Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

On today’s show, we welcome a long-time VC investor who brings the perspective from both sides of the pond. Fred Destin, the founder of Stride VC, a seed fund operating out of London and currently investing out of its second £123M fund, shares his views on the venture capital industry.

Prior to Stride, Fred was a General Partner at Accel and Accomplice (fka Atlas Venture). He’s invested in some of venture’s big winners, including Deliveroo, Pillpack, Cazoo, Zoopla, Secret Escapes, Integral Ad Science, and more, generating over $1.4B in value to investors and a blended multiple in excess of 7x. Fred has been featured on the Forbes European Midas List a number of times.

Fred and I had a fascinating conversation about the hows and the whys of early-stage venture. We discussed:

How VCs can navigate the difference between decision points and discovery zones.
Why a positive bias towards people can be a driver of returns in venture.
Why venture capital is often a poor experience for founders.
Why trust, truth, and empathy make for a strong and enduring founder relationship.
Why Fred thinks that the most product of a venture capital organization is decisions.
Why. and how simplicity can be core to company-building.
How to evaluate risk versus reward at early-stage.
How younger investors can hone their craft.
The future of early-stage venture.

Thanks Fred for coming on the podcast to share your wisdom on early-stage investing.

Stride VC's Fred Destin on how to build trust in a competitive, chaotic world