“So quite frequently in the last year or two, I've made offers term, you know, issued term sheets to companies saying I can underwrite the round. Or, and I want to invest at least X, which is typically half. And so they've got a choice and actually what's come back is probably half and half where entrepreneurs wanted me to take the whole round and half the time they wish for me to share around with a very different kind of investor.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading:
filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard
(the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Mike Chalfen
Opinion
Chalfen: Formal boards at the seed stage are net negative
“So my view is that at seed stage, a board is of limited value. The most value is weekly, bi-weekly spending time with teams, helping them solve problems quickly so that they're not waiting for the board in order to say, by the way, I've got this problem. And t…”
Mike ChalfenJul 8, 2022▶ 1:02:15Mike Chalfen: How to Build Anti-Fragile Venture Portfolios Today | 20VC #904 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
Mike Chalfen: VC board seats should have a three-year limit
“Like, what drives me mad is everyone's accruing the right to be on the boards round by round. One or two board members get added. There should be a statute of limitations. But after three years, you no longer have the right to be on the board. Boom. And then i…”
Mike ChalfenJul 8, 2022▶ 1:08:00Mike Chalfen: How to Build Anti-Fragile Venture Portfolios Today | 20VC #904 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Chalfen: Anti-Fragile VC Portfolios Diversify Risk Types, Not Company Count
“I think what's important to me is that you sort of have a reasonably sort of anti-fragile portfolio construction, not by virtue of having 30 or 20 or whatever number of investments, but by virtue of having different kinds of risks. That you're taking with your…”
Mike ChalfenJul 8, 2022▶ 27:28Mike Chalfen: How to Build Anti-Fragile Venture Portfolios Today | 20VC #904 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Chalfen: Mid-level VC investors prioritize career management over fund returns
“If you're a mid-level person, if you were a mid-level person at Apex, you would do the right thing in order to look good, further your career rather than optimize returns.”
Mike ChalfenJul 8, 2022▶ 3:24Mike Chalfen: How to Build Anti-Fragile Venture Portfolios Today | 20VC #904 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Chalfen: Most Venture Capitalists Are Bad at Building Firms
“And actually I think a lot of VCs are not good at building firms.”
Mike ChalfenJul 8, 2022▶ 9:20Mike Chalfen: How to Build Anti-Fragile Venture Portfolios Today | 20VC #904 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Chalfen: Products VCs Personally Want Address Markets That Are Too Small
“But I learned early in my career that any business opportunity where I or my partners thought was a very good service that they would definitely use, that was almost certainly addressing way too small a market opportunity, right?”
Mike ChalfenJul 8, 2022▶ 22:01Mike Chalfen: How to Build Anti-Fragile Venture Portfolios Today | 20VC #904 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Made with StarZero
Turn any episode into a week of clips.
This entire site, over 1,200 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable,
runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the
moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.
We use essential cookies to make the site work. With your permission we
also use analytics cookies (Google Analytics and Mixpanel) to understand
usage and improve StarZero. See our Cookie Policy.