The Best of Slice: Top Lessons From Season 2

Another 12 episodes later, and season 2 of the slice podcast has come to a close.

We started the slice pod with a simple intention: to create a space where emerging managers could speak plainly about their strategy, yes, but also their doubts, lessons, and the behind-the-scenes mechanics of building a firm. We wanted real conversations about what it means to start a fund in this moment.

Somewhere between the stories of first checks and fundraises, between LP pitch decks and GP advisory calls, a pattern began to emerge. The managers who stick with you, the ones who seem most likely to outlast the hype cycle, aren’t just chasing alpha. They're designing institutions. ones that look different from the last generation. Smaller (most of the time <$20M), leaner, sharper. Ones that know exactly who they’re for. and just as importantly, who they’re not.

In other words: they’re building with constraint. and they’re turning that constraint into a competitive edge.

This season, you’ll notice a recurring theme: stay small to stay dangerous.

As fabri put it:

"Don’t go bigger. start small. stay small. play in the cracks, the nooks, the crannies, where the big funds simply can’t follow. it’s structurally impossible for them to compete. that’s where you win."

It’s a reminder that small funds don’t have to become big funds. in fact, many shouldn’t.

because the game changes. the edge dulls. the returns compress. one $200M outcome might return a $20M fund 10x. that same outcome barely registers in a $300M vehicle.

An important piece that we’ve come to believe is that it’s not just about portfolio construction. It's about firm construction.

Who you raise from matters. (the LPs are your customers!) Who you make money for matters. It shapes how you operate, how you’re perceived, what you’re allowed to do.

Slice exists because we believe something structural is shifting in early-stage venture. the old playbook “raise big, spend fast, go wide” doesn’t work anymore. We’re in the post-ZIRP, AI-native era, and capital efficiency isn’t a badge of honor. It’s a survival skill.

As rounds get smaller, check sizes compress, and founders delay dilution, the managers best positioned to win are the ones who can move fast, cut tight checks, and spot talent before it’s consensus.

You don’t do that with a $150M seed fund. You do it with $15 - 20M, first-check fund, and a map of the edges where opportunity lives.

That’s what this season taught us, and it reinforced our belief that LPs looking for outlier returns shouldn’t chase logos, but rather chase leverage. This leverage lives in the cracks among the emerging, overlooked, and underestimated.

A sincere thank you to our guests, to every manager who joined us this season:

Eric Slesinger, Cameron Porter, Nick Tippmann, Ethan Austin, Cam Crowder, Santosh Sankar, Ivan Montoya, Madeline Darcy, Chris Wake and Lili Rogowsky, Ben Orthlieb and Romain Serman, Dakota McKenzie, and Will Lehmann.

thank you for trusting us with your story. for sharing the hard parts, not just the wins. for showing up not as a brand, but as a builder.

This pod wouldn’t exist without you, and it wouldn’t be worth making if it didn’t help the next wave of managers feel a little more seen, and a little less alone (!!)

We’ll be back soon with season 3. Until then, H.A.G.S!!

To hear more, visit slicefund.substack.com