May 16, 2016 · 28m · 20vc
20VC: Rob Go @ NextView on WTF Is Seed Investing Today and Why Raising Too Much Money Can Harm Your Startup
0:00 / 0:00
gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
Rob Go, co-founder of NextView Ventures, discusses the changing dynamics of seed-stage venture capital, warning against the risks of startup overcapitalization and offering advice on maintaining early capital efficiency.
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 27.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Harry as informed peer 3.7 Guest teaching 4.4 Guest disagreement 1.6 Harry pushing back 2.3
speaking balance: gold is Harry, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 21:49 Rob reframes David Teten's noisy VC quote
Rob explicitly disagrees with the premise that noisy investors lack substance, arguing that quality content naturally attracts smart founders regardless of media volume.
Hardest push from Harry ▶ 10:37 Harry challenges Rob using Jeff Clavier's pro-large-seed perspectiveHarry directly contrasts Rob's preference for lean seed rounds against Jeff Clavier's bullish stance on large seed runways, pushing Rob to defend his thesis.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 6:55 Rob details how Series A funds moved upstream to redefine seed roundsRob breaks down the historical shift where Series A metrics migrated to institutional seed stages, providing a clear educational framework on modern venture dynamics.
Harry holds his own ▶ 18:48 Harry demonstrates ecosystem knowledge by citing Suster, Hudson, and ChirlsHarry shows deep domain expertise by citing prominent VCs and specific media formats, challenging Rob to explain NextView's distinct positioning.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Harry as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Harry pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Founding Story and Vision of NextView Ventures | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Harry sets up the interview with friendly open-ended questions about NextView's origin story and fund metrics. Rob explains the firm's founding vision and how large lifecycle funds create an incentive disconnect with early-stage founders. | |
| Redefining Seed Stage Capital in Modern Venture Capital | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | Harry prompts Rob to define seed investing in a convoluted market. Rob educates the listener by breaking down how seed stage has evolved into the new Series A, with Series A investors moving upstream. | |
| Macro Drivers of VC Funnel Shifts and Valuation Inflation | 3 | 6 | 2 | 2 | Rob provides an insightful macro breakdown of why valuation inflation and funnel shifts happened post-economic crash. Harry listens while Rob explains LP capital concentration and unicorn growth chasing. | |
| Sizing Seed Rounds and the Hidden Risks of Overcapitalization | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4 | Harry uses domain knowledge to challenge Rob by contrasting his lean seed preference against Jeff Clavier's large seed philosophy. Rob politely clarifies that seed sizing is not one-size-fits-all and argues overcapitalization reduces founder focus. | |
| Operational Flexibility, Runway, and Dilution Dynamics | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | Harry asks detailed follow-up questions regarding burn rates, runway length, and equity dilution dynamics. Rob explains fundraising optics and trade-offs between smaller and larger initial seed rounds. | |
| The Evolution of Pre-Seed Investing and NextView's Position | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | Harry demonstrates strong industry fluency by referencing prominent pre-seed investors and specific VC marketing tactics like Snapchat and podcasting. Rob shares NextView's approach to the pre-seed spectrum and authentic investor branding. | |
| Measuring Investor Value Add Beyond Media Noise | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | Harry quotes David Teten's provocative metaphor regarding loud VCs adding little real value. Rob pushes back gently, rejecting the premise that media visibility correlates with low value, before moving into a lighthearted quickfire round. |
Statements from this episode (16)
Go: Growing VC Fund Sizes Create Disconnect With Low-Cost Software Startups
“The cost of starting software businesses had come way down. And the best venture funds had accumulated larger and larger amounts of capital, and so there's this natural disconnect with founders.”
Rob Go: Mega-funds struggle with $1M seed deal math
“When a business is looking to raise, you know, a million dollars or even less, it becomes very difficult for you know, a multi-hundred million dollar, you know, nearly billion dollar fund make the math and the time investment work for that kind of a company.”
Rob Go: NextView's average check size is around $500,000
“Our average check size is probably about 500,000 dollars, but we actually have scaled our investment quite a bit depending on the stage of the company.”
Rob Go: Seed investors guide startups to product-market fit
“The job of a seed investor is to invest in a company before product market fit, and try to take the company to the other side of product market fit and into sort of early validation and early growth.”
Rob Go: Seed rounds have replaced traditional Series A financing
“Over the last six years, what we've seen is that, you know, seed investing has really essentially become the new, you know, series A round of financing for the companies.”
Rob Go: Late-Stage VC Investors Will Suffer Badly in Market Correction
“I think there are a lot of later stage investors that are gonna get their hands slapped pretty badly as you know, the value, the late stage valuations that work Get worked out in this market.”
Go: Raising excessive money pre-PMF hurts focus and breeds overhead
“There seems like there's no downside to raising more money, but there actually is. And the downside is actually around a lack of focus scrappiness And over investment in overhead before there's really the sort of core machinery to support it.”
Go: Raising large seed rounds pre-PMF shows no obvious outperformance
“There isn't a really obvious trend that companies that raise a lot of money pre-product market fit end up doing much better than the ones that don't.”
Go: NextView portfolio company Dia & Co nearly bootstrapped for 15 months
“This company called Dia & Co. And, you know, they essentially nearly bootstrapped for their first 15 months of life.”
Go: Pre-PMF software startups should raise 18 months of runway
“I would generally advise for 18 months. I think the lever is less sort of the time, and it's more the headcount.”
Go: 30% dilution pre-PMF hurts founder leverage in future rounds
“Like selling a third of your company before product market fits seems pretty painful. Versus trying to sell, you know, 15, 20% of the company for less money, but getting you to a point where you have a lot more leverage the next time you have to go to raise, r…”
Rob Go: Pre-Seed Funds Now Serve Original Purpose of Seed Investors
“I just think that you know, they're kind of doing what seed investors were kind of meant to do when this whole thing started.”
Go: VC reputation is defined by rejected or failing founders
“The most important aspect is, you know, what do other founders say about you? And not just what do other founders in your portfolio that are the best performing founders, right? Because like every company that's doing great, the, their investors spend a lot of…”