The Ledger
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Singerman: Loss ratios do not matter for multi-billion dollar venture funds
“Loss ratios don't matter. Losing, I can't, you know, you don't want to lose a five hundred million dollar check, right? Because it's going to be then ridiculously hard for you to return that, to return multiples on that fund. Whereas, like, if you lose, in a f…”
Venture Capital Is Purely About Upside Maximization, Not Downside Minimization
“Venture capital to me is a Purely a game of upside maximization. And while this may be in trouble, you know, this may get me in trouble. I actually don't. Downside minimization is completely unimportant to me.”
Singerman: Venture capital is about backing top companies, not cheap deals
“With venture being about upside maximization, Are you really just looking for, like, a good deal, or do you just want to invest in the best companies? And I would argue it's all the latter.”
Singerman: No one can predict $100B companies at seed stage
“I don't think anybody can see that something is going to be, or they can say they've got their thesis and I, you know, whatever, but like, I don't think you can predict a hundred billion dollar companies at the seed stage. That's silly, but you can predict, He…”
Singerman: Deal sourcing grows harder as venture capitalists age and networks decay
“The part that's just harder and harder over the years as you do this longer and quite frankly get older is the seeing. You've got to keep your networks fresh. You've got to like make sure that you're somehow still connected, right? Cause your networks get stal…”
Singerman: Venture capitalists should optimize for upside, not downside protection structures
“You're trying to maximize your upside. You're not trying to minimize your downside. This is why I've never understood these like, oh, we're going to do a round with three X participating preferred and around with a whole bunch of structure. I mean, like I get …”
Singerman: Fund size should be 3-4x your maximum comfortable single check
“Raise whatever fund size you can in order to like be comfortable writing a 25 to 30% of fund size check, right? Like if you're not comfortable writing a more than a five million dollar check, do not raise more than a twenty-five million dollar fund.”
Defense startups must be orders of magnitude better than incumbents
“You have to actually be orders of magnitude better than the incumbents in order to win contracts legitimately, in order to really build a company in the space. It takes top-tier technologists to be able to do this, to be able to compete with the Lockheeds and …”
Generating Massive VC Returns Requires Non-Sector-Constrained Investing
“For my job at this fund is to generate massive returns. And for our funds, you simply have to invest in the world's most important companies in order to generate those returns. It doesn't need to be quick. It doesn't need to be overnight. But long-term, they n…”
Vertically Integrated Complex Coordination Companies Build Unclonable Moats
“These are the types of what we mean by complex coordination companies that once they've developed that the ability to operate in that complex way, it may, it's a huge moat. So that's a huge moat for us that other companies cannot simply clone. You can't just h…”
Singerman: Top venture funds back breakout companies across successive fund vehicles
“If we are good investors, we raise another fund, which we've done, and there's no reason the best companies can't go across multiple funds.”
Singerman: A strong VC brand creates noise and hinders deal sourcing
“Brand can be noise and detrimental for the seeing part for the diligence, you know, for the you know, seeing companies part, but the for the sourcing”
Singerman: Founders Fund Refuses to Hire 'Clones' or Generic VC Talent
“If it's a unique strategy that is differentiated from the current partners that are here, we are interested in hiring that person, and that's really paid off. Like our focus on not hiring clones, our focus on not hiring just people who are generically good, ou…”
Singerman: Investors Who Demand Perfect Information Will Fail in Venture Capital
“If you are the type of person that is going to do work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, and make sure it's perfect before you invest or make sure it's perfect before you hire, you are just not going to do well in this business. Period.”
Singerman: Best board members are sector door-openers, not strategists
“Usually the best board members, not, not necessarily investors, right, but the best board members are ones who, Really know the sector that the company is, and know people in that sector really well, such that they can easily connect said company with other pe…”
Prior founder experience matters less than raw talent and ruthlessness
“I actually put almost no weight on did they do it before and put all the weight on are they super unique, insanely talented, ruthless in a way that they understand how business is and can actually really get things done. I just invest in the founder regardless…”
Eliminating Monday Partner Meetings Accelerates Founders Fund's Investment Decisions
“One thing that that gives us an advantage of is let's say somebody meets a company on a Wednesday. They don't have to wait till the next Monday morning partner meeting that has time to schedule for that team to come meet. We can do it much quicker than that.”
Singerman: VC fund returns earn complete freedom from LP interference
“When we've made money for people, you have a lot of more latitude on how you can invest money. So you've got. The freedom to do whatever you want without people breathing down your neck.”
Defense tech startups fail without strong government relations teams
“Even if you have a really good tech team, and you're willing to do this, you need the, also the biz team, or the government relations team, or the government business team, a team that knows how to work with the government, or you just won't get anywhere.”