The Dinner Tradition at Benchmark

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Benchmark introduced a dinner tradition inspired by Ben Franklin's practice of deep discussions on various topics. The firm initially experimented with a few dinners and eventually held a big dinner with partners and outside guests, which was a transformative experience. This led to the creation of a habit that nurtured curiosity, essential for the firm's success. The Monday office discussions were limited, so the open-ended, agenda-less dinners provided a dynamic range for wild explorations of diverse topics. The dinner tradition honored the purpose of the firm to constantly learn and activate curiosity, fostering collective effervescence that couldn't be achieved in one-on-one dinners.

We sit down with all five current Benchmark GPs for one of their legendary weekly dinners, during which we ask all of the unresolved burning questions from Part 1. How do THEY think about Benchmark v3? What are their day-to-day emotions trying to keep the equal partnership “bending toward greatness? Why is there no growth fund? What does it take to become the next Benchmark GP? Why is there a secret Principal program? We cover all these and much, much more. We also recorded the whole thing on video — which we highly recommend watching even if you normally only listen to the audio feed!

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