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Manu Kumar

Founder & Chief Firestarter, K9 Ventures · 2 appearances on the record.

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

investorfounderexecutiveengineer@ManuKumar ↗LinkedIn ↗k9ventures.com ↗

Manu Kumar is an early-stage investor credited with popularizing pre-seed funding, backing companies including Twilio, Lyft, Carta, Auth0, and Lucidchart. He previously founded SneakerLabs and CardMunch, co-founded Carta, and serves as the CEO of digital business card platform HiHello.

28statements → 9claims → 6claims resolved → 67%fully supported → 3.86/5average certainty → 2.21/5average debate potential → 4.6/5argument clarity · the sources → 26said about them ↓

4 supported 2 partly supported 0 contradicted 1 not yet assessed 2 not checkable as stated how the 9 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

4 predictions · 5 assertions · 4 opinions · 7 insights · 8 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 9 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 6 are resolved, 1 is not yet assessed, and 2 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 Manu 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
Kumar: Mid-2000s Sand Hill Road VCs avoided tech risk and operational backgrounds
“Most of the funds were trying to do investments that were three to four million dollars. They were not taking technology risk. A lot of the new people on Sand Hill at that time were not coming from a startup or an operating background.”
Manu Kumar May 23, 2016 ▶ 4:26 20VC: K9's Manu Kumar on His Approach To Risk, Valuation & Believing What Other People Don't

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
50% 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

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

4.6 / 5 directness 4.9 · coherence 4.9 · precision 4.6 · compression 4

answered every one of 13 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? →

247 words/min while actually speaking · 21.7 um and uh per 1k words

Measured by listening to the audio itself: 3,082 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 2 rated episodes:

host pushback ▾ 2/10
pushed back at the host ▾ 1.5/10
setup questions received 53%

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

Insight
Kumar: Multi-stage seed checks are option value that harms struggling startups
“For a lot of these multi-stage firms, the capital that they put into a company in the early stages is just an option value. And if it's just an option value, then if things don't go well, that company is going to have an incredibly difficult time at raising ca…”
Manu Kumar Mar 23, 2020 ▶ 8:12 20VC: Multi-Stage Funds Investing At Seed Are Option Value Investing, Why The Biggest Enemy For Venture Firms Is Group Think and How Running Companies Changes Your Investment Mentality with Manu Kumar, Founder @ K9 Ventures
Opinion
Kumar: Multi-stage firms use seed checks as training wheels for new partners
“In a lot of cases, I feel that some of the multi-stage firms coming in and investing at the seed stage is not a function of a calculated strategy, but more of essentially providing a safe playground and training wheels for some of the new folks who are there.”
Manu Kumar Mar 23, 2020 ▶ 9:40 20VC: Multi-Stage Funds Investing At Seed Are Option Value Investing, Why The Biggest Enemy For Venture Firms Is Group Think and How Running Companies Changes Your Investment Mentality with Manu Kumar, Founder @ K9 Ventures
Assertion Partly supported
Kumar: Coined the term pre-seed around 2013 as seed rounds grew
“I actually kind of coined the pre-seed term at one point in, I think in 2013, 2014 because I saw the seed market kind of evolving where it was becoming a two million to three million dollar round, and I was like, wait, these things are changing, and so there h…”
Manu Kumar May 23, 2016 ▶ 9:06 20VC: K9's Manu Kumar on His Approach To Risk, Valuation & Believing What Other People Don't
Insight
Kumar: Overpricing early rounds harms startups more than extra dilution
“My advice to them is to actually go for a slightly lower valuation, because whatever valuation they take is setting the bar for their next round of financing, and it's also setting the bar for what kind of exit they can have. And so trying to optimize that, I …”
Manu Kumar May 23, 2016 ▶ 13:22 20VC: K9's Manu Kumar on His Approach To Risk, Valuation & Believing What Other People Don't
Insight
Kumar: Groupthink and consensus are the biggest enemies for venture firms
“I think the biggest enemy for venture firms is actually groupthink, and that kind of almost goes back to the solo GP versus a partnership type of a model. There's a lot of benefits to having partners and people Questioning and serving as a, as checks and balan…”
Manu Kumar Mar 23, 2020 ▶ 18:49 20VC: Multi-Stage Funds Investing At Seed Are Option Value Investing, Why The Biggest Enemy For Venture Firms Is Group Think and How Running Companies Changes Your Investment Mentality with Manu Kumar, Founder @ K9 Ventures
Opinion
Kumar: Early-stage startups should embrace remote teams
“And so now I, when I'm talking to companies that I would invest in, I'm totally comfortable with them having remote teams. And in fact, I advocate that they should have remote teams.”
Manu Kumar Mar 23, 2020 ▶ 24:22 20VC: Multi-Stage Funds Investing At Seed Are Option Value Investing, Why The Biggest Enemy For Venture Firms Is Group Think and How Running Companies Changes Your Investment Mentality with Manu Kumar, Founder @ K9 Ventures
Opinion
Kumar: Late-stage mega rounds create unhealthy startups
“The mega funding rounds, the hundreds of millions of dollars coming into companies in the late stage. I think in a lot of cases, those lead to unhealthy companies”
Manu Kumar Mar 23, 2020 ▶ 29:25 20VC: Multi-Stage Funds Investing At Seed Are Option Value Investing, Why The Biggest Enemy For Venture Firms Is Group Think and How Running Companies Changes Your Investment Mentality with Manu Kumar, Founder @ K9 Ventures
Assertion Supported
Kumar: Mid-2000s Sand Hill Road VCs avoided tech risk and operational backgrounds
“Most of the funds were trying to do investments that were three to four million dollars. They were not taking technology risk. A lot of the new people on Sand Hill at that time were not coming from a startup or an operating background.”
Manu Kumar May 23, 2016 ▶ 4:26 20VC: K9's Manu Kumar on His Approach To Risk, Valuation & Believing What Other People Don't
Disclosure
Kumar: K9 Ventures refuses to invest using convertible notes
“And I walk away from deals all day long based on price and structure, so I also don't do convertible notes.”
Manu Kumar May 23, 2016 ▶ 12:06 20VC: K9's Manu Kumar on His Approach To Risk, Valuation & Believing What Other People Don't
Insight
Manu Kumar: Momentum investing comes too late for seed VCs
“Like to me, momentum investing is like by the time something has already gained momentum, at least for someone investing at my stage, it's already too late.”
Manu Kumar May 23, 2016 ▶ 16:31 20VC: K9's Manu Kumar on His Approach To Risk, Valuation & Believing What Other People Don't
Opinion
Kumar: Carnegie Mellon's academics are as rigorous as or superior to Stanford
“Academically, I would say that CMU is absolutely at par, and if not, maybe in some cases, more rigorous than Stanford.”
Manu Kumar May 23, 2016 ▶ 20:08 20VC: K9's Manu Kumar on His Approach To Risk, Valuation & Believing What Other People Don't
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Kumar: Startup value creation has shifted primarily to private markets
“If you look at the new venture landscape, the value creation has really shifted to private markets. Companies add more value while they are still private than sometimes, and they do even after they've gone public.”
Manu Kumar Mar 23, 2020 ▶ 5:13 20VC: Multi-Stage Funds Investing At Seed Are Option Value Investing, Why The Biggest Enemy For Venture Firms Is Group Think and How Running Companies Changes Your Investment Mentality with Manu Kumar, Founder @ K9 Ventures
Assertion Partly supported
Kumar: K9 Ventures operates on a five-year fund cycle
“First my investment period is five years. So I only go out to market with a new fund every five years and not every two to three years.”
Manu Kumar Mar 23, 2020 ▶ 11:24 20VC: Multi-Stage Funds Investing At Seed Are Option Value Investing, Why The Biggest Enemy For Venture Firms Is Group Think and How Running Companies Changes Your Investment Mentality with Manu Kumar, Founder @ K9 Ventures
Disclosure
Kumar details portfolio counts for K9 Ventures Funds I, II, and III
“Fund one had about 19 portfolio companies. Fund two had 14 portfolio companies, and I'm about a third of the way in fund three, where we have about six investments so far, and I still have several years to go before we'll go out to market for the next fund.”
Manu Kumar Mar 23, 2020 ▶ 11:49 20VC: Multi-Stage Funds Investing At Seed Are Option Value Investing, Why The Biggest Enemy For Venture Firms Is Group Think and How Running Companies Changes Your Investment Mentality with Manu Kumar, Founder @ K9 Ventures
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Kumar: K9 Ventures will not raise valuations to chase competitive deals
“I have absolutely zero fear of missing out, and so if there's a company that is got multiple term sheets or offers even at the pre-seed stage and stuff like, I'm not going to be Chasing that deal and trying to move up in valuation in order to win that deal.”
Manu Kumar Mar 23, 2020 ▶ 12:37 20VC: Multi-Stage Funds Investing At Seed Are Option Value Investing, Why The Biggest Enemy For Venture Firms Is Group Think and How Running Companies Changes Your Investment Mentality with Manu Kumar, Founder @ K9 Ventures
Disclosure
Kumar: K9 LPs push for concentrated, high-ownership venture portfolios
“My LPs tend to prefer a concentrated portfolio, and so most of my LPs are kind of pushing me in the other direction, which is like, go ahead and take a, take as much ownership as you can in a company, do fewer companies, and if you win with fewer companies, yo…”
Manu Kumar Mar 23, 2020 ▶ 13:47 20VC: Multi-Stage Funds Investing At Seed Are Option Value Investing, Why The Biggest Enemy For Venture Firms Is Group Think and How Running Companies Changes Your Investment Mentality with Manu Kumar, Founder @ K9 Ventures
Prediction Held up
Kumar caps K9 Ventures at three to four investments annually
“So if I'm only making three or four new investments in a year, it's an incredibly tight filter to begin with.”
Manu Kumar Mar 23, 2020 ▶ 14:52 20VC: Multi-Stage Funds Investing At Seed Are Option Value Investing, Why The Biggest Enemy For Venture Firms Is Group Think and How Running Companies Changes Your Investment Mentality with Manu Kumar, Founder @ K9 Ventures
Insight
Kumar: Solo founder experience is critical for solo GPs trusting their gut
“And I think that experience of having been a solo founder is critical for me today being a solo GP, because I have to be comfortable in making a judgment call, effectively trusting my gut in a lot of cases.”
Manu Kumar Mar 23, 2020 ▶ 17:39 20VC: Multi-Stage Funds Investing At Seed Are Option Value Investing, Why The Biggest Enemy For Venture Firms Is Group Think and How Running Companies Changes Your Investment Mentality with Manu Kumar, Founder @ K9 Ventures
Insight
Kumar: Founder naivety is advantageous when starting companies
“Being naive when you're starting something is often a good thing. Because otherwise you wouldn't take the same steps that you did.”
Manu Kumar Mar 23, 2020 ▶ 28:59 20VC: Multi-Stage Funds Investing At Seed Are Option Value Investing, Why The Biggest Enemy For Venture Firms Is Group Think and How Running Companies Changes Your Investment Mentality with Manu Kumar, Founder @ K9 Ventures
Insight
Kumar: Pattern matching fails for radically new technology and markets
“And when you have radically new technology or a radically new market, it's very hard to apply pattern matching to that to that.”
Manu Kumar May 23, 2016 ▶ 6:34 20VC: K9's Manu Kumar on His Approach To Risk, Valuation & Believing What Other People Don't
Disclosure
Kumar: I pitched Henry Ward on the original concept for eShares
“EShares is one of my portfolio companies. And in fact, it's a company that I co-founded. And in the case of that company I was talking with Henry Ward, who's, who's my co-founder in that company about his previous company that he was working on. And I just rea…”
Manu Kumar May 23, 2016 ▶ 17:22 20VC: K9's Manu Kumar on His Approach To Risk, Valuation & Believing What Other People Don't
Prediction Open · timeframe May 2046
Kumar: K9 Ventures is operating on a 30-year horizon
“I think when I got into it with a thirty-year timeline.”
Manu Kumar May 23, 2016 ▶ 19:13 20VC: K9's Manu Kumar on His Approach To Risk, Valuation & Believing What Other People Don't
Disclosure
Kumar: K9 Ventures shuns sector strategies for radical tech and markets
“I actually don't use a sector strategy. For me, it's really about, like, give me radically new technology and radically new market, and then let's talk about it.”
Manu Kumar May 23, 2016 ▶ 19:37 20VC: K9's Manu Kumar on His Approach To Risk, Valuation & Believing What Other People Don't
Assertion Supported
Kumar: Seed rounds grew from $500K in 2009 to $3M by 2020
“At that time, a seed round was 500,000 dollars. Today, a seed round is two to three million dollars, if not more.”
Manu Kumar Mar 23, 2020 ▶ 5:53 20VC: Multi-Stage Funds Investing At Seed Are Option Value Investing, Why The Biggest Enemy For Venture Firms Is Group Think and How Running Companies Changes Your Investment Mentality with Manu Kumar, Founder @ K9 Ventures

Show 4statements(4 left)

The other half of the tape: Manu Kumar's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 25 times in 7 episodes on 20VC. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 18Henry Ward 3Sumit Gajri 1Rich Wong 1Charles Hudson 1Ann Miura-Ko 1

Statements about Manu Kumar, by other people (1)

Disclosure
Manu Kumar promised seed funding if Henry Ward solved stock certificates
“Manu and I were having lunch one day and he said, you know, I have this problem, this stock certificate problem. I would love for a company to exist to solve it. If you'll start the company, I'll invest in it.”
Henry Ward Jan 6, 2017 ▶ 3:22 20VC: eShares' Henry Ward on Why Portfolio Theory Is Wrong? Why Investors Will Never Take Market Risk & Why You have To Have A Line of Sight To A $Bn Outcome

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
00101202201620172018201920202021episodesmentions
012201620172018201920202021episodes it came up in
004182201620172018201920202021episodesmentions per episode
2021 1 mention in 1 episode
2020 3 mentions in 1 episode
2019 3 mentions in 1 episode
2017 16 mentions in 2 episodes 8 per episode
2016 2 mentions in 2 episodes 1 per episode

Appearances (2)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
20VC: Multi-Stage Funds Investing At Seed Are Option Value Investing, Why The Biggest Enem Mar 23, 2020 20m
20VC: K9's Manu Kumar on His Approach To Risk, Valuation & Believing What Other People Don May 23, 2016 14m
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