Venture Unlocked: The playbook for venture capital managers

Special LP roundtable: What are LPs thinking about in Venture with Beezer Clarkson, Guy Perelmuter and Chris Douvos

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Oct 25, 2023

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Experienced institutional venture LPs Beezer Clarkson, Guy Perelmuter, and Chris Douvos discuss the impact of the economic downturn on emerging managers, the challenges faced by emerging managers in attracting institutional capital, the importance of including emerging managers in investment portfolios, investing in 'grownups' and the importance of repeatability, LP perspectives and decision-making challenges, establishing metrics and exit strategies in venture capital portfolios, letting winners ride vs taking chips off the table, and understanding venture capital as a fiduciary.

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ANECDOTE

The Old Normal

Chris Douvos recalls the dot-com bust in 2001 and notes similarities to the current market correction.
He emphasizes that the current market feels more like the "old normal."

INSIGHT

Is Entrepreneurship Infinite?

Chris Douvos questions if entrepreneurship, especially venture-backed entrepreneurship, is infinitely renewable.
He highlights the rate-limiting steps of acquisitions and IPOs for long-term company survival.

ADVICE

Fiduciary Experience Matters

Prioritize emerging managers with prior fiduciary experience.
Look for evidence of responsible capital management and a deep understanding of the commitment involved.

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Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.

We're thrilled to bring back three experienced institutional venture LPs with Chris Douvos of Ahoy Capital, Beezer Clarkson of Sapphire Partners, and Guy Perelmuter of GRIDS Capital.

When we last convened, it was almost exactly two years ago in October of 2021. We had an inkling of the changes to the market on the horizon, but what a two years it has been.

Given the dramatic shift in the market, we had a lot to cover, and we spoke about the impact of the downturn on emerging managers, what managers can do to navigate this market, and the role of secondaries.

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About Beezer Clarkson:Beezer Clarkson is Managing Director of Sapphire Partners, the LP arm of Sapphire Ventures. She began her career in financial services over 20 years ago at Morgan Stanley in its global infrastructure group. Since, she has held various direct and indirect venture investment roles, as well as operational roles in software business development at Hewlett Packard. Prior to joining Sapphire in 2012, Beezer managed the day-to-day operations of the Draper Fisher Jurvetson Global Network.

Additionally, she is a judge for 100&Change, a MacArthur Foundation competition that provides funding to solve critical challenges of our time. In 2014, she was named to the Forty Over 40 list of women to watch.

About Chris Douvos:Chris Douvos is the Founder of Ahoy Capital, a boutique Fund of Funds that focuses primarily on allocating into early-stage venture capital funds, while selectively co-investing directly into companies.

Chris started his career at Morgan Stanley while still at Yale earning his MBA. From there he worked at Princeton University’s endowment fund where he got his start in venture before moving on to The Investment Fund for Foundations (TIFF). At TIFF he decided that the right strategy was to make “heroic investments” and invest in very early-stage, and often unproven managers.

About Guy Perelmuter:Guy Perelmuter is the Co-Founder and CEO of GRIDS Capital. Guy began his career in Banking as Chief Risk Officer at Banco Pactual (acquired by UBS), one of the largest banks in Latin America. He went to Vinci Partners, an investing platform for alternative investments in 2009 as Chief Risk Officer. He and his partner, Isabelle, Co-Founded GRIDS Capital in 2016.

He received a BS in Computer Engineering and an MS in AI from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro.

In this episode, we discuss:

(02:51) Venture is _______(06:46) Outlook for emerging managers(09:42) Why it’s so difficult to raise a fund two right now(13:01) Is new money and funders in venture a net positive(16:16) Why emerging managers are still important for LPs(21:46) What they look for in a fund one investment(22:48) The decision to stop investing in grownups and look to emerging managers(25:24) How GPs get mentored and how information flows to them(27:23) Peer pressure amongst GPs to grow their fund size(31:53) How managers are recalibrating their funds to the current market(35:12) The role of secondaries(39:49) Why Venture is an unsophisticated asset class(44:29) How do you get institutional investors

I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Guy, Chris, and Beezer. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.

Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com