Avlok Kohli is the CEO of AngelList. He counters conventional expectations of an impending wave of startup acquisitions during the tech downturn.
Prediction Partly held up
Kohli predicts all 15-minute delivery startups will go bust
“A hundred percent. Because the cost of capital goes up. And when the cost of capital goes up, you can't invest into launching new cities. And you can't invest into what typically ends up being the J curve of this type of a business where you end up losing mone…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
AngelList data shows more check-writers leads to more founders and innovation
“Is that when you have more VCs in the ecosystem, you actually do get more innovation, which I know is against what most VCs think, but we're actually seeing it play out in our data that when you have more people writing checks, you actually end up getting more…”
Prediction Held up
Kohli: Pre-seed and seed valuations will remain buoyed without major compression
“And so what you have is you have pre-seed and seed, they're buoyed. And we don't see that changing. We actually still see that staying the same and the valuation staying the same, maybe a little bit of compression, but we're not going to see it the same rate o…”
Assertion Contradicted
Kohli: Startups can no longer raise continuous seed extension rounds
“So what you, what was happening in the heyday of 20, 21 and 20, 22 was that companies would just keep raising these successive rounds and we would see it like C, C plus C plus plus, right. They just keep going on and on and on and always just raising a little …”
Assertion Partly supported
Kohli: Secondary Deals for LP Fund Positions Commonly Clear at 40-50% Discounts
“So one LP will purchase another LP's position and the range of discount that we're seeing actually is anywhere from. But what's more common Is actually 40% or 50% from last round mark. And so you're talking about a pretty significant discount to last round val…”
Prediction Held up
Kohli: Seed valuations will hold up better than late stage
“Pre-seed and seed, they're buoyed and we don't see that changing. We actually still see that staying the same and the valuation staying the same, maybe a little bit of compression, But we're not going to see at the same rate of series A, series B and onwards, …”