Opinion
Jude Gomila: 50% of cap table investors are a drag on founder time
“50% of investors add into a cap table or just a drag factor on time for their founder. And then maybe another 30% are neutral to slightly positive. And then there are stars that actually are transformational to the company”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Gomila: Traditional VC 'suits' will be displaced by creator-operators
“So I think the suits are going to be removed from the game and creators and operators and makers are going to be more empowered with dollars to make it, but there will be giant warehouses.”
Insight
Gomila: High-Quality Investors Are Easier to Close Than Worse Ones
“We thought it would be easier to close the worst investors. It was actually easier to close the better investors.”
Insight
Investors Must Introduce Randomness to Maximize Their Learning Speed
“And there's another component as well that you've got to add a little bit of randomness in because your algorithm, you won't be able to learn in the quickest possible way unless you need a little bit of randomness to go against your kind of feelings and your a…”
Disclosure
Jude Gomila Will Fund the Same Investment Thesis Up to Four Times
“If you bank something that you thought needed to exist and it doesn't do well, if it didn't do well for certain reasons, like the founding team fell apart, you can still go again. And I actually go again on the same hypothesis that I think something really nee…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Gomila: Traditional VC will consolidate into full-stack giants as others fail
“I think there's going to be consolidation for the traditional VC, where there's going to be some players that are the main players, and they go on full stack, they're full stack, full service, traditional VC, and all the traditional VC, other ones fall apart.”
Insight
Jude Gomila: Breaking into high-end markets is easier than low-end markets
“We actually found it very difficult to get into the low end of the market and the high end of the market was actually easier to sell into, which was very surprising. And that led to a lesson of sell high, like your prices should be high.”
Disclosure
Jude Gomila Drained His Bank Account to Zero for Angel Investing
“Actually, I would put all my cash, I would run to zero dollars in my bank account, put every single dollar I had into angel investing for the next seven years.”
Insight
Gomila: Angel investing requires high-volume precision, not spray-and-pray
“And I don't treat it as a spray and pray. I treat it as like, actually every shot you take is a sniper rifle. It's just, I have a lot of bullets and I have a lot of time.”
Opinion
Gomila: ADP and Paychex had terrible software and split market share
“So we knew at the time that ADP and paychecks were We're pretty crappy software companies. Like the software was terrible. There was not a monopoly on either side. Both companies, you know, had roughly equal market share.”
Insight
Gomila: Angel investors should maintain uniform check sizes across high-risk investments
“The point you made where you don't know some of your riskiest bets, maybe the absolute best bets. And I realized that, you know, some of the riskier bets I'd done smaller check sizes on, and I realized that was actually not the right decision. And the risky be…”
Opinion
Gomila: Younger investors have a massive advantage over older players
“There are many younger investors that are getting into the game, And actually have a massive advantage on some of the older players when it comes to getting into deals earlier, spotting particular trends.”
Insight
Gomila: Data tools raise the skill required for venture capital
“I think as we get more data and we get more analytics, that means more complexity and more opportunity to be analytical. So I think the skill actually goes up. Some of the art maybe goes down, but the skill can go up.”
Insight
Gomila: $50M-$100M exits do not move the needle for VC fund math
“It's okay if you have a fifty million exit or a hundred million exit. And most people around the world would say that is absolutely insane. But for the VC, that's not going to cut it. It's not going to move the needle. The math doesn't work. They need some muc…”
Insight
Gomila: Angels need 10-20 investments to hit non-linear returns
“Just from a pure numbers perspective, if there are nonlinear returns on an investment, you probably need to make, as an angel, 10, 20 investments to possibly see, to have a statistically high chance of seeing one of these nonlinear returns.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Gomila: Faster market dynamics will force VC verticalization
“So I think if the markets are changing faster, then we'll see a lot more verticalization and people focus, you know, that our algorithms in a verticals are focused on, on particular verticals and markets, and that's going to change much quicker.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Jude Gomila: New branded VC rounds will emerge between Series A and B
“There'll be some people that they're not formally leading a round, and they're not taking a board seat, but they just want to go between an A and a B, and a bridge round will be converted into some kind of new branding, where it's just like a top-up round or s…”
Insight
Gomila: Balance brand VCs for signal with unbranded VCs for time
“If you go off the brands, well, the brands don't have as much time. So you want some brands for signal and for press and for hiring, and you want some non-brands because you want their time.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Gomila: Angel portfolio strategy shifts to fewer deals and larger checks
“I think once you've booted up your kind of portfolio in terms of numbers, and you've kind of seen some of the mechanics, and you've done some learning, then there's going to be maybe a strategy of, like, reducing the number that I'done and increasing, you know…”
Insight
Gomila: Founder secondaries for housing improve operational efficiency
“And I think the first thing for a founder to have some security in a house, they're economically more efficient. They can pay themselves a lower salary. That's a good justification for doing the secondary.”
Disclosure
Jude Gomila Wrote the First Check Into Software Startup Linear
“I was first checking Linear.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Jude Gomila Resold Imported Nintendo Wiis at 3x Price During Shortage
“I ended up making quite a lot of money on selling Nintendo Wiis, which I imported from Europe. When all the Wiis ran out, I saw this coming, and I bought the stock of Nintendo Wiis, and I physically sold them at three extra price”
Assertion Supported
Half of Jude Gomila's Y Combinator Batch Died in 2008 Crash
“Half the companies in our batch completely died. They could not raise any money at all.”
