Lo Toney

Founding Managing Partner, Plexo Capital · 1 appearance on the record.

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

investorfounderexecutiveoperator@lo_toney ↗LinkedIn ↗plexocap.com ↗

Lo Toney is the Founding Managing Partner of Plexo Capital, an investment firm spun out from GV. He previously served as a Partner at GV and Comcast Ventures, and held executive operating roles at Zynga, Nike.com, and eBay.

15statements → 8claims → 4claims resolved → 75%fully supported → 3.93/5average certainty → 1.93/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 2said about them ↓

3 supported 1 partly supported 0 contradicted 1 not yet assessed 3 not checkable as stated how the 8 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

1 prediction · 7 assertions · 1 opinion · 6 insights · every statement was checked. The prediction and assertions are the 8 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 4 are resolved, 1 is not yet assessed, and 3 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 Lo 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

Assertion Supported

Toney: Seed and Series A annualized median returns are only 5.6%

“Given that the last 20 years, I don't know, We've probably seen seed series A, 23% annualized returns on the mean versus like 5.6% on the median, which by the way, you'd never incur this level of risk to just get 5.6%.”

Lo Toney Jun 26, 2020 ▶ 32:09 20VC: How Fundraising For Funds Has Changed in The World of COVID, The Benefits of Managers Selling Part of Their GP & How To Think Through Your "Minimum Viable Fund Size" with Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1

none yet certainty 2

100% certainty 3

100% certainty 4

50% certainty 5

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

How they sound: speaking style how? →

205 words/min while actually speaking · 0.2 um and uh per 1k words

No argument clarity score for Lo Toney: 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 23 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 5,257 words across 1 episode, but every recording we have of Lo Toney 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 ▾ 5/10

pushed back at the host 2/10

setup questions received 45%

host pushback: the hardest questions Harry asked, tap to play ▶ 11:32“And as an LP, I'd be going bluntly, what the fuck, Lo? I committed to a seed fund, not a pre-seed fund. How should they think about that?” ▶ 30:17“How do you think about actually just getting allocation to the best when, as we said, with such transparent markets today, Sequoia come in harder than ever on front, or you name th…”

What they said15 What others said2 Episodes1

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

Opinion

Toney: Emerging VC managers should sell GP stakes to relieve financial pressure

“So I'm a big proponent, and I think for emerging managers in particular, it helps take some of the financial pressure of having to go a couple years without salary while still being able to build infrastructure and potentially being able to help Cover a portio…”

Lo Toney Jun 26, 2020 ▶ 22:09 20VC: How Fundraising For Funds Has Changed in The World of COVID, The Benefits of Managers Selling Part of Their GP & How To Think Through Your "Minimum Viable Fund Size" with Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Toney: No causal data proves personal wealth is required for VC success

“Someone needs to show me the data, right? And I'm not talking anything that's correlated. I'm talking about causal data that if you're not rich, that you can't be a successful VC, because I don't think that data exists.”

Lo Toney Jun 26, 2020 ▶ 25:25 20VC: How Fundraising For Funds Has Changed in The World of COVID, The Benefits of Managers Selling Part of Their GP & How To Think Through Your "Minimum Viable Fund Size" with Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital

Insight

Toney: Fund managers should accept LP capital immediately when offered

“If a GP has the ability to close with an LP, if an LP wants to give a GP money, take the money. That's always been my philosophy and approach.”

Lo Toney Jun 26, 2020 ▶ 13:47 20VC: How Fundraising For Funds Has Changed in The World of COVID, The Benefits of Managers Selling Part of Their GP & How To Think Through Your "Minimum Viable Fund Size" with Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital

Assertion Supported

Toney: Seed and Series A annualized median returns are only 5.6%

Insight

Toney: Product management playbooks directly mirror early-stage VC investing

“The Playbook for product management is very similar to early stage BC. The ability to understand a market and where opportunity might exist because of a problem. How many of those people or enterprises have that problem? What are the current solutions they're …”

Lo Toney Jun 26, 2020 ▶ 5:48 20VC: How Fundraising For Funds Has Changed in The World of COVID, The Benefits of Managers Selling Part of Their GP & How To Think Through Your "Minimum Viable Fund Size" with Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Toney: Institutional LPs will complete pre-approved venture fund commitments

“If the manager has a prospective LP institutional that has already gone through the approval process, what I'm hearing from institutional LPs is they already have their budgets and plans in place. They will complete those deals.”

Lo Toney Jun 26, 2020 ▶ 8:18 20VC: How Fundraising For Funds Has Changed in The World of COVID, The Benefits of Managers Selling Part of Their GP & How To Think Through Your "Minimum Viable Fund Size" with Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital

Insight

Toney: First-time VC fund managers should plan on two years without income

“We had already told GPs to plan on going two years without income.”

Lo Toney Jun 26, 2020 ▶ 20:41 20VC: How Fundraising For Funds Has Changed in The World of COVID, The Benefits of Managers Selling Part of Their GP & How To Think Through Your "Minimum Viable Fund Size" with Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital

Insight

Toney: LP GP commit requirements should scale with manager net worth

“I think a better way to think about it is, how much is the commit relative to what the nest egg is for the GP? How much is the GP going to actually feel this one, two, three percent?”

Lo Toney Jun 26, 2020 ▶ 23:59 20VC: How Fundraising For Funds Has Changed in The World of COVID, The Benefits of Managers Selling Part of Their GP & How To Think Through Your "Minimum Viable Fund Size" with Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital

Insight

Toney: Early-stage VCs must maximize initial ownership since follow-on buy-ups are unfeasible

“The ability to be disciplined, have the right portfolio construction model, recognize that, you know, you need to get as much ownership on the front end as possible because you're not going to be able to buy up. Those are all the things that are most critical”

Lo Toney Jun 26, 2020 ▶ 32:24 20VC: How Fundraising For Funds Has Changed in The World of COVID, The Benefits of Managers Selling Part of Their GP & How To Think Through Your "Minimum Viable Fund Size" with Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital

Insight

Toney: VCs should join early to build multi-fund track records

“Get into the venture business as early as possible. You're going to, you're just going to take a minute to figure out whether or not you're good. And when you have some wins, that's helpful because you'll need to be able to negotiate for better economics and s…”

Lo Toney Jun 26, 2020 ▶ 34:57 20VC: How Fundraising For Funds Has Changed in The World of COVID, The Benefits of Managers Selling Part of Their GP & How To Think Through Your "Minimum Viable Fund Size" with Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Toney: Anchor LPs often negotiate minimum closing thresholds into LPAs

“Often if there's an anchor LP, they anchor themselves might actually negotiate into the limited partner agreement, the LPA, that a close cannot happen until a particular threshold relative to the target size has been met or absolute number.”

Lo Toney Jun 26, 2020 ▶ 14:16 20VC: How Fundraising For Funds Has Changed in The World of COVID, The Benefits of Managers Selling Part of Their GP & How To Think Through Your "Minimum Viable Fund Size" with Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital

Assertion Supported

Toney: Micro VC fund-one GP commitments typically average 1% to 2%

“That commitment can range, but they typically have to commit some of their own capital To the fund, one to five percent was probably the norm. One to two percent in the micro VC world, especially for a fund one.”

Lo Toney Jun 26, 2020 ▶ 18:08 20VC: How Fundraising For Funds Has Changed in The World of COVID, The Benefits of Managers Selling Part of Their GP & How To Think Through Your "Minimum Viable Fund Size" with Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital

Assertion Supported

Toney: Private equity GP stakes typically range from 10% to 20%

“In the world of private equity, typically the stakes given are 10 to 20%.”

Lo Toney Jun 26, 2020 ▶ 19:38 20VC: How Fundraising For Funds Has Changed in The World of COVID, The Benefits of Managers Selling Part of Their GP & How To Think Through Your "Minimum Viable Fund Size" with Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital

Prediction Not publicly verifiable

Toney: Plexo Capital plans to expand into secondary LP stake purchases

“If we like the GP and it's in between funds, we are looking in the future to do secondary opportunities to purchase other LP stakes and GPs that we like that are building franchises.”

Lo Toney Jun 26, 2020 ▶ 28:44 20VC: How Fundraising For Funds Has Changed in The World of COVID, The Benefits of Managers Selling Part of Their GP & How To Think Through Your "Minimum Viable Fund Size" with Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital

Assertion Partly supported

Toney: Reginald Lewis executed the first $1B Black-led LBO deal

“And it was the first billion dollar transaction done by an African American.”

Lo Toney Jun 26, 2020 ▶ 33:21 20VC: How Fundraising For Funds Has Changed in The World of COVID, The Benefits of Managers Selling Part of Their GP & How To Think Through Your "Minimum Viable Fund Size" with Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner @ Plexo Capital

The other half of the tape: Lo Toney's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 2 times in 2 episodes on 20VC. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Mac the VC 1 Harry Stebbings 1