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Brian Singerman

38 statements across 12 episodes · 17 bullish · 7 bearish · 7 people on the record · first statement May 22, 2017 by Kevin Hartz · said 113 times in 55 episodes since 2017 · across every show →

On the record as a speaker too: Brian Singerman's record, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.

Mentions by year

brought up most by Harry Stebbings (74), Delian Asparouhov (14), Keith Rabois (6), Bastian Lehmann (5), Kevin Hartz (4), Trae Stephens (2), Katherine Boyle (2), David Clark (2)

tap a year for its mentions
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010202017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodes it came up in
001.5103202017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 3 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
2025 21 mentions in 12 episodes 2 per episode
2024 43 mentions in 17 episodes 3 per episode
2023 4 mentions in 3 episodes 1 per episode
2022 15 mentions in 8 episodes 2 per episode
2021 5 mentions in 3 episodes 2 per episode
2020 13 mentions in 6 episodes 2 per episode
2019 1 mention in 1 episode
2018 2 mentions in 1 episode
2017 6 mentions in 2 episodes 3 per episode

every mention, scene by scene, with the transcript →

Everything said about Brian Singerman, oldest first

May 22, 2017 positive
Assertion Supported
Hartz: Brian Singerman's Stemcentrx deal is a historic biotech outcome
“Brian Singerman is a computer science, you know, major from Stanford that worked at Google that led the STEM-centric steel, which was one of the best outcomes in biotech history, but even more so, it's done some groundbreaking work at curing cancer, and that's…”
Kevin Hartz May 22, 2017 ▶ 14:43 20VC: Founders Fund's Kevin Hartz on Why Investing In Silicon Valley Is Broken & Why Fearlessness Is What Makes The Truly Great Investors
Jun 5, 2017 positive
Insight
Venture Capital Is Purely About Upside Maximization, Not Downside Minimization
“Venture capital to me is a Purely a game of upside maximization. And while this may be in trouble, you know, this may get me in trouble. I actually don't. Downside minimization is completely unimportant to me.”
Brian Singerman Jun 5, 2017 ▶ 10:10 20VC: Founders Fund's Brian Singerman on Why VC Is About Upside Maximisation Not Downside Minimisation, Why There Is No Right Way To Do Venture and Why They Do Not Have Monday Morning Partner Meetings At Founders Fund
Jun 5, 2017 positive
Insight
Generating Massive VC Returns Requires Non-Sector-Constrained Investing
“For my job at this fund is to generate massive returns. And for our funds, you simply have to invest in the world's most important companies in order to generate those returns. It doesn't need to be quick. It doesn't need to be overnight. But long-term, they n…”
Brian Singerman Jun 5, 2017 ▶ 6:28 20VC: Founders Fund's Brian Singerman on Why VC Is About Upside Maximisation Not Downside Minimisation, Why There Is No Right Way To Do Venture and Why They Do Not Have Monday Morning Partner Meetings At Founders Fund
Jun 5, 2017
Disclosure
Singerman Bases His Venture Investing on Gut Feel and Reaction
“I am a reaction, a reactive VC, a gut feel based VC”
Brian Singerman Jun 5, 2017 ▶ 9:45 20VC: Founders Fund's Brian Singerman on Why VC Is About Upside Maximisation Not Downside Minimisation, Why There Is No Right Way To Do Venture and Why They Do Not Have Monday Morning Partner Meetings At Founders Fund
Jun 5, 2017 positive
Insight
Vertically Integrated Complex Coordination Companies Build Unclonable Moats
“These are the types of what we mean by complex coordination companies that once they've developed that the ability to operate in that complex way, it may, it's a huge moat. So that's a huge moat for us that other companies cannot simply clone. You can't just h…”
Brian Singerman Jun 5, 2017 ▶ 18:21 20VC: Founders Fund's Brian Singerman on Why VC Is About Upside Maximisation Not Downside Minimisation, Why There Is No Right Way To Do Venture and Why They Do Not Have Monday Morning Partner Meetings At Founders Fund
Jun 5, 2017
Disclosure
Singerman's Early Fund Charged Zero Management Fees and 10% Carry
“We raised a fund called XGYC, no management fees, 10% carry, and invested in a bunch of fantastic Y Combinator companies in, in 20 oh seven, 20 oh eight.”
Brian Singerman Jun 5, 2017 ▶ 3:38 20VC: Founders Fund's Brian Singerman on Why VC Is About Upside Maximisation Not Downside Minimisation, Why There Is No Right Way To Do Venture and Why They Do Not Have Monday Morning Partner Meetings At Founders Fund
Jun 5, 2017 negative
Opinion
Maximizing VC Returns Requires Horizons Longer Than Standard 10-Year Funds
“I think if we're going to maximize returns, it would be over an even longer period of time.”
Brian Singerman Jun 5, 2017 ▶ 7:30 20VC: Founders Fund's Brian Singerman on Why VC Is About Upside Maximisation Not Downside Minimisation, Why There Is No Right Way To Do Venture and Why They Do Not Have Monday Morning Partner Meetings At Founders Fund
Oct 1, 2020 positive
Opinion
Boyle: Brian Singerman Is Silicon Valley's Best Reactive Investor
“The flip side of that is someone like Brian Singerman, who I think is one of the best reactive investors in the Valley, where he has no theses, doesn't think about the future, and just listens to the founder and the story and uses his own frameworks and is abl…”
Katherine Boyle Oct 1, 2020 ▶ 11:31 20VC: What Is Founder Narrative Fit and How to Detect and Invest In It, How To Avoid Consensus Thinking When Investing, Price Sensititivity; When To Pay Up vs Stay Disciplined & From New York Times To General Catalyst; Why Venture and Journalism are Not S
Oct 1, 2020
Insight
Boyle: Venture Capital Resembles a Multiplayer Strategy Game
“And so I think the big takeaway from my thinking there is that, you know, he was the first person to tell me that investing is much more like a multiplayer strategy game than it is like any other asset class.”
Katherine Boyle Oct 1, 2020 ▶ 11:46 20VC: What Is Founder Narrative Fit and How to Detect and Invest In It, How To Avoid Consensus Thinking When Investing, Price Sensititivity; When To Pay Up vs Stay Disciplined & From New York Times To General Catalyst; Why Venture and Journalism are Not S
Nov 11, 2021
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Brian Singerman refuses to do low-level operational work for portfolio companies
“I don't know how to operate companies. I'm not going to seed your top of funnel. I'm not going to Do a bunch of like low level operations work for the company. But what I am pretty good at is, is strategy.”
Brian Singerman Nov 11, 2021 ▶ 4:26 20VC: The Anduril Memo: Founders Fund's Brian Singerman on What Makes Palmer Luckey One of the Greatest Innovators in History, Why It Is BS The DOD Do Not Want To Work With Silicon Valley & Why in Venture You Have To Play A Different Game to the Hedge Fun
Nov 11, 2021 neutral
Insight
Prior founder experience matters less than raw talent and ruthlessness
“I actually put almost no weight on did they do it before and put all the weight on are they super unique, insanely talented, ruthless in a way that they understand how business is and can actually really get things done. I just invest in the founder regardless…”
Brian Singerman Nov 11, 2021 ▶ 16:33 20VC: The Anduril Memo: Founders Fund's Brian Singerman on What Makes Palmer Luckey One of the Greatest Innovators in History, Why It Is BS The DOD Do Not Want To Work With Silicon Valley & Why in Venture You Have To Play A Different Game to the Hedge Fun
Nov 11, 2021 negative
Disclosure
Brian Singerman has stopped investing in startup founders over Zoom
“I can't do it on Zoom, and I, therefore, I'm not really doing Zoom investing anymore, period.”
Brian Singerman Nov 11, 2021 ▶ 17:09 20VC: The Anduril Memo: Founders Fund's Brian Singerman on What Makes Palmer Luckey One of the Greatest Innovators in History, Why It Is BS The DOD Do Not Want To Work With Silicon Valley & Why in Venture You Have To Play A Different Game to the Hedge Fun
Feb 14, 2022 positive
Opinion
Geoff Lewis: Capital concentration limits per company harm venture returns
“I think Brian's a hundred percent right on that, and I've learned a lot from him on how to concentrate capital into companies.”
Geoff Lewis Feb 14, 2022 ▶ 22:13 20VC: Bedrock's Geoff Lewis on Whether VCs Actually Provide Value or Not, Why Bedrock Does Not Have An Ownership Focus and The Difference Between Principles and Rules When Building a Firm or Company
Oct 31, 2022 positive
Insight
Singerman: Founders Fund Refuses to Hire 'Clones' or Generic VC Talent
“If it's a unique strategy that is differentiated from the current partners that are here, we are interested in hiring that person, and that's really paid off. Like our focus on not hiring clones, our focus on not hiring just people who are generically good, ou…”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 23:31 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022 bearish
Disclosure
Singerman slows investment pace due to inflated startup valuations
“And right now, I've personally slowed down investing a ton simply because you cannot get a good price on the best companies.”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 8:54 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022 bullish
Insight
Singerman: Venture capital is about backing top companies, not cheap deals
“With venture being about upside maximization, Are you really just looking for, like, a good deal, or do you just want to invest in the best companies? And I would argue it's all the latter.”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 5:27 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022
Insight
Singerman: Investors Who Demand Perfect Information Will Fail in Venture Capital
“If you are the type of person that is going to do work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, and make sure it's perfect before you invest or make sure it's perfect before you hire, you are just not going to do well in this business. Period.”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 38:55 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022 negative
Opinion
Brian Singerman Dislikes Startup Board Meetings and Prefers Strategy Dinners
“I can't stand boards. Private company boards, like, I would much rather do strategy dinners with founders, and they know that.”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 26:26 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022 bullish
Opinion
Singerman: Bullish on defense tech, but no team compares to Anduril
“Defense tech is an area that I'm bullish on, but there's nothing like Endural.”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 48:52 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022 negative
Disclosure
Singerman: I am terrible at venture capital without in-person founder meetings
“Meeting a founder in person is just critical. I was terrible at this job during COVID, right? Like when you couldn't meet founders in person. I'm just terrible at this job without being able to meet founders in person.”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 30:27 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022 neutral
Disclosure
Singerman: I never buy public stocks
“This is why I don't do public. I don't buy any public stocks ever.”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 11:51 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022 positive
Disclosure
Singerman: Founder quality accounts for 80% to 90% of investment thesis
“Founder quality is still 80 to 90% of my investment thesis, right?”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 14:15 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022 negative
Disclosure
Singerman: Founders Fund never plans or calculates capital reserves for follow-ons
“I don't think about reserves ever. Period. Like, I literally never think, I never think a second about reserves.”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 16:20 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022
Insight
Singerman: Loss ratios do not matter for multi-billion dollar venture funds
“Loss ratios don't matter. Losing, I can't, you know, you don't want to lose a five hundred million dollar check, right? Because it's going to be then ridiculously hard for you to return that, to return multiples on that fund. Whereas, like, if you lose, in a f…”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 34:15 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022 bullish
Prediction Held up
Singerman predicts Founders Fund's $200M Anduril check will turn into $2B
“Enduro is going to be an extremely valuable company. I am, there's, yes, quite sure of that. We are not going to lose that two hundred million dollar check. That two hundred million dollars will turn into, you know, two billion.”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 34:41 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022 bullish
What-if
Singerman regrets not putting $500M into Airbnb's $1.5 billion valuation round
“I wish I had written 500, I wish we had written a five hundred million dollar check into Airbnb at the, you know, one and a half billion dollar round instead of a, whatever, a hundred and fifty million dollar check.”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 33:41 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022 positive
Disclosure
Founders Fund Distributed Holdings to LPs at Late 2021 Peak
“We don't have hubris about knowing the public markets better than anybody else with the fact that we were able to distribute. You know, end of 2021, when a lot of people kind of held was worked out in our favor this time.”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 41:47 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022 neutral
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Singerman: 3x returns on $10M checks are meaningless for multi-billion dollar funds
“Our funds are multi-billion dollars, right? Like if we have a. Ten million dollar check, there's no real difference between that going to zero or that going to. Thirty million. I mean, there's just no difference between those numbers.”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 31:41 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022
Disclosure
Singerman: Personal Goal Is Maximizing Return-to-Fame Ratio
“I mean, I try and my life strategy is to maximize my dollars to fame ratio. Like I want to make a lot of returns for myself and LPs and have the minimal amount of fame possible, right?”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 42:20 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022 positive
Disclosure
Singerman: I am comfortable writing single venture checks up to $500 million
“Where I'm best is at writing these two, three, four hundred million dollar checks. And so, you know, if I'm using my own, practicing what I preach, it's like, if I'm comfortable writing a, let's say the most, the biggest check I'm comfortable writing is a five…”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 33:00 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 31, 2022 neutral
Assertion Supported
Singerman: Joined Founders Fund after Sean Parker introduction during SpaceX deal evaluation
“And that's when I met Sean Parker and we became friends and he. Said, Hey, why don't you check out what we're doing at Founders Fund? And I came in and that's when we were considering a little investment in a company called SpaceX and, you know, said, this is …”
Brian Singerman Oct 31, 2022 ▶ 0:49 Brian Singerman: How I Became a Partner at Founders Fund, Why We Put $400M into Anduril | 20VC #943 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Dec 21, 2022 negative
Assertion Open
Singerman: In-person meetings were necessary to invest during COVID
“Brian Singerman at Founders Fund said on the show recently about how he was unable to do his job in COVID as he could not meet founders in person”
Harry Stebbings Dec 21, 2022 ▶ 17:18 20VC Special: How To Fundraise Like a Pro: How to Size and Price a Round, How to Create FOMO and Urgency in a Fundraise, How to Structure Angel Allocations, The 7 Deadly Sins of Fundraising Decks, The 3 Signs a Potential Investor is Bad News
Oct 18, 2023 positive
Opinion
Stebbings: Top VCs prioritize upside maximization over downside risk
“When I think about Brian Singerman and Pat Grady, They're not worried at all about it going to zero, but they are very worried about upside maximization, and I think you get that uncapped upside lack of fear of downside through immense success.”
Harry Stebbings Oct 18, 2023 ▶ 28:58 Beezer Clarkson: Are LPs Open for Business & Why Do LP Incentive Mechanisms Need to Change? | E1073 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jan 4, 2024 positive
Opinion
Founders Fund is the multi-billion fund most likely to return 3x
“I said founders fund, and I said it because of something that Brian Singerman told me, which is like, we are unparalleled in the willingness to have extreme revenue, extreme capital concentration on a per company basis, which means we could lose a lot. But if …”
Harry Stebbings Jan 4, 2024 ▶ 10:38 Jason Lemkin: Predictions for 2024 - What Does a Trump Administration do for Startups? | E1099 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Apr 8, 2024
Assertion Contradicted
Peter Thiel and Brian Singerman were Postmates' only early backers
“When we started out, when Postmates started out, this thing sounded so crazy that the only people that wanted to give us money were Brian Singerman and Peter Thiel.”
Bastian Lehmann Apr 8, 2024 ▶ 14:06 Bastian Lehmann: How the Uber Deal Went Down and How a $2.65BN Deal Turned into $5BN | E1137 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jul 29, 2024
Disclosure
Asparouhov: Brian Singerman pulled me aside six times over controversial tweets
“Oh, a multitude of times. I mean, I probably had at least, you know, sort of six, you know you know Singerman, you know, sort of one-on-ones where he has to be like telling what the fuck.”
Delian Asparouhov Jul 29, 2024 ▶ 1:15:51 Delian Asparouhov: Inside the Walls of Founders Fund: What the World Does Not See | E1183 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jul 29, 2024 neutral
Disclosure
Asparouhov: Founders Fund partners Singerman and Stephens offer no post-investment help
“Obviously there are people within Founders Fund that explicitly choose to not work on the fifth one, you know, sort of whatsoever, right? You know, Brian and Trey's, you know, sort of strategy is we believe the best founders, you know, sort of need no help, an…”
Delian Asparouhov Jul 29, 2024 ▶ 28:16 Delian Asparouhov: Inside the Walls of Founders Fund: What the World Does Not See | E1183 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Sep 7, 2026 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stebbings: Brian Singerman automatically invests when a fund manager is all in
“Brian Singerman, who invests in funds and then invests in the companies beneath those funds, has a rule that if the manager's like, balls to the wall, I am all in on this company, he'll automatically write the check.”
Harry Stebbings Sep 7, 2026 ▶ 1:10:17 Town vs Instinct vs GrokBot | Why the AI Assistant Market Is Not a Bubble
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