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Derek Zanutto

General Partner, CapitalG · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

investorLinkedIn ↗capitalg.com ↗

At CapitalG, Zanutto leads investments in enterprise software, data infrastructure, cybersecurity, and applied AI, backing companies such as Databricks and Armis. Before joining CapitalG in 2018, he spent a decade in private equity at TPG, Hellman & Friedman, and GIC, helping lead investments in Uber and Airbnb.

16statements → 5claims → 0claims resolved → 3.88/5average certainty → 2.25/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 1said about them ↓

5 not checkable as stated how the 5 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

3 predictions · 2 assertions · 2 opinions · 7 insights · 2 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 5 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 0 are resolved, and 5 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Derek argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

How they sound: speaking style how? →

275 words/min while actually speaking · 3 um and uh per 1k words

No argument clarity score for Derek Zanutto: no usable question→answer exchanges on raw tape (a fair score needs 8+). We do not score a sample that small. Roundtable and news formats yield far fewer direct exchanges than interviews. Their coarse estimate from 24 exchanges on the produced feed is ≈4.5/5, shown at half point precision because the sample is small and produced tape scores higher.

Measured by listening to 6,284 words across 1 episode, but every recording we have of Derek Zanutto is the aired feed, and an editor cleaned that audio before release. Some of the hesitation was cut before we ever heard it, so read these as floors: the true rates are at least this high. These are measurements of speaking style, not scores. How it's measured →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Across 1 rated episode:

host pushback ▾ 3/10
pushed back at the host ▾ 1/10
setup questions received 55%

Everything Derek Zanutto said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Insight
Zanutto: Hedge funds use early checks as loss leaders for pre-IPO allocation
“Frankly, a lot of these hedge funds manage such enormous pools of capital relative to the size of the traditional VC fund. That for them, you know, writing a 25 or fifty million dollar check into an A or a B round is a rounding error, right? So for them, they …”
Derek Zanutto Nov 9, 2020 ▶ 20:37 20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundling, Late Stage Funds Moving Earlier, Early Stage Funds Moving Later& The Mechanics of Venture That Founders Should Know with Derek Zanutto, General Partner @ Capital
Insight
Zanutto: High valuations and easy money create severe downstream financing risks
“One learning that I've come away with from those conversations and experiences is if you take the money and it's at a very high price and it's easy money, there is a risk to that because you, if you take it at too high of a price, you get over your skis and th…”
Derek Zanutto Nov 9, 2020 ▶ 23:10 20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundling, Late Stage Funds Moving Earlier, Early Stage Funds Moving Later& The Mechanics of Venture That Founders Should Know with Derek Zanutto, General Partner @ Capital
Insight
Zanutto: Established VC firms lose performance sensitivity due to stacked management fees
“A younger fund's partners will make nearly all of their money based on how well their underlying portfolio companies perform, while older funds will be less sensitive to underlying investment performance given the steady stream of stacked management fees that …”
Derek Zanutto Nov 9, 2020 ▶ 25:54 20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundling, Late Stage Funds Moving Earlier, Early Stage Funds Moving Later& The Mechanics of Venture That Founders Should Know with Derek Zanutto, General Partner @ Capital
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Zanutto: Every enterprise will need Armis for unagentable devices alongside CrowdStrike
“As IoT devices continue to proliferate, you know, every enterprise will need a CrowdStrike for their agentable devices and an Armus for all unagentable devices.”
Derek Zanutto Nov 9, 2020 ▶ 34:50 20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundling, Late Stage Funds Moving Earlier, Early Stage Funds Moving Later& The Mechanics of Venture That Founders Should Know with Derek Zanutto, General Partner @ Capital
Insight
Derek Zanutto: Pursuing market breadth over depth in expensive markets fails
“What I worry most about, and I think what's most challenging is if in markets like this where prices are incredibly high, going for breadth and trying to chase everything, I think is a losing strategy because then you're going to, you know, not have enough, en…”
Derek Zanutto Nov 9, 2020 ▶ 13:26 20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundling, Late Stage Funds Moving Earlier, Early Stage Funds Moving Later& The Mechanics of Venture That Founders Should Know with Derek Zanutto, General Partner @ Capital
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Derek Zanutto: Enterprise Data Stack Will Consolidate as CIOs Rationalize Vendors
“And I think there's a case to be made that you're likely to see a bit more consolidation down the road as CIOs and CDOs look to rationalize all the vendors are using to solve, you know, common pain points throughout the enterprise.”
Derek Zanutto Nov 9, 2020 ▶ 19:16 20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundling, Late Stage Funds Moving Earlier, Early Stage Funds Moving Later& The Mechanics of Venture That Founders Should Know with Derek Zanutto, General Partner @ Capital
Opinion
Zanutto: Startup media overemphasizes individual founders over teams
“No one investor is the be all and end all for any given company's board. No one individual can build a world beating business all on their own. And I think the media around startups and venture often defaults to the story of the individual because it's frankly…”
Derek Zanutto Nov 9, 2020 ▶ 34:05 20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundling, Late Stage Funds Moving Earlier, Early Stage Funds Moving Later& The Mechanics of Venture That Founders Should Know with Derek Zanutto, General Partner @ Capital
Disclosure
TPG invested in Uber's Series D at a $3B valuation
“And one of the very first investments we did was an investment into Uber's series D round. When it was valued at, you know, at the time felt like a very rich price of three billion dollars.”
Derek Zanutto Nov 9, 2020 ▶ 5:38 20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundling, Late Stage Funds Moving Earlier, Early Stage Funds Moving Later& The Mechanics of Venture That Founders Should Know with Derek Zanutto, General Partner @ Capital
Disclosure
TPG backed Airbnb in 2014 at a $10B valuation
“We then followed that in 2014 with an investment into Airbnb when it was at a ten billion dollar valuation.”
Derek Zanutto Nov 9, 2020 ▶ 5:58 20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundling, Late Stage Funds Moving Earlier, Early Stage Funds Moving Later& The Mechanics of Venture That Founders Should Know with Derek Zanutto, General Partner @ Capital
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Zanutto: Capital oversupply in venture has persisted for over 10 years
“I think there's been an oversupply Supply of capital for, you know, the better part of 10 years now, at least 10 years, really since the Fed took interest rates down to zero coming out of the GFC in 2008, 2009.”
Derek Zanutto Nov 9, 2020 ▶ 8:24 20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundling, Late Stage Funds Moving Earlier, Early Stage Funds Moving Later& The Mechanics of Venture That Founders Should Know with Derek Zanutto, General Partner @ Capital
Insight
Derek Zanutto: Investors must form sector theses before companies start fundraising
“And I think what that means in reality is that for investors to make informed judgments On underwriting risks and making investments, you really need to have been doing your research and your work and developing your thesis on a category well in advance of a c…”
Derek Zanutto Nov 9, 2020 ▶ 12:44 20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundling, Late Stage Funds Moving Earlier, Early Stage Funds Moving Later& The Mechanics of Venture That Founders Should Know with Derek Zanutto, General Partner @ Capital
Insight
Zanutto: Novel COVID-era startup services are significantly harder to underwrite
“But a whole host of other startups thriving now in the COVID economy where they're offering services that didn't really exist a whole lot pre-COVID. And in my mind, those are much more challenging to underwrite And assess as an investor today, because then you…”
Derek Zanutto Nov 9, 2020 ▶ 16:54 20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundling, Late Stage Funds Moving Earlier, Early Stage Funds Moving Later& The Mechanics of Venture That Founders Should Know with Derek Zanutto, General Partner @ Capital
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Zanutto: Early-Stage VC Funds Moving Upstack Will Split or Reuse Teams
“I think you'll see some of those early stage funds will hire entirely separate teams, and some of them will use the exact same early stage team to prosecute those growth rounds.”
Derek Zanutto Nov 9, 2020 ▶ 24:23 20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundling, Late Stage Funds Moving Earlier, Early Stage Funds Moving Later& The Mechanics of Venture That Founders Should Know with Derek Zanutto, General Partner @ Capital
Insight
Zanutto: Test VC Deals by Risking Proportional Personal Net Worth
“Would you invest your own money in the deal proportionate to your own personal net worth? So if you are evaluating an investment for the fund that would account for five percent of the fund's capital, would you invest five percent of your own net worth in that…”
Derek Zanutto Nov 9, 2020 ▶ 28:16 20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundling, Late Stage Funds Moving Earlier, Early Stage Funds Moving Later& The Mechanics of Venture That Founders Should Know with Derek Zanutto, General Partner @ Capital
Opinion
Zanutto: Tony Vinciquerra is the best board member in media and tech
“You know, the best board member I've come across in my career is this guy, Tony Vince Acquera.”
Derek Zanutto Nov 9, 2020 ▶ 31:22 20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundling, Late Stage Funds Moving Earlier, Early Stage Funds Moving Later& The Mechanics of Venture That Founders Should Know with Derek Zanutto, General Partner @ Capital
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Zanutto: CapitalG's Collibra thesis originated from discussions with Google engineers
“So for Clibra as an example, that initial idea around data intelligence and data management came from spending time with a number of Google engineers who had regular conversations with folks throughout Google and outside Google who are combating these challeng…”
Derek Zanutto Nov 9, 2020 ▶ 14:25 20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundling, Late Stage Funds Moving Earlier, Early Stage Funds Moving Later& The Mechanics of Venture That Founders Should Know with Derek Zanutto, General Partner @ Capital

The other half of the tape: Derek Zanutto's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 1 time in 1 episode on 20VC. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 1

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2021 1 mention in 1 episode

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
20VC: Lessons from Investing in Uber and Airbnb, How To Think Through Bundling vs Unbundli Nov 9, 2020 25m
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