Jun 23, 2023 · 1h 7m · news
Rob Go: The Ultimate Guide to Raising a Venture Fund | E1029 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
0:00 / 0:00
▶ Watch on YouTube →
gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of 20VC, NextView Ventures co-founder Rob Go joins host Harry Stebbings to provide a comprehensive, tactical masterclass on raising and managing a seed-stage venture fund.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Harry holds 26.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Harry as informed peer 5.8 Guest teaching 2.6 Guest disagreement 1.5 Harry pushing back 3.5
speaking balance: gold is Harry, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 38:00 Rob challenges Harry's 50-email strategy
Rob directly questions Harry's stance on endless follow-ups, pressing him on whether he truly believes his 50-week persistence rule is effective for most managers.
Hardest push from Harry ▶ 6:28 Harry explicitly rejects reserves picking strategyHarry aggressively rejects the premise of capital reserves, declaring 'I hate reserves' and challenging Rob on whether VCs are actually equipped to pick trajectory winners.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 49:25 Rob maps out institutional LP conversion cyclesRob provides a detailed breakdown of how fund-of-funds, pensions, and endowments convert at different lifecycle stages, educating Harry on why Fund 3 is often the hardest to raise.
Harry holds his own ▶ 37:15 Harry demonstrates relentless fundraising playbookHarry showcases his hands-on fundraising mastery by recounting how 50 consecutive weekly emails secured Allianz as an LP, arguing that follow-up costs are low and upside is immense.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Harry as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Harry pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rob's Foray into Venture Capital | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Rob outlines his entry into VC at Spark Capital and the founding of NextView. Harry engages collaboratively by relating his own early experience fundraising as a 20-year-old. | |
| Fund Size and Portfolio Construction | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Rob details NextView's $135M seed fund and $65M opportunity fund. Harry actively demonstrates fund mechanics expertise by doing instant mental math to break down check allocation and follow-on capital. | |
| Reserves Strategy vs. Opportunity Funds | 7 | 3 | 2 | 7 | Harry challenges Rob directly on reserve strategy, stating 'I hate reserves' and probing bluntly whether LPs disliked their opportunity fund. Rob defends their systematic ranking framework and LP alignment. | |
| Document Preparation and Partner Agreements | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | Discussion centers on legal prep, deck materials, and partner equality. Harry asks targeted questions on equal equity/carry splits and the tactical choice between seeking an anchor LP first vs. building friendlies. | |
| Rejection, Concentration, and LP Types | 7 | 3 | 2 | 6 | When Rob shares how an early anchor fell through, Harry offers a strong counter-opinion advocating for building momentum with friendlies and leveraging social proof rather than relying on institutional anchors. | |
| LP Turmoil and Preserving GP Independence | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Rob recounts losing a key institutional LP due to CIO turnover and turning down a buyout offer from high-profile investors to maintain firm independence. Harry validates the importance of GP autonomy. | |
| LP Meetings, Ecosystems, and Qualification | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Rob discusses LP outreach and credits peer generosity. Harry highlights his own active LP qualification framework and explains the reciprocal benefit of making emerging manager intros. | |
| Best and Worst LP Meetings | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Rob shares insights on best and worst LP interactions, quoting Horsley Bridge's extreme take on portfolio construction. Harry listens and prompts with minimal interruption. | |
| Follow-Up Tactics and the Persistence Debate | 8 | 3 | 3 | 8 | Rob advocates a strict 'ask twice then stop' rule for uncommunicative LPs. Harry strongly pushes back, detailing his 50-week email persistence strategy that secured Allianz, debating the ROI of relentless follow-ups. | |
| Creating Urgency and Timeline Management | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | The two exchange operational tactics on creating urgency and managing closing timelines. Harry presents a strict 14-to-21 day decision window and breaks down LP budget seasonality across quarters. | |
| LP Dynamics, Check Sizes, and Conversion Cycles | 7 | 4 | 2 | 6 | Harry criticizes LP minimum check sizes as counterproductive and burdensome. Rob educates on how LP conversion propensity evolves across Fund 1 through Fund 5 across fund-of-funds and pensions. | |
| A Zen Mindset and the Seed Market Outlook | 6 | 3 | 2 | 3 | Rob explains his Zen attitude toward fundraising and provides a nuanced view of current seed valuations. Harry cites his own real-time term sheet experience leading a Series A in enterprise software. | |
| Quick-Fire Questions and NextView's Vision | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | A rapid-fire exchange covering favorite firms, AI shifts, and Rob's DraftKings miss. Rob articulates NextView's ultimate vision as a hybrid of Benchmark's partner model and YPO's community ethos. |
Statements from this episode (35)
NextView Passed on DraftKings Due to Misjudging Market Size
“I knew he was special, and he walked into our offices to pitch DraftKings along with two other extraordinary co-founders, and we passed, not because of, like, regulation, but because we misunderstood the market size.”
Rob Go: Energy and Hustle Give Young VCs a Competitive Advantage
“But I really believe venture is a young person's game. Like the amount we were talking about this before you started recording, right? Like the amount of like energy and hustle that you're able to deploy as a young person is truly a competitive advantage.”
NextView Ventures Operates $135M Seed Fund and $65M Opportunity Fund
“We're currently investing out of our fifth fund. In fact, we have two. We have a seed fund, and we have a opportunity fund. The seed fund is a hundred and thirty-five million. The opportunity fund is sixty-five million.”
NextView Ventures Writes $1M to $3M Checks in Seed Rounds
“We try to write checks between a million to three million dollars into pre-seed and seed rounds.”
NextView LPs Committed to Seed and Opportunity Funds at 2:1 Ratio
“All of our LPs were basically investing two to one from the seed fund to the opportunity fund.”
NextView Ranks Portfolios Quarterly to Prevent Hype-Driven Follow-On Decisions
“We basically do a ranking of the portfolio every quarter from a perspective of where we want to deploy or follow on capital. And we do that because we want to make the decision apart from a financing opportunity, right? Because what ends up happening is when s…”
Rob Go: Single Mega-Funds Create Worse Alignment Than Separate Opportunity Funds
“I think the third is like, there's an alternative, which is we just raise a bigger fund overall. But I think everybody kind of loses in that case, right? Because, you know, it's hard to deploy that much money. The fees effectively are higher if you don't do, b…”
Rob Go: LPs Spend 90% of Time on Decks and Track Records
“But like, really, I think most LPs, they spend like 90% of the time on the deck. And the track record, and that's all there is.”
Rob Go: Unequal VC Partnerships Lead to Mid-Fund Renegotiations
“We felt like if it wasn't equal, there'd be too much of an incentive to renegotiate depending on like how things are going in the fund.”
NextView Launched via Minimum Viable First Close Before Institutional LPs
“You basically find the people who are willing to say yes and just trust you. You try to tally up as much as possible, preferably enough to do a minimum viable first close, close that capital, get into business, and allow yourself time to be able to cultivate t…”
Rob Go: Avoid Letting a Single LP Constitute 50% of a Fund
“I think 50% is kind of extreme. I think it's probably unusual that an LP would be willing to do that without some special controls or economics that I would recommend probably steering away from for the most part.”
Rob Go: Endowments Are Often the First LPs to Flee in Downturns
“You know, there was a time when folks used to say that, like, endowments and foundations are the most robust long-term partners that exist on the planet. It is just not true. I've heard so many cases where markets turn, things change, and the first ones to lea…”
Rob Go: Individual LP Champions Matter More Than Institutional Brand
“I actually think it's, what's more important is the individual who's there. You want somebody who is empowered, not at the very end of their career, because there's a risk that they're going to leave, and then you're going to be adopted by somebody else. And s…”
NextView Lost an Influential Institutional LP at the Last Minute
“We had a pretty influential institution drop us in our third fund. And they did it the ninth hour.”
Rob Go: Emerging VCs Should Refuse Anchor LP Requests for Special Economics
“I wouldn't do it. I think it's a sign of strength not to take that deal. It's not very typical in venture, I would say. I, I've heard it's more common in private equity or hedge funds. And so if you're talking to an LP that's very used to anchoring hedge funds…”
Rob Go: Scarcity Mindset Hindered Boston Venture Market Compared to West Coast
“Part of why the Boston venture market at the time was not thriving the way the west coast market was is there's a little bit of a scarcity mindset here, a little bit more of a protective attitude towards everything”
Rob Go: Timing Is the Single Biggest Factor in LP Commitments
“The number one factor in, in whether an LP says yes or no is just timing, right?”
Rob Go: Ideal Portfolio Construction Is Theoretically 100% in One Winner
“The best portfolio construction in the world is to invest in one company and put all your money into the first round and be right. And every derivative from that basically is allowing for uncertainty and risk.”
Rob Go: Emerging VCs Shouldn't Force Meetings With Uninterested LPs
“You want to scrape and fight really hard to get great introductions, but if somebody doesn't want to take a meeting, like, there's no, there's not that much value in, like, forcing it.”
NextView Intentionally Uses Incomplete Data Rooms to Test LP Engagement
“We have since changed that where we do have a data room, but the data room is a preliminary data room and it is intentionally incomplete. And the reason it's intentionally incomplete is I want to see an LP. If we offer the data room, I want to know they looked…”
Rob Go's Fundraising Rule: Follow Up Twice, Then Stop Proactive Outreach
“I have a basic belief that it never hurts to ask twice, but I never ask three times, right? So if there's an email that doesn't get responded to, I don't feel bad about asking again. After two, after I'm ignored twice, that's okay. I just move on.”
Harry Stebbings Emailed Allianz Weekly for 50 Weeks to Get a Response
“Allianz the insurance provider. And they didn't respond after a great first meeting. Every single Monday for 50 weeks, I emailed them. 50 weeks.”
Harry Stebbings Meets Two New LPs Weekly to Generate Four Intros
“So I meet two new LPs every single week when I'm not fundraising. At the end of each meeting, I asked for two new LP intros. They make them, so I have a flywheel of four new LPs per week.”
NextView Signals Fund Timelines to LPs 18 to 24 Months Ahead
“Typically a year, you know, if I think about like our timing, if we're looking to do a first close in say Q one of a given year, we are probably giving pretty clear indication of where our timeframe is at least like 18, if not 24 months before that.”
Harry Stebbings: Q1 Is Optimal for LP Fundraising, Q3 Is Worst
“A lot of endowment funds get fresh buckets of allocation in the start of any year. And so Q one is actually optimal. Q three is probably the worst and actually end of Q four when they might have like a spare little stipend left. Can actually be the best as wel…”
Rob Go: A Base of Small LP Checks Creates an Anti-Fragile Fund
“I generally am a believer in like building an anti-fragile LP LP base. And so in a weird way, like, even though I said earlier, I really, you know, I don't mind concentration. I also don't mind a lot of small checks if you can handle it from a timing standpoin…”
Harry Stebbings: Smaller LPs Require Disproportionately More Time to Manage
“I find the smaller checks more painful to manage. They're less educated, but often this is not unison, but often they can be less educated, less informed on venture. And actually they take a lot more time and care than almost the bigger LPs who are much more i…”
Rob Go: Funds 2 and 3 Struggle to Convert Fund-of-Funds LPs
“Weirdly, when you're in the middle, you're neither new, nor are you so well known that you have, like, a great brand. Fund to funds are not as good. So what I found is that, like, funds, you know, Three-ish, two to three, it's actually harder to get a new fund…”
Rob Go: Pension Funds and Large LPs Avoid Fund 1 and 2
“There are some groups that are very, very large LPs, and they just want stability, right? They will never invest in a fund one or a fund two, but they love the idea of investing in fund three, four, five or plus, or more with a team that's been together for a …”
NextView Fund V Was Easiest Raise Due to Strong DPI
“The last fund was the easiest to raise. So that was the fifth fund. ... Yeah. Yeah. It was a DPI story.”
Rob Go Predicts Multistage VC Funds Will Eventually Abandon Seed Investing
“I don't think that it will persist because at some point the multistage funds will say, hey, it's not really worth, worth our time and effort to invest at this stage. And, you know, they'll, they'll turn their attention to later stage rounds where you write bi…”
Rob Go: Best Seed Opportunities Are Non-AI Companies and Non-Pedigreed Founders
“I think there's actually a lot of opportunity out there for non-consensus thinking. I think there are a lot of companies that aren't getting very much love because they're not AI. The teams aren't fancy founders that came from well-known companies that are jus…”