Judith Elsea

Co-Founder and Managing Director, Weathergage Capital · 1 appearance on the record.

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

investorfounderexecutiveLinkedIn ↗weathergagecapital.com ↗

Elsea co-founded Weathergage Capital in 2006, establishing the firm as an early institutional backer of emerging managers and micro-VC funds. Previously, she served as Chief Investment Officer of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, overseeing a $2 billion portfolio and co-creating the Kauffman Fellows Program.

6statements → 1claims → 1claims resolved → 4.5/5average certainty → 2/5average debate potential → 4.2/5argument clarity · the sources → 17said about them ↓

0 supported 1 partly supported 0 contradicted how the 1 claim stands · each chip opens the sources

1 assertion · 2 insights · 3 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertion are the 1 claim: statements the public record can support or contradict. 1 is resolved. 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 Judith argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Argument clarity: do they answer the question? how? →

4.2 / 5 directness 4.3 · coherence 4.5 · precision 4 · compression 3.7

answered every one of 20 assessed questions directly

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? →

222 words/min while actually speaking · 9 um and uh per 1k words

Measured by listening to the audio itself: 4,108 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 1 rated episode:

host pushback ▾ 1/10

pushed back at the host 0/10

setup questions received 75%

host pushback: the hardest questions Harry asked, tap to play ▶ 6:48“How was the LP reaction to fund of funds itself, and how did you avoid the kind of traditional perspective of some LPs that it's a middleman game?” ▶ 16:13“What are the most common reasons you find yourself repeating for, for why you're not investing?” ▶ 17:20“To what extent are you then committed to investing in follow-on funds for fund two and fund three in the ecosystem? To what extent does that commitment persist?”

What they said6 What others said17 Episodes1

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

Insight

Founder sentiment is the leading indicator of a VC's potency

“So we find that founders and entrepreneurs are leading opinions are the leading indicators of the relevancy and potency of a VC Find that many LPs opinion of a VC's brand is actually a lagging indicator. The most powerful form of social proof for us is the opi…”

Judith Elsea Sep 26, 2016 ▶ 9:44 20VC: The 3 Things LPs Want To See From VCs & Why The Table Stakes For VCs Is Higher Than Ever with Judith Elsea, Co-Founder @ Weathergage Capital

Disclosure

Weathergage drops VC funds primarily when they lose relevancy with founders

“For us, when we decide to stop backing a VC firm, It's usually based on the loss of relevancy with founders, and we ask ourselves every time, how does this particular team find and win deals versus their top competitors?”

Judith Elsea Sep 26, 2016 ▶ 18:04 20VC: The 3 Things LPs Want To See From VCs & Why The Table Stakes For VCs Is Higher Than Ever with Judith Elsea, Co-Founder @ Weathergage Capital

Disclosure

Lack of differentiation is the main reason Weathergage rejects VC funds

“Most of the time, it's undifferentiation. We see managers who, you know, have spent some time in the field, and they have a credible record, but it's not an exemplary record after, you know, having done it for a while.”

Judith Elsea Sep 26, 2016 ▶ 16:19 20VC: The 3 Things LPs Want To See From VCs & Why The Table Stakes For VCs Is Higher Than Ever with Judith Elsea, Co-Founder @ Weathergage Capital

Insight

Many LPs are uncomfortable giving direct feedback to VC fund managers

“Many LPs are not comfortable giving feedback to GPs, and so fund managers may not have a clue how they're being perceived or why they're not a fit with a, you know, institutional manager's portfolio.”

Judith Elsea Sep 26, 2016 ▶ 23:20 20VC: The 3 Things LPs Want To See From VCs & Why The Table Stakes For VCs Is Higher Than Ever with Judith Elsea, Co-Founder @ Weathergage Capital

Assertion Partly supported

Every partner at Felicis Ventures has at least one billion-dollar exit

“Now, each one of the Felicis partners has at least one billion dollar exit under his or her belt.”

Judith Elsea Sep 26, 2016 ▶ 28:39 20VC: The 3 Things LPs Want To See From VCs & Why The Table Stakes For VCs Is Higher Than Ever with Judith Elsea, Co-Founder @ Weathergage Capital

Disclosure

Weathergage shares proprietary benchmarking data with VCs who pitch them

“We like to give something back in return if we can, and so the data that I just mentioned that we collect in our proprietary tool called Weathervane, we will share that data back with the people who are calling on us.”

Judith Elsea Sep 26, 2016 ▶ 15:09 20VC: The 3 Things LPs Want To See From VCs & Why The Table Stakes For VCs Is Higher Than Ever with Judith Elsea, Co-Founder @ Weathergage Capital

The other half of the tape: Judith Elsea's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 17 times in 5 episodes on 20VC. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 17

Every mention by year

mentionsepisodesper episode tap a year for its mentions

2017 2 mentions in 1 episode

20VC: How LPs Can Add Strategic Value To Portfolio Companies & Why Real Estate Is On Every Whiteboard In Silicon Valley with Brendan Wallace, Co-Founder @ Fifth Wall May 3, 2017 · 2 mentions · from 1:00
every mention in 2017, scene by scene →

2016 15 mentions in 4 episodes 4 per episode

20VC: Reddit's Alexis Ohanian on How It All Started With Paul Graham @ YC, The Biggest Surprises About Making The Move Into VC & Why Alexis Believes All The Best Investors Have Operating Experience Dec 12, 2016 · 5 mentions · from 1:09
20VC: Binary's Justin Caldbeck on Specialisation Being Key To Success In VC, The Biggest Problem In VC Today and Why The Future Is A Moneyless Barter Economy Nov 7, 2016 · 4 mentions · from 3:07
20VC: Why You Have To Be A Good Long Term Actor To Succeed in VC & How Owning An Esports Team Could Be A $Bn Outcome with Clinton Foy, General Partner @ Crosscut Ventures Nov 2, 2016 · 4 mentions · from 4:55
20VC: Garry Tan on The Biggest Takeaways From Advising 700 Companies @ Y Combinator & Why Now Is The Golden Age For The Early Stage? Dec 14, 2016 · 2 mentions · from 0:57
every mention in 2016, scene by scene →

Appearances (1)

Episode	Date	Speaking time
20VC: The 3 Things LPs Want To See From VCs & Why The Table Stakes For VCs Is Higher Than	Sep 26, 2016	21m

Judith Elsea

The record, in short

Argument clarity: do they answer the question? how? →

How they sound: speaking style how? →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Every mention by year

Appearances (1)

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