Petersen: 3X Angel Returns Have Zero Impact Compared to 500X Outliers
Ryan Petersen · Flexport CEO: Two Questions Every Founder Needs to Ask · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Jun 20, 2026 · at 59:57
Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen shares insights on how personal angel investment portfolio returns are driven almost entirely by extreme power-law outliers.
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“Once you see the world from the perspective of the angel investor, you realize that we really don't care. Even a three X, like if you take my spreadsheet and this investment made three times the money, like the founder is very proud. Like, Hey, I made you three times your money, but if I remove that and make it a zero, it has zero impact on the bottom line of the fund, like zero relative impact on the IRR, because I have a couple that are a thousand X or 500 X. So they completely, strictly, completely dominate.”
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