O'Driscoll: Spinning out allows VCs to ditch poor past track records
Rory O'Driscoll · How LP Deployment to Venture Will Change in 2025 & Are Endowment Funds in Trouble? · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Apr 24, 2025 · at 31:55
Rory O'Driscoll, General Partner at Scale Venture Partners, explains the unstated incentive VC partners have to spin out and raise new funds following poor vintage years at platform firms.
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“The other wonderful thing about starting a new firm right now that no one will ever say, not only do you ditch your colleagues track record, you also ditch your own, right? You literally go there and go, I was at mega firm from 2016 to 2024. I did some deals. Some are great. Some are shit. It's not obvious yet, but deep in my heart, I know. I'm just gonna sever that thing like a stage of a rocket, move it behind, raise money now, and I will never be asked about my mega fund return ever again, as long as I make this new fund work.”
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