Fred Destin
Founding Partner, Stride.VC · 3 appearances on the record.
computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →
investorfounder@fdestin ↗LinkedIn ↗stride.vc ↗
Fred Destin is a European venture capitalist who co-founded the London-based seed firm Stride.VC in 2018 alongside Harry Stebbings. Before launching Stride, he served as a General Partner at Accel and Atlas Venture, leading investments in companies such as Deliveroo, PillPack, and Zoopla.
67statements → 20claims → 8claims resolved → 38%fully supported → 4/5average certainty → 2.57/5average debate potential → 4.5/5argument clarity · the sources → 104said about them ↓
3 supported 5 partly supported 0 contradicted 1 not yet assessed 11 not checkable as stated how the 20 claims stand · each chip opens the sources
3 predictions · 17 assertions · 7 opinions · 29 insights · 10 disclosures · 1 what if · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 20 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 8 are resolved, 1 is not yet assessed, and 11 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 Fred argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.
Their most notable supported claim
Expressed certainty vs assessment result
weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet
Argument clarity: do they answer the question? how? →
4.5 / 5
directness 4.7 · coherence 4.9 ·
precision 4.3 · compression 4
redirected or did not address 1 of 15 assessed questions (7%). Watch them ▸
This is a score against a rubric. It is not a rank. Every host question → answer exchange is scored with names hidden on directness, coherence, precision and compression, 1–5 each, on meaning alone: disfluencies are ignored, and only raw unedited episodes count. This is the score that measures thought. Every scored exchange, scores shown → · The rubric and its checks →
How they sound: speaking style how? →
243 words/min while actually speaking · 16.3 um and uh per 1k words
Measured by listening to the audio itself: 6,829 words across 1 episode of raw-level tape, transcribed verbatim with every um and uh kept, each one attributed only where the alignment onto our timed stream is unambiguous. These are measurements of speaking style. We do not rank them: across this corpus, fluency and argument quality are nearly uncorrelated (ρ≈0.2), and smooth talking does not signal clear thinking. How it's measured →
How the interview went all their pushback → series average →
Across 3 rated episodes:
host pushback ▾ 2/10
pushed back at the host ▾ 3.3/10
setup questions received 65%
host pushback: the hardest questions Harry asked, tap to play ▶ 12:06“In your mind, and sorry, this is off schedule, but in your mind, if you were to say a couple of core terms that are unacceptable terms, even in the most wildest of wild circumstanc…” ▶ 14:19“Do you think this is fair in terms of the graveyard? Do you think we will see this being unable to feed all those hungry mouths?” ▶ 21:53“Do you think we'll see a wave of LP defaults over the coming months, given the unprecedented economic macro period we're in?” ▶ 4:51“How would you respond to the notion of startups as this risky proposition, so to speak?” ▶ 7:33“How do you think about this, and is that a fair assumption?” ▶ 15:27“Okay, so if you're a planner, you're in trouble, yet I've spoken to maybe 1700 VCs, and they often define company performance by ability to hit a plan.”
Everything Fred Destin said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →
Destin: VCs claiming 'business as usual' in crisis are unhelpful to founders
“It's, I believe, extremely unhelpful for founders to go out there with a message that says, we are open for business as usual, because nothing about this is usual.”
Destin: Benchmark Gets Discounted Deal Pricing Due to Brand Prestige
“In fact, I bet you benchmark gets discounted pricing on most of what it does because they're benchmarked.”
Destin: Smart Workflow Automation Will Eliminate 60% to 80% of White-Collar Jobs
“We can take out 60 to 80% of white-collar jobs through smart workflow automation before we're even touching decisioning engines like AI.”
Destin Says European Angels Are Overly Risk-Averse and Hate Write-Offs
“Angels are sometimes the worst offenders, because angels are very afraid of losing their money in many cases, especially on the European side. Angels just hate writing shit off.”
Destin Criticizes VCs for Operating Under a Control Mindset
“VCs are very often assholes because they're in a logic of control. Their viewpoint of the world is like, Hey, you work for me. You have to deliver results. Which is, of course, completely wrong, because the reality is we're only trying to enable a project call…”
Destin: I worked at Goldman Sachs hiding the Greek deficit
“One day I was actually working at Goldman Sachs on hiding the Greek deficit through long dated swaps, and I decided I had enough of it, and I jumped into the world of entrepreneurship”
Destin: Venture funds succeed through great founders, not aggressive terms
“And honestly, on top of that, I don't know of any fund that was ever returned on nasty terms. Funds are returned by backing the right entrepreneurs and exceptional outcomes.”
Destin: Emerging VC managers have no leverage if LPs default
“Especially if you're an emerging manager and you're a first time fund, are you going to go sue one of your LPs because they don't pay? The reality is like, you kind of have no leverage. You're just a sitting duck. And if people decide not to pay you, then they…”
Destin: Tier-Two VCs Struggle to Return $500M+ Funds
“But if you're a tier two VC running a five to eight hundred million dollar fund, you know, it's extremely hard to actually provide the kind of returns that really venture demands.”
Destin: Americans Outperform Other Founders by Thinking Bigger
“And this is where the Americans are so much better than anybody else because they've lived it.”
Destin: Requiring Proven Unit Economics Would Have Killed Deliveroo and PillPack
“We would never have funded Deliveroo. We would never have funded PillPack. You know, in fact, Kareem probably would never have taken in any capital because you have to project yourself into sometimes a three or four year cycle before these unit economics reall…”
Destin: Non-Strategic Startups Force VCs Into 40% Secondary Discounts
“Because if you're not strategic, nobody has to buy you. If nobody has to buy you as a VC, I'm going to sit on that position for 12 years and end up selling it secondary to a horrible secondary buyer who's going to take a 40% discount on my book value.”
Destin: Startup financial plans are a fiction, not reality
“The plan is a fiction. The plan is a framework for which to think about the future. You know, the moment you finish writing it, the conditions change, etc.”
Destin: Forcing startups to hit plans drives bad decisions
“In fact, even worse, if you force a company to hit plan, and they're not hitting plan naturally, you're probably making the wrong decisions for the business long term.”
Destin: Walking away from top deals over minor valuation differences is foolish
“Now, if you say no to a world-class deal because the pre-money is three million off what you thought it should be, you're an idiot. Because world-class deals don't come through your door every day.”
Destin: Founders picking investors over small valuation gains are short-term optimizers
“But if they're trying to get you to climb up a tree and kind of make their ultimate selection based on a couple of million bucks of pre-money, that to me is usually a signal that you're a short-term optimizer and not somebody who's going to build an amazing bu…”
Destin: Board members must fully back the CEO or fire them
“If you're backing the CEO and he's running the company, It is your job to be behind the CEO. If at some point you make a decision to remove the CEO, make a decision to remove the CEO. What you're not allowed to do is be like a fucking carpenter ant that's like…”
Destin: Deliveroo has almost no customer overlap with Just Eat or Delivery Hero
“We have almost no overlap with Just Eat or Delivery Hero.”
Destin: Europe penalizes startup failure far more harshly than the US
“And I think very often, especially in Europe, Founders are being made to feel extremely guilty when things don't work, whereas in the US you find these attitudes very different, which is like, hey, we tried, it was a big ambitious problem, you know, turns out …”
Fred Destin Writes Seed Checks Solely to Back Founders' Next Startups
“I have told a couple of founders, I'm putting some money in you because I believe in you, but I really want to back your next business. And in both cases, I haven't reinvested in either of them, but I can tell you in both cases I was probably right on the busi…”
Fred Destin Deliberately Engineers Conflict With Founders Before Investing
“So I will engineer disagreement, just so we see, like, what are we like in conflict, right? Because you never know about people until they go and get stuff.”
Destin: Stride VC paused new investments for two to three months
“And there was definitely an aspect here of reacting to a market that was sort of pretending it was business as usual and sort of planting a flag and saying, hey, we're actually on pause for a month or two or three.”
The other half of the tape: Fred Destin's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 103 times in 48 episodes on 20VC. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 83Jeff Fagnan 12TJ Parker 3David Frankel 2Jules Maltz 1Hunter Somerville 1
Statements about Fred Destin, by other people (1)
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
2025 2 mentions in 1 episode
2023 15 mentions in 5 episodes 3 per episode
- TJ Parker: Building PillPack, The First E-Commerce Pharmacy, to Amazon's $1B Acquisition | E1022 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Ophelia Brown: How We Raised $432M in a Pandemic; What's New in European Venture Capital | E990 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Stephane Kurgan: Lessons Scaling King from 100 Employees to 2,400; How to Find Great Talent | E1041 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Rob Lacher: How I Scaled to $600M AUM; Hiring Tips for VCs; Venture Capital in Europe vs USA | E999 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- Mike Salguero: How I Grew ButcherBox to $600M/year in Revenue; Tips for Influencer Marketing | E998 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- every mention in 2023, scene by scene →
2021 4 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
- 20VC: Deliveroo Founder Will Shu on The IPO This Year, The Rise of Quick Commerce and The Fierce Competition with Uber Eats
- 20VC LATAM: LATAM's Largest Fund, Kaszek Ventures on Scaling from $100M to $1BN, Why Capital is not a Source of Moat & Why LATAM is More Than Copycat Companies with Nicolas Szekasy, Co-Founder @ Kaszek Ventures
- every mention in 2021, scene by scene →
2020 14 mentions in 8 episodes 2 per episode
- 20VC: CRV's George Zachary on His Relationship To Money and How it has Changed Over Time, Why The Best Founders Have Often Experienced Parental or Home Instability and The Stories Behind Investing in Unicorns; PillPack, Yammer and Udacity
- 20VC: Oren Zeev on Why Diversification Is Overrated, The Downside of Thematic Investing, Making Quality Decisions In Uncertain Conditions & Why He Has No Reserves Allocation
- 20VC: Benchmark's Sarah Tavel on Why Chasing GMV Will Lead To The Wrong Direction, The 2 Crucial Tipping Points For Marketplace Adoption, Why UGC Plays Are Like Marketplaces & How To Determine Between Existential and Non-Existential Risk
- 20VC: Lambda School Founder, Austen Allred on How To Assess Your Relationship To Risk and Money, Why San Francisco Is A Case Study For The Greatest Squandering of Wealth in History & Why Complexity Increases Exponentially with Scale
- 20VC: Calm Founder Alex Tew on What It Takes To Build Viral Products Today, The Current State of Customer Acquisition Costs, What Makes The Best Brands
- 20VC: Elad Gil on Startup Offense and Defence in a Recession, How The Venture Landscape Has Shifted & All Things Valuations, Secondaries and Layoffs
- 20VC: Raising A $1.35Bn Fund I, The Emerging Secondary Opportunity For Early Stage Managers and Founders & What It Takes To Win The Best Growth Deals Today with Ravi Viswanathan, Founder & Managing Partner @ NewView Capital
- 20VC: Index Ventures Partner, Mark Goldberg on The Questions Founders Must Ask A Multi-Stage Fund Before Taking Their Money At Seed, Why Most Angels Will Lose Their Money & Why We Will See Our First $100Bn Neo-Bank Shortly
- every mention in 2020, scene by scene →
2019 14 mentions in 12 episodes 1 per episode
- 20VC: Firstmark's Rick Heitzmann on The Rise of Pre-Emptive Rounds, His Biggest Learnings From The Pinterest Board, 2 Things VCs Can Do To Prepare Their Companies For The Downturn and Why Now Is A Good Time to Be Contrarian and Invest In Consumer
- 20VC: Carta Founder Henry Ward on Why The Best Companies Are Not Product Led But Distribution Led, 3 Requirements Needed For A New Market/Investment To Be Exciting and Why Small Markets Are So Attractive
- 20VC: Bessemer's Byron Deeter On Lessons From Investing in 14 $Bn Companies, What The Heck Is Going On In Cloud Today and Why Cloud IPO Floodgates Are About To Burst Open
- 20VC: Sequoia's Pat Grady on What Sequoia Is Focused On Today, How Sequoia Think About Investment Decision-Making Processes & Why It Is Important To Trade A Few Points of Efficiency for Culture When It Comes To Attribution
- 20VC: Benchmark's Bill Gurley on 5 Traits Benchmark Look For When Adding To The Partnership, Why The Abundance of Capital Is Today's Biggest Challenge in VC & The Right Way To Think About Market Size When Assessing Opportunities
- 20VC: Kleiner Perkins' Mamoon Hamid on The Strategy Behind The New $600m "Back To The Future" Fund, The Truth To Price Sensitivity at Series A & Why Venture Team Building Is Like Basketball Team Building
- 20VC: Okta Founder Frederic Kerrest on Why You Want To Be A Monopolist In A Small Market, The Biggest Challenges in Scaling Okta To IPO and Being a16z's First Ever Fund Check
- 20VC: Lightspeed's Jeremy Liew on Why It Is More Important To Be Right Than Contrarian, The Most Common Mistakes Made By Hyper-Growth Companies & 3 Characteristics That Make An Individual Incredible At Sourcing
- 4 more episodes that year, every mention in 2019 →
2018 44 mentions in 14 episodes 3 per episode
- 20VC: Why Partners Are There To Save Each Other From Themselves, Why Effective Reserve Allocation Is The Hardest Question In Venture & What Makes The Truly Special Board Members with Jeff Fagnan, Founding Partner @ Accomplice
- 20VC: From Sequoia To Accel To General Catalyst: What Makes The Best Board Member & The Hiring Methodology To Attract World Class Talent with KAYAK & Lola Founder, Paul English
- 20VC: Why Follow-On Investments Are Always A Better Investment, Why Spray and Pray Investing Is Like The Stock Market & Why Startups Need A Board From Day One with Jerry Neumann
- 20VC: Lessons Learned Scaling PillPack from Seed to Amazon Acquisition, Why Investors Should Spend More Time Assessing Human Capital Risk Taken by Founders & The Right Way To Think About Capital Efficiency in Scaling with David Frankel, Managing Partner @
- 20VC: The Metrics That Matter In Early-Stage Consumer, Why Moats Matter More Than Brand Today and How VCs Deal with S*** Hit The Fan Moments with Jason Stoffer, Managing Partner @ Maveron
- 20VC: A Framework For Approaching Risk and How It Affects Portfolio Construction | Lessons and Advice From Working with Dropbox's Drew Houston | Why Being A Learning Animal Is The Most Important Factor For Success with Ted Wang, Partner @ Cowboy Ventures
- 20VC: CB Insights' Anand Sanwal on The Most Dangerous Myth Some Investors Have Promoted, Why Most B2B Content Is Crap and How To Make It Successful & Why Predigree Is Overrated and The Right Way To Scale Teams
- 20VC: Index's Danny Rimer on His Biggest Lessons On Price, Ownership, Board Dynamics & Building Consumer Businesses from Backing The Likes of King, Skype, Farfetch, Glossier and more...
- 6 more episodes that year, every mention in 2018 →
2017 5 mentions in 4 episodes 1 per episode
- 20VC: How 50% Of VCs Hurt Entrepreneurs, How To Build A Relationship Of Trust With Your VC and How Entrepreneurs Can Detect VC BS with Jason Mendelson, Co-Founder @ Foundry Group
- 20VC: When Should CEOs Ask Their VC For Help, When Do Companies Really Need A Board & What The Series A Expansion Means For Startups with Max Gazor, General Partner @ CRV
- 20VC: What Does It Take To Gain A Late Stage Cheque Today? The Fundamental Mistakes CEOs Make In The Scaling Process & The Importance Of Building The Next S Curve For Founders with Jules Maltz, General Partner @ IVP
- 20VC: The Fundamentals To Creating A Successful Venture Partnership & The Optimal Investment Decision Making Process with Ryan McIntyre, Co-Founder @ Foundry Group
- every mention in 2017, scene by scene →
2016 5 mentions in 2 episodes 3 per episode
Appearances (3)
| Episode | Date | Speaking time |
|---|---|---|
| 20VC: Are VCs Still "Open For Business", How VCs Attitude To Risk Has Changed & The 2 Most | Apr 8, 2020 | 24m |
| 20VC: Stride's Fred Destin on The Acceptable vs Non-Acceptable Risks When Investing, How S | Jan 15, 2019 | 27m |
| 20VC: Fred Destin @ Accel on Why Startups Fail & Founders Get Fired? | Jan 18, 2016 | 32m |