Insight
Rohan: Reserve allocations for follow-ons depress seed fund DPI
“On balance, I don't think reserves and follow ons, I think it actually hurts seed investing and it hurts seed investing in two ways. One is it depresses DPI.”
Insight
Rohan: Venture value-add is commoditized and short-lived post-investment
“I tend to agree with David on this, that a lot of this value add is commoditized, and it's also, also often when you talk to founders, it might be like a couple quick motions to try to win the check, and then people kind of fade into the background.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Rohan: Seed and venture capital face major disruption within two years
“So I think in, like, two years, like, you mush that all together, it's, yeah, it's ripe for incredible disruption, or I'd say there's a lot of opportunity there for funds and managers to really take leadership positions because it's, there's just so much chang…”
Insight
Rohan: Venture conviction is rarer than favorable pricing
“One undisputable law, empirical law of a venture is the power law, right? And so the rare thing is not price. The rare thing is conviction and the company. And so if you've got conviction and you found the company, you write that check, 10,000,020 million, a h…”
Opinion
Rohan: VC Twitter is just content marketing to seem smart
“I think a lot of the things that plays put out on VC Twitter, it is content marketing to make the person seem smart, but if you really get them, whatever, two beers deep, they're going to be like, I don't know.”
Insight
Rohan: Venture capital power dynamics have flipped to favor founders
“Everything and what you're really having is like, I think the founders went from, or the VCs kind of went from the customers to now the founders of the customers.”
Opinion
Rohan: Group decision-making is the wrong way to make seed investments
“I think, I believe actually a group decision is the wrong way to make a seed investment.”
Insight
Rohan: Founders invest in domain networks rather than YC Demo Day hype
“Most founders are just investing in people they know or in things they know. And then I, that I do think that because they're either investing in their networks. Or they are being sought out by someone building an analogous company, or that's someone in their …”
Insight
Rohan: Post-Series B venture investing relies on access, not picking
“Post series B, these things become not only like, they become painfully obvious and it's picking is not the thing. It's just access, right?”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Rohan: Initial seed funding rounds will permanently remain essential for startups
“I think the seed round is like, if there's one round, and I think this is like an interesting topic, like how funding dynamics and whether you need BC, but I think if there's one round that is Will be essential for forever. It is that first round, right? And i…”
Insight
Rohan: VCs should act like patrons, not hands-on coaches
“I actually believe like the best investors, like for a company to truly be incredible, the founder actually, it has to come from the founder. It really does. It's like a real creative process, like analogy I've been kind of playing around recently. It's like y…”
Opinion
Rohan: Forwarding public news on competitors to founders is useless
“I don't think it's valuable. I think it's a strike. I mean, I, first of all, I think founders have such an awareness of the market. Like you might get to them like, 12 hours, maybe a few days before, but they're gonna see it, right?”
Insight
Rohan: A great cold email is a form of founder hustle
“A great, not, not a bad, but a great cold email is a form of hustle. Absolutely. One that's like, Human. Snaps your attention. Personable. Boom. That a hundred percent is a form of.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Rohan: Will invest in uncapped SAFEs with time-bound conversion provisions
“Yes. I put certain provisions around them that they, if they don't raise at a certain point, that, that, that, that it would, like, convert at something at some point, but I generally, generally would do it.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Rohan: Seed investors had 50% to 75% deal coverage around 2010
“When David and I started, like, this ecosystem was so small, like, the seed deals would almost pass through everyone's inbox, like, almost everyone, it was like, you almost had, like, 50 to 75% coverage of any given deal.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Rohan: Secondaries will become a robust liquidity option if M&A contracts
“I do believe the secondaries are going to be a really robust option.”
Insight
Rohan: Founders should aim to make venture capital optional after seed
“I think it's the right way to look at venture is like, you know, raise, raise that initial capital. And if you get to the point where venture capital is optional and you can dip in and dip out, that's the ultimate. And you've, you know, you choose your own des…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Rohan: AI will make companies significantly more capital efficient long-term
“And if AI will do anything, I think it'll just make companies that much more capital efficient in the longterm.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Rohan: Raising a debut fund normally takes 12 to 18 months
“Realize that fundraising, especially fun ones, can take time, and you have to be patient. 12 to 18 months is fine. People not meeting with you for a couple months is fine. People taking, you know, months if not sometimes a half a year to reach a decision is fi…”
Insight
Rohan: Brand is the most potent currency in venture capital
“I think the more interesting point as opposed to naming names is, I think brand is a very interesting, like not well discussed, not well understood, but probably the most potent currency in venture.”
Insight
Rohan: Competitor updates to founders are only valuable if non-public
“Very, very, very asymmetrical knowledge of this of like, Hey, listen, this one raised or this one raised this much. And that's like not general knowledge, but it's known because of what you do. That's helpful.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Rohan: AI will not replace human relationships in seed investing
“But the core of what we do is this very human, very personal thing. And I don't think that's going to be replaced by AI in terms of like the core thing.”
