over their own destiny and decision-making. It provides the freedom to dip in and out of investments, choose when to grow and when not to, and control dilution and board composition. Personal capital also promotes capital efficiency, making companies more efficient and agile. Seed funding remains relevant and important, and multi-stage funds continue to look to seed rounds for potential opportunities.
Investment Advice and Founder-VC Alignment
Investors should focus on saying 'yes' rather than 'no' and prioritize transparent and quick communication with founders. Their role is to invest, support founders, and avoid wasting their time. Additionally, successful founders are often those who need their investors the least. The alignment between VCs and founders is crucial, and VC involvement should not intrude on a founder's vision and decision-making. Coaching and mentorship should be approached as collaborative relationships, relying on founders' creativity and autonomy.
David Tisch is the Managing Partner of BoxGroup, one of the leading seed-stage investment firms of the last decade having invested in over 500 seed-stage startups, including Plaid, Ro, Ramp, PillPack, Amplitude, Stripe, Warby Parker, Harry’s, Flexport, Classpass, Airtable and more.
Terrence Rohan is the Managing Director @ Otherwise Fund, a fund that discretely empowers a network of today's top founders to make multi-stage venture investments. Terrence has invested in the likes of Figma, Hugging Face, Vanta, Notion and Robinhood to name a few.
In Today's Seed Investing Special We Discuss:
1. Is Seed Investing Now a Commoditised Asset Class:
Why does Dave Tisch believe seed investing will remain the most inefficient market? What does that mean for the future of returns at seed?
Why should you always pay up and be price-insensitive at seed rounds?
Why does David believe that no one is great at seed investing?
Why does David believe that you cannot index the seed market?
2. The Biggest BS Elements of Venture Capital:
Signaling: Why does David believe that the theory of signaling is total BS? Why does Terrence disagree and think it is valid and common?
Group Decision-Making: Why does Terrence believe that investing decisions should be made solo and groups merely encourage consensus decision-making?
Reserves: Why does Terrence believe reserves hurt DPI and are not good? How does David respond given his growth fund?
Venture Value Add: Why do David and Terrence think venture value add services platforms are BS and not worth it?
3. The World of LPs:
What is the single biggest misalignment between VCs and LPs?
What are David and Terrence's biggest pieces of advice for emerging managers today?
Should LPs expect depressed returns from venture as the asset class commoditises?
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