The Exchanges

Q Talent teams are largely BS unless you really invest in them because the diversity of roles that people will come to you for means that essentially you just become a job description writer, because if you're hiring a CMO, it's totally different to a head of developer relations. A head of talent can't be expected to hire such diverse roles. Am I right? Or do you think I'm being unfair?

A I think you're completely right, which again speaks to the need for a one-to-one relationship versus a pooled resource. If you look at how the very best companies hire, someone's going to go find a CMO or a VPE. The very best searches, the companies are at a scale where they probably have a head of talent or a head of people. They probably have a recruiting team. They assign that role to a single person who figures out how to understand the needs of the company, how to then go out, identify some candidates for context building with the hiring manager, They then build a pipeline. They set up an interview loop. They bring those people through. They guide them all the way through from, from evaluation to offer to close, they get them in the seat, and then they help them be successful. That, and one person will own that, whether that person is maybe an outsourced executive recruiter or someone internally on the team. And that is how the very best searches are done is that there is a single person who owns that search. They collaborate with the hiring manager and they run it end to end. The best searches are not Oh, you need an engineer? We know a lot of engineers. Here's a Google sheet with a bunch of LinkedIn links. Good luck. That's not recruiting. And so at the GP, when we do recruiting, we do the first thing. We engage with the founder. We understand their needs. We have a pers…

AI assessment note: “I think you're completely right, which again speaks to the need for a one-to-one relationship”

Q A couple of questions for you. Number one, amazing. How do you scale that though? I mean, it's like, you know, it's early in the GP's life cycle. If we project out three to five years and there's. 60 to 80 companies say, I'm just taking a number there. How does that quality scale over time?

A I think the first answer is we're not, our goal is not to scale. Our goal is to maximize quality of service delivery and impact on a smaller number of super high quality companies. We've looked at how the business can deliver that even as the portfolio scales, because you're right that over time, that portfolio scales every engagement. We work with a founder, we partner with them to understand their needs. We have a written statement of work that we collaborate with them on that statement of work describes what we will do. It describes the time that it'll take for us to do that. And then the amount of equity they will earn when we deliver success against that statement of work. And those statements of work tend to be somewhere between six and, you know, 15 months long. They work across recruiting product and engineering and go to market. The founders can pick and choose where they need the help, or if they don't need the help at all, we can just invest capital and they can come back to us at some point when they, when they want to engage. But when the statement of work is delivered, then that engagement is over. And if they want to Engage. They want to continue with ongoing recruiting support. We need a new statement of work and that's a new investment for us. And we evaluate that against every other investment that we could make with that same resource.

AI assessment note: “our goal is not to scale. Our goal is to maximize quality of service delivery”

Q Uber, need to know that it's going to go beyond, you know, chauffeurs in an explicit way? I often feel that, you know, you just have to Be playing the game to turn over the next card. So many of the things that I've done, I had no strategy to do until I saw the opportunity. You know, you have to be playing the game to see the next play.

A Yeah. I've experienced. Yeah, I do. No, it's a great question. I've experienced both. I've experienced both. Um, I think that in the first case, whether it's Travis needing to know that there's UberX or it's Ivan needing to know that there's going to be, you know, Integrations with segment and other things, and it's going to become the, the central data, you know, sort of knowledge repository for a company. I don't, I don't think so. I think they need to be passionate about the core product they're building, but they need to know that they want and will find more than just that. They need to understand that this is the foundation of something that then there will be another act. I've also had the experience with multiple founders where In the first conversation, you sit down with them, and they understand their business in three acts, and they lay it out, and then they go after that. And I think there, for me as an investor, so Rick at Persona was this way. I think Saadi at Avon is this way. And, you know, Saadi at Avon is, okay, it's a HELOC-backed credit card. Yeah, that's interesting. But what is it really? What it really is, is moving unsecured consumer credit and the associated interest rates to asset-backed Lending and those associated interest rates and doing that in a way that is efficient and where you can identify customers and offer them a lower interest rate with th…

AI assessment note: “I've experienced both. Um, I think that in the first case... I don't think so.”

Q some people don't have it. For instance, mine comes from running away from constraints. I hate people telling me what I can and can't do, and also a desire to be appreciated and recognized for myself, not for someone else, which is probably insecure of me. But those are my two reasons why I had to do my own. Have you ever analyzed why you had to do your own?

A There's a question that eats at me about What am I capable of? Like, how far can you go? What, what can you accomplish? When you attempt to answer that question inside the context of an existing institution, the answers are not easy, but more obvious. You know, you could, you could become a managing partner at the firm. Why did that? You could deliver an epic fund. And I think as a team, we had done some of that. You could partner with unbelievable companies and as an individual and as a team, we did that. You could Change the industry in some way with the review or dorm room fund or angel track. And we did that had done those things. And I think, you know, the, the question that was eating at me was, was there more and what could that be? And it felt like the only container to find out the only, the only place where that answer existed was in, in trying to find my own My own thing and, and crafting my own approach. And then I was unbelievably lucky in, in finding someone who had taken that step years before and who was very aligned, uh, with me. And so we came together, uh, to shape the general partnership, um, in a, in a, in a really, uh, I think organic, but also powerful way.

AI assessment note: “There's a question that eats at me about What am I capable of?”

Q Tell me which less well-known firm do you most respect?

A So many. I mean, I just mentioned pace. I think they're Chris and Jordan are wonderful. I think what Dave Fontenot is doing with HF zero is, is pretty fascinating. These houses, he brings people in residential program. Um, but he's, he's got a real nose for talent and he's doing some amazing things there. I think Meritech doesn't get talked about enough. Max and Alex, I mean, they, they're just unbelievable in their thinking. And I think, um, so much respect for their focus and, and what they do. And then, you know, my friend Molly at dorm room fund, I think is, is, uh, is doing amazing work with that That community. And I think if you look at the alumni from dorm room fund and where they've gone on, uh, you can, you can sort of see the quality of the people that she's engaged with and, and, and how that community is, is continuing to form.

AI assessment note: “I just mentioned pace... Dave Fontenot is doing with HF zero... Meritech doesn't get talked about”

Q one hits, and you said, you know, invest in the next Uber. Do great as a partnership. Build a premier brand. That's what you and the partnership did at first round. And you were there for 11 years. It shapes how you think hugely. If you were to do, say, one to two takeaways that really impacted your mindset from the 11 years at first round, what would they be?

A I think the first is one that actually I learned before in my work at ANDONE, the basketball company. That then I applied to my decision to join first round, but it was also Josh's insight at first round, which is there's tremendous power in being able to focus on a niche. And if you can know your customer better than your competition, and you can craft your product to deliver against that customer's needs in a more salient way than your competition, then you will win. The challenge with niche is that at some point people look around and they think, oh, now we're ready to expand. Now we're ready to go beyond the niche. And they forget that what made them so successful in the niche is the thing they have to walk away from to try to expand. So at and one, we would talk about running shoes, trainers. We would talk about lifestyle shoes and clothing, kids licenses and so forth. And the focus on those things eroded the quality of, of the brand we had built in, in basketball and the core understanding of bringing together hip hop and hoops and making that mainstream. And I think when you look at what first round did in seed, It's very much the beginning of that journey. It's, it's you own a niche. You focus entirely on a founder at a certain stage and you work in a certain way. And I think at the general partnership, we're also trying to do that with founders who want to build their …

AI assessment note: “there's tremendous power in being able to focus on a niche.”

Q Talent teams are largely BS unless you really invest in them because the diversity of roles that people will come to you for means that essentially you just become a job description writer, because if you're hiring a CMO, it's totally different to a head of developer relations. A head of talent can't be expected to hire such diverse roles. Am I right? Or do you think I'm being unfair?

A I think you're completely right, which again speaks to the need for a one-to-one relationship versus a pooled resource. If you look at how the very best companies hire, someone's going to go find a CMO or a VPE. The very best searches, the companies are at a scale where they probably have a head of talent or a head of people. They probably have a recruiting team. They assign that role to a single person who figures out how to understand the needs of the company, how to then go out, identify some candidates for context building with the hiring manager, They then build a pipeline. They set up an interview loop. They bring those people through. They guide them all the way through from, from evaluation to offer to close, they get them in the seat, and then they help them be successful. That, and one person will own that, whether that person is maybe an outsourced executive recruiter or someone internally on the team. And that is how the very best searches are done is that there is a single person who owns that search. They collaborate with the hiring manager and they run it end to end. The best searches are not Oh, you need an engineer? We know a lot of engineers. Here's a Google sheet with a bunch of LinkedIn links. Good luck. That's not recruiting. And so at the GP, when we do recruiting, we do the first thing. We engage with the founder. We understand their needs. We have a pers…

AI assessment note: “I think you're completely right, which again speaks to the need for a one-to-one”

Q A couple of questions for you. Number one, amazing. How do you scale that though? I mean, it's like, you know, it's early in the GP's life cycle. If we project out three to five years and there's. 60 to 80 companies say, I'm just taking a number there. How does that quality scale over time?

A I think the first answer is we're not, our goal is not to scale. Our goal is to maximize quality of service delivery and impact on a smaller number of super high quality companies. We've looked at how the business can deliver that even as the portfolio scales, because you're right that over time, that portfolio scales every engagement. We work with a founder, we partner with them to understand their needs. We have a written statement of work that we collaborate with them on that statement of work describes what we will do. It describes the time that it'll take for us to do that. And then the amount of equity they will earn when we deliver success against that statement of work. And those statements of work tend to be somewhere between six and, you know, 15 months long. They work across recruiting product and engineering and go to market. The founders can pick and choose where they need the help, or if they don't need the help at all, we can just invest capital and they can come back to us at some point when they, when they want to engage. But when the statement of work is delivered, then that engagement is over. And if they want to Engage. They want to continue with ongoing recruiting support. We need a new statement of work and that's a new investment for us. And we evaluate that against every other investment that we could make with that same resource.

AI assessment note: “when the statement of work is delivered, then that engagement is over.”

Q Uber, need to know that it's going to go beyond, you know, chauffeurs in an explicit way? I often feel that, you know, you just have to Be playing the game to turn over the next card. So many of the things that I've done, I had no strategy to do until I saw the opportunity. You know, you have to be playing the game to see the next play.

A Yeah. I've experienced. Yeah, I do. No, it's a great question. I've experienced both. I've experienced both. Um, I think that in the first case, whether it's Travis needing to know that there's UberX or it's Ivan needing to know that there's going to be, you know, Integrations with segment and other things, and it's going to become the, the central data, you know, sort of knowledge repository for a company. I don't, I don't think so. I think they need to be passionate about the core product they're building, but they need to know that they want and will find more than just that. They need to understand that this is the foundation of something that then there will be another act. I've also had the experience with multiple founders where In the first conversation, you sit down with them, and they understand their business in three acts, and they lay it out, and then they go after that. And I think there, for me as an investor, so Rick at Persona was this way. I think Saadi at Avon is this way. And, you know, Saadi at Avon is, okay, it's a HELOC-backed credit card. Yeah, that's interesting. But what is it really? What it really is, is moving unsecured consumer credit and the associated interest rates to asset-backed Lending and those associated interest rates and doing that in a way that is efficient and where you can identify customers and offer them a lower interest rate with th…

AI assessment note: “I don't, I don't think so. I think they need to be passionate”

Q continuously a great area to be in. It might be, But it also might be a great founder, a special market timing, a special distribution strategy. Likewise, you lose money in an area and you go, you can't make money there, it's shit. Neither are right. There's always nuance and you have to bring plasticity to every new deal. How do you bring plasticity with big losses and big wins?

A I think it's very important, um, to, to view every company to the extent you can as its own Thing. Every startup is original and unique by nature because it is a startup. There are certainly lessons that flow across their similarities. You know, God knows we heard so many pitches that were the Uber of X, right? People trying to play on that, on that exact thing you're talking about. Um, but I, I think that the, the challenge with rules, they can distort your vision and you have to decide. Same as partners. You know, any, anytime you talk to anyone about an investment, anytime you apply a rule that is not, you know, is from one company to another, you're distorting your vision and you just have to decide, is that corrective or is it blurring? And are you wearing, you know, are you seeing more clearly or are you, are you missing something? And so I, I think that the, um, the thing to do is to ask yourself, Why, why would this rule not apply? Right? Why, why is this inappropriate in this case? So ModCloth was a fashion company. They were e-commerce fashion. Um, and there was a belief that the reason that company was working when it was working is that the, the founder was deep in the vintage clothing space and deeply understood it. She was a buyer. She got all those things. And so the first time we met Warby Parker, Those guys didn't have design sense. You know, Dave dresses prett…

AI assessment note: “ask yourself, Why, why would this rule not apply?”

Q Totally, and hindsight is always a beautiful thing. Finn, how does one define success in their first year of being a partner, do you think, in venture?

A It's a hard question, because of course, it's a long-term game, and given we form our partnerships with founders at the earliest stages, a new partner, you certainly won't be able to measure returns for some time. So for me, it's really about being able to move the room, and what I mean by that is thinking through, you know, how do you influence the Thinking of the partnership, whether it's convincing the team on an investment you think we should make, or one we really shouldn't make, regardless of who the point partner is for the specific opportunity, or, you know, if it's an initial investment or a follow-on, how you move the room to make a higher quality decision is the critical metric. And at first round, it's not just investment decisions. It could be marketing strategy for the firm, like should we launch, you know, a 30 minute VC podcast, or maybe an experiment around better service for founders with, with some product that we want to deliver. But when you look at your first year, I think what you really want to see is Your ability to influence and generate engagement from the rest of the partnership, and you want to see that go up over the course of the year.

AI assessment note: “So for me, it's really about being able to move the room”

Q I love that. What hustle. I do have to also, from reluctant intern to now managing partner, when did you discover, and what was that discovery process like for realizing that really your life's work is to be an investor?

A It was a long journey. I was lucky in that for the first three or four years of my venture career, I had no interest in being a partner at a venture capital firm. I never put on the blue shirt and khakis and chased entrepreneurs for deals. Instead, I was able to follow Josh Koppelman, the founder of the firm, follow him around as a true apprentice and spent the majority of my time with the entrepreneurs where we had already made the investment decision and were heavily into the, the helping aspect of the business. And the really nice thing was I would sit in board meetings with Josh. I would sit in working sessions with the founders with Josh and these entrepreneurs were stronger entrepreneurs than I ever was. They had better ideas than I had in larger markets to attack, but they were 10 weeks or 10 months into a journey, and I had 10 years of experience as an entrepreneur. And in that, I was able to offer support, help, guidance, and strategic advice that was impactful. And so for me, the thing that flipped me from thinking, I'm learning all these things about how to build companies and can't wait to apply them again, to feeling like VC and being an investor is my life's work, was when the thank yous started coming back. And I don't take any credit for The successes that these entrepreneurs had, and certainly they did the work, but when someone takes time out of their day to c…

AI assessment note: “the thing that flipped me... to feeling like VC and being an investor is my life's work”

Q It is indeed. You mentioned continued financing there. Before we touch on diversity in the quickfire round, I do have to ask, at first round, how do you think about reserve allocation? Is it kind of a one-to-one? Is it every company gets it? And what's that decision-making framework like?

A So, I agree with you. You've said before that the great venture capitalists invest in a company not once, but multiple times as they follow on. They make those decisions independently, and we do our best to do that. At the same time, what our model generally is, we make our initial investments, we reserve 40 to fifty million dollars for initial investments and the remainder of the fund for follow-on. The idea there is typically we're investing in the seed round, you know, the first institutional round that a company raises, and then we're taking our prorata in the subsequent round. And then we work with the founder in rounds after that to decide whether we should be taking prorata, investing more or less, or getting diluted alongside the founder in order to make the mechanics of those rounds work as the company grows to maturity.

AI assessment note: “we reserve 40 to fifty million dollars for initial investments and the remainder for follow-on”

Q Totally agree with you. Uh, listen, I want final one. If 10 years out, I said to you, success with the GP and with Finn, what would you say that would be? If everything goes right, what does that look like?

A So I think if everything goes right for the general partnership, we will become an institution that matters in venture capital. When we invest in a company, People will say congratulations, and they will nod and understand why it makes sense because we will have a taste that's understood in the market for a certain type of founder, a certain type of company, and a certain way of working. We will have achieved, uh, our, our North star, which is to be the place that's known to create the best opportunities for the most talented people in Silicon Valley, whether that's a builder on our team, Someone that we place into one of our companies or a founder that, that we partner with. I think creating the very best opportunities for the most talented people and doing that on a repeated basis is the sort of the, the North star for the firm and the fuel that will, that will serve us as we, as we travel over the next 10 years.

AI assessment note: “we will become an institution that matters in venture capital.”

Q some people don't have it. For instance, mine comes from running away from constraints. I hate people telling me what I can and can't do, and also a desire to be appreciated and recognized for myself, not for someone else, which is probably insecure of me. But those are my two reasons why I had to do my own. Have you ever analyzed why you had to do your own?

A There's a question that eats at me about What am I capable of? Like, how far can you go? What, what can you accomplish? When you attempt to answer that question inside the context of an existing institution, the answers are not easy, but more obvious. You know, you could, you could become a managing partner at the firm. Why did that? You could deliver an epic fund. And I think as a team, we had done some of that. You could partner with unbelievable companies and as an individual and as a team, we did that. You could Change the industry in some way with the review or dorm room fund or angel track. And we did that had done those things. And I think, you know, the, the question that was eating at me was, was there more and what could that be? And it felt like the only container to find out the only, the only place where that answer existed was in, in trying to find my own My own thing and, and crafting my own approach. And then I was unbelievably lucky in, in finding someone who had taken that step years before and who was very aligned, uh, with me. And so we came together, uh, to shape the general partnership, um, in a, in a, in a really, uh, I think organic, but also powerful way.

AI assessment note: “it felt like the only container to find out... was in trying to find my own”

Q one hits, and you said, you know, invest in the next Uber. Do great as a partnership. Build a premier brand. That's what you and the partnership did at first round. And you were there for 11 years. It shapes how you think hugely. If you were to do, say, one to two takeaways that really impacted your mindset from the 11 years at first round, what would they be?

A I think the first is one that actually I learned before in my work at ANDONE, the basketball company. That then I applied to my decision to join first round, but it was also Josh's insight at first round, which is there's tremendous power in being able to focus on a niche. And if you can know your customer better than your competition, and you can craft your product to deliver against that customer's needs in a more salient way than your competition, then you will win. The challenge with niche is that at some point people look around and they think, oh, now we're ready to expand. Now we're ready to go beyond the niche. And they forget that what made them so successful in the niche is the thing they have to walk away from to try to expand. So at and one, we would talk about running shoes, trainers. We would talk about lifestyle shoes and clothing, kids licenses and so forth. And the focus on those things eroded the quality of, of the brand we had built in, in basketball and the core understanding of bringing together hip hop and hoops and making that mainstream. And I think when you look at what first round did in seed, It's very much the beginning of that journey. It's, it's you own a niche. You focus entirely on a founder at a certain stage and you work in a certain way. And I think at the general partnership, we're also trying to do that with founders who want to build their …

AI assessment note: “there's tremendous power in being able to focus on a niche”

Q a couple of questions here, like number one, I had Jason Lemkin and Sam lesson on a round table show recently, and they both said the best founders, they don't need you. If a sound lesson said, if a founder says I need you, I'm like, Get out. Not for me. Do you think that's fair or do you think that's actually not the way it is in your perspective?

A I mean, I think, I think nothing against Sam, but they probably don't need him, right? That's what he's saying, right? Like if, you know, if, if someone, if someone says the best founders don't need help, what I hear them saying is the best founders don't need my help. And that's probably true in most cases when a VC says it. But I think that if you look at the best founders, They are constantly accessing the very best sources of advice, guidance, and hands-on support and help to build their companies, to achieve their goals and get to their North star as fast as they can and as high quality as they possibly can. Every single one. They all have a trusted group of people. They all have folks that they bring into their company who do unbelievable work. Um, every, every great founder has, has that support. And so every great founder Needs help. They just don't need it from VCs.

AI assessment note: “every great founder Needs help. They just don't need it from VCs.”

Q five on 25 or six on 40 on the table for a pre-seed or a seed round, I get it Finn, you're great, and I want to work with you, but three on 15 versus five or six on 30 or 40, my job is to capitalize my business, and that can enable me to do x and y. How do, how do we play in a world like that?

A There's a lot of bellyaching about the market's broken. The mega funds are coming down. Um, and maybe, maybe I think differently about this because I had the, I was fortunate enough to have the experience of winning against those firms in the past with lower prices and smaller rounds. And so when I hear people say that, I think you have a product problem. And if you can't convince a founder that partnering with you is what's best for their business in the face of your competition, You need to do something different. And I hear people say, oh, it means I can't, I'm not going to chase the best founders. I'm not going to chase the hottest opportunities. I don't have a chance to win those things. And I think you're hamstringing yourself when you think that way. And I think that if you really believe in your product and you really believe what you're doing, you have to test that in, in competition with the very best funds, the largest funds, and they have a structural advantage. I agree. Their cost of capital is lower than yours. They can write a five million dollar check and not think about it. And that's a larger percentage of, of my fund of your fund makes it hard, but hard doesn't mean you can't win. And I think that you can find the founders that resonate with what you're doing. They recognize that the difference in dilution is something that they can make up for with progress.…

AI assessment note: “if you can't convince a founder that partnering with you is what's best”

Q You don't need to answer that one. The joys of editing. I do want to ask, you know, you mentioned your beautiful relationship with your daughter there. Taking the question we asked earlier about venture, if you could cool yourself up the night before your wife gave birth, what would you advise yourself knowing all that you do now?

A I think, um, there's a consistency in prioritizing your family that, that really matters. And, and I think that the, the reason it matters is because what children need is they need something to push on and they need to know they're safe in doing that. And so I think you consistency creates those boundaries and you set them appropriately. And I think you can, you can make it a practice to truly listen to your child. Truly listen, and then give them whatever it is you think they need, which is very different than what they ask for. But give them what you think they need. And if you do that consistently and to the best of your ability, I think you'd be a fantastic parent.

AI assessment note: “there's a consistency in prioritizing your family that, that really matters.”

Q continuously a great area to be in. It might be, But it also might be a great founder, a special market timing, a special distribution strategy. Likewise, you lose money in an area and you go, you can't make money there, it's shit. Neither are right. There's always nuance and you have to bring plasticity to every new deal. How do you bring plasticity with big losses and big wins?

A I think it's very important, um, to, to view every company to the extent you can as its own Thing. Every startup is original and unique by nature because it is a startup. There are certainly lessons that flow across their similarities. You know, God knows we heard so many pitches that were the Uber of X, right? People trying to play on that, on that exact thing you're talking about. Um, but I, I think that the, the challenge with rules, they can distort your vision and you have to decide. Same as partners. You know, any, anytime you talk to anyone about an investment, anytime you apply a rule that is not, you know, is from one company to another, you're distorting your vision and you just have to decide, is that corrective or is it blurring? And are you wearing, you know, are you seeing more clearly or are you, are you missing something? And so I, I think that the, um, the thing to do is to ask yourself, Why, why would this rule not apply? Right? Why, why is this inappropriate in this case? So ModCloth was a fashion company. They were e-commerce fashion. Um, and there was a belief that the reason that company was working when it was working is that the, the founder was deep in the vintage clothing space and deeply understood it. She was a buyer. She got all those things. And so the first time we met Warby Parker, Those guys didn't have design sense. You know, Dave dresses prett…

AI assessment note: “ask yourself, Why, why would this rule not apply?”

Q but I was on this long run today and I was listening to this motivational speech as I do on long runs. And they said that very few people truly understand what happiness is to them. I, I know it's weird, dude, but I, I just really like you, and I'm just really intrigued to hear your thoughts on this, and I'm so loving this. What is happiness to you?

A I think of it in a couple ways. So I, I can imagine moments in life that would define happiness. So, holding your child for the first time, your wedding night, your 20th anniversary of that wedding. For me, one, and this is, this is strange, but you'll like this. For me, a moment that I know I'll be happy, and I'll know I've lived a good life, is if on my deathbed, I'm looking up at my current wife and daughter, and they're smiling at me, and everything's okay. That's success. And that means that they have been supported by me in the right ways. It means I have lived with integrity. I have honored them and, and they're there for me at the very end, you know, and that's whatever it is, 6070 years from now, hopefully. But day to day, I think happiness comes from the ability to have impact on individuals that you respect. And I think sometimes it comes back to you. So I, I got an email this morning that I was, I was sort of sitting here thinking about what am I going to say to Harry? And I got an email and a friend, a friend wrote me and said he was at a wedding with another friend that a mutual friend of ours. And he, he has a seven month old child and he was telling this mutual friend, you know, I, I feel so fulfilled and joyful. Like I feel a joy that I've never felt before. And, and our mutual friend said to him, You know, I talked to Finn when I had my first child and he told…

AI assessment note: “day to day, I think happiness comes from the ability to have impact”

Q 30 is quite a lot though. If you actually think about it, over a three year period, you're doing 10 a year. How many investing partners are there?

A So we have Dan and I, and then we have Ben on our team. Um, but the key with us is that, you know, the whole team is involved in the process of investing from sourcing to picking, winning, supporting the whole thing. Everyone on our team plays a role. And they play a role, um, by bringing their expertise to, to that. So if we look at our, uh, top of funnel, right? You look at the kind of the sources, 50% of the things we see are sourced by the team because they are very senior. They have incredible networks. People trust them. And when their friends are starting companies, they come to them and they say, I'm thinking of starting a company. Who should I talk to? And they understand What we look for, they understand the types of companies that are interesting, and they surface those things, um, you know, to us as a team, and then they're involved along the way. So if we say one of the things that we think about with the founder is how will they build their team? As we think about crafting a statement of work and deciding that we could partner with someone, we engage the member of the talent team to talk with that founder around their needs, how they think about sequencing and how they think about success and recruiting. On the engineering side, we do the same thing. We deeply understand the way people are approaching their, their technology, what they're building. Um, and in a wa…

AI assessment note: “So we have Dan and I, and then we have Ben on our team.”

Q there about kind of the interviewing there and the art of it. One of the references I did on you said that you are Warren Buffett for founder detection, for really understanding the true qualities of a founder in front of you. How have the questions that you asked changed? Are there commonalities to those questions? To determine the true quality of a founder sitting across the table from you.

A I think I've come to believe that your priorities and the way you express those priorities and explain them is probably the most important thing to understand when you think about partnering with a founder. I like to ask people, uh, what, what's the most important thing? What's the best thing that happened at your company this week? And in the answer to that question, you have an understanding of what are they excited about? What do they think will drive the business forward? Do they set up the situation as something that happened to them and they were a victim and they overcame it? Or did they set it up as a challenge that they understood like a puzzle and they navigated? There are many, many ways that your priorities and the way you frame the challenges that you have to overcome are telling in terms of how you will lead a company. And I think that if you can ask questions that get at somebody's priorities and their motivations and their operating style, Then you learn a tremendous amount about them as a founder. You can start to guess and make an educated guess as to how they will handle the complexity that is certainly coming. The uncertainty that is certainly coming, uh, as they, as they lead their business.

AI assessment note: “I like to ask people, uh, what, what's the most important thing?”

Q I'm asking a really unfair question here. I totally agree with you in terms of owning that niche, but then combining that with your statement earlier of how much further can you go? If you own the seed niche, like the first round did, there's a chance you could own the second round. You could own the Series A as well. Many tried and raised opportunity funds, Series A funds.

A How did that work out? I mean, you know, I think, I think that there, there are folks who have been able to do that without eroding their brand and without eroding the service, but I think it's a very, very hard thing to do if you define yourself as a Delivering a service in a unique way for a unique stage of company. And then you expand beyond that. The only way to do that is to say, at that later stage, it's either is a different product. We do seed and we do it this way. And then because of our brand and reputation at seed, we earn the right to be on cap tables at the later stage. That's just capital. And we're a commodity capital provider. And our value is that we won't be detrimental. You could take that approach, or you could say it's a separate team, which the, the mega funds have, have sort of tried to do and said, you know, we, we have a separate team that focuses in this, in this different way.

AI assessment note: “I think it's a very, very hard thing to do if you define yourself”

Q a couple of questions here, like number one, I had Jason Lemkin and Sam lesson on a round table show recently, and they both said the best founders, they don't need you. If a sound lesson said, if a founder says I need you, I'm like, Get out. Not for me. Do you think that's fair or do you think that's actually not the way it is in your perspective?

A I mean, I think, I think nothing against Sam, but they probably don't need him, right? That's what he's saying, right? Like if, you know, if, if someone, if someone says the best founders don't need help, what I hear them saying is the best founders don't need my help. And that's probably true in most cases when a VC says it. But I think that if you look at the best founders, They are constantly accessing the very best sources of advice, guidance, and hands-on support and help to build their companies, to achieve their goals and get to their North star as fast as they can and as high quality as they possibly can. Every single one. They all have a trusted group of people. They all have folks that they bring into their company who do unbelievable work. Um, every, every great founder has, has that support. And so every great founder Needs help. They just don't need it from VCs.

AI assessment note: “every great founder Needs help. They just don't need it from VCs.”

Q five on 25 or six on 40 on the table for a pre-seed or a seed round, I get it Finn, you're great, and I want to work with you, but three on 15 versus five or six on 30 or 40, my job is to capitalize my business, and that can enable me to do x and y. How do, how do we play in a world like that?

A There's a lot of bellyaching about the market's broken. The mega funds are coming down. Um, and maybe, maybe I think differently about this because I had the, I was fortunate enough to have the experience of winning against those firms in the past with lower prices and smaller rounds. And so when I hear people say that, I think you have a product problem. And if you can't convince a founder that partnering with you is what's best for their business in the face of your competition, You need to do something different. And I hear people say, oh, it means I can't, I'm not going to chase the best founders. I'm not going to chase the hottest opportunities. I don't have a chance to win those things. And I think you're hamstringing yourself when you think that way. And I think that if you really believe in your product and you really believe what you're doing, you have to test that in, in competition with the very best funds, the largest funds, and they have a structural advantage. I agree. Their cost of capital is lower than yours. They can write a five million dollar check and not think about it. And that's a larger percentage of, of my fund of your fund makes it hard, but hard doesn't mean you can't win. And I think that you can find the founders that resonate with what you're doing. They recognize that the difference in dilution is something that they can make up for with progress.…

AI assessment note: “if you can't convince a founder that partnering with you is what's best”

Q 30 is quite a lot though. If you actually think about it, over a three year period, you're doing 10 a year. How many investing partners are there?

A So we have Dan and I, and then we have Ben on our team. Um, but the key with us is that, you know, the whole team is involved in the process of investing from sourcing to picking, winning, supporting the whole thing. Everyone on our team plays a role. And they play a role, um, by bringing their expertise to, to that. So if we look at our, uh, top of funnel, right? You look at the kind of the sources, 50% of the things we see are sourced by the team because they are very senior. They have incredible networks. People trust them. And when their friends are starting companies, they come to them and they say, I'm thinking of starting a company. Who should I talk to? And they understand What we look for, they understand the types of companies that are interesting, and they surface those things, um, you know, to us as a team, and then they're involved along the way. So if we say one of the things that we think about with the founder is how will they build their team? As we think about crafting a statement of work and deciding that we could partner with someone, we engage the member of the talent team to talk with that founder around their needs, how they think about sequencing and how they think about success and recruiting. On the engineering side, we do the same thing. We deeply understand the way people are approaching their, their technology, what they're building. Um, and in a wa…

AI assessment note: “So we have Dan and I, and then we have Ben on our team.”

Q but I was on this long run today and I was listening to this motivational speech as I do on long runs. And they said that very few people truly understand what happiness is to them. I, I know it's weird, dude, but I, I just really like you, and I'm just really intrigued to hear your thoughts on this, and I'm so loving this. What is happiness to you?

A I think of it in a couple ways. So I, I can imagine moments in life that would define happiness. So, holding your child for the first time, your wedding night, your 20th anniversary of that wedding. For me, one, and this is, this is strange, but you'll like this. For me, a moment that I know I'll be happy, and I'll know I've lived a good life, is if on my deathbed, I'm looking up at my current wife and daughter, and they're smiling at me, and everything's okay. That's success. And that means that they have been supported by me in the right ways. It means I have lived with integrity. I have honored them and, and they're there for me at the very end, you know, and that's whatever it is, 6070 years from now, hopefully. But day to day, I think happiness comes from the ability to have impact on individuals that you respect. And I think sometimes it comes back to you. So I, I got an email this morning that I was, I was sort of sitting here thinking about what am I going to say to Harry? And I got an email and a friend, a friend wrote me and said he was at a wedding with another friend that a mutual friend of ours. And he, he has a seven month old child and he was telling this mutual friend, you know, I, I feel so fulfilled and joyful. Like I feel a joy that I've never felt before. And, and our mutual friend said to him, You know, I talked to Finn when I had my first child and he told…

AI assessment note: “I think of it in a couple ways. So I, I can imagine moments”

Q You don't need to answer that one. The joys of editing. I do want to ask, you know, you mentioned your beautiful relationship with your daughter there. Taking the question we asked earlier about venture, if you could cool yourself up the night before your wife gave birth, what would you advise yourself knowing all that you do now?

A I think, um, there's a consistency in prioritizing your family that, that really matters. And, and I think that the, the reason it matters is because what children need is they need something to push on and they need to know they're safe in doing that. And so I think you consistency creates those boundaries and you set them appropriately. And I think you can, you can make it a practice to truly listen to your child. Truly listen, and then give them whatever it is you think they need, which is very different than what they ask for. But give them what you think they need. And if you do that consistently and to the best of your ability, I think you'd be a fantastic parent.

AI assessment note: “there's a consistency in prioritizing your family that, that really matters”

Q Penultimate one, and I couldn't agree with you more there on Josh, such an amazing person, but Finn, penultimate one, what advice do you hear most often given that you maybe disagree with?

A I think recently when I hear people say ideas don't matter, it just drives me crazy. Like the idea is the most valuable thing you have when you start, and the best ones are the result of a tremendous amount of work and effort, experience, insight. They're unique and almost magical by nature. I think they hold the energy that can propel a team forward through the tremendous uncertainty you face when you first get going. And oftentimes the idea defines the mission of some of the most important companies in the world. And so I think a great idea obviously is necessary, not sufficient. You need execution. But when people say the ideas don't matter, I think it's sort of garbage.

AI assessment note: “when I hear people say ideas don't matter, it just drives me crazy.”