"Turpentine VC" | Venture Capital and Investing

E8: How Roger Ehrenberg Nets 10x Fund Returns

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Sep 26, 2023

Roger Ehrenberg, a venture capitalist with a contrarian view, talks about his strategy of seed investing and generating 10x fund returns. He discusses focusing on misunderstood high-potential companies, the impact of macro factors on the venture capital landscape, involvement in crypto and sports, and opportunities in the sports industry for investors.

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ADVICE

Concentrated Seed Investing

Run a concentrated seed portfolio and be ownership-sensitive for outsized returns.
Focus on pre-product-market fit companies where your time invested adds value.

INSIGHT

Why Concentrated Seed is Rare

Few firms follow a concentrated seed strategy because it's hard and risky.
Many new fund managers prefer to tag along with established investors, prioritizing name recognition over actual success.

INSIGHT

Risk-Reward in Seed vs. Later Stages

Concentrated seed investing occupies a unique position offering high risk but high reward.
Series A and B often involve higher prices without proportional risk reduction.

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Roger Ehrenberg of IA Ventures joins Erik on episode 8 of Turpentine VC to talk about his contrarian and opinionated view of how seed funds should operate, and how that's allowed him to generate 10x fund returns. If you’re looking to improve your sourcing, tracking, and due diligence, check out: https://synaptic.com/turpentine

We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com.

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SPONSORS:

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Synaptic unifies over one hundred real-time company performance metrics across alternative datasets like user traffic, employee data, app downloads, product reviews, and more. It’s your all-in-one source for alternative data that helps you make better investment decisions. To learn how Synaptic can improve your sourcing, tracking, and due diligence, visit https://synaptic.com/turpentine

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RECOMMENDED PODCAST:

Every week investor and writer of the popular newsletter The Diff, Byrne Hobart, and co-host Erik Torenberg discuss today’s major inflection points in technology, business, and markets – and help listeners build a diversified portfolio of trends and ideas for the future. Subscribe to “The Riff” with Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg: https://link.chtbl.com/theriff

RECOMMENDED PODCAST: LIVE PLAYERS

Join host Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg as they analyze the mindsets of today’s most intriguing business leaders, investors, and innovators through the lens of their bold actions and contrarian worldviews. You’ll come away with a deeper understanding of the development of technology, business, political power, culture and more. LIsten and subscribe everywhere you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/liveplayers.

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RELATED SHOWS: If you like Turpentine VC, check out our show The Limited Partner with David Weisburd, where David talks to the investors behind the investors: https://link.chtbl.com/thelimitedpartner

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X / TWITTER:

@infoarbitrage (Roger)

@eriktorenberg (Erik)

@TurpentineVC

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Episode Preview

(01:20) IA Ventures' firm strategy

(03:30) Roger's thoughts on the rise of seed

(07:18) Would Roger do anything differently if he started IA today?

(11:14) Is the future of venture going to be craftsman or platform?

(15:42) Sponsor: Synaptic

(16:56) What players are going to favored in today's venture ecosystem?

(19:41) Roger's macro lesson on higher interest rates

(24:32) Prediction on where interest rates will normalize

(26:29) On the future for YC and a16z

(31:42) Lessons from crypto, and why Roger's excited about sports for the future

(36:53) Why more people should look into the sports space

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This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at erik@turpentine.co.