The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 9 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Clark: LPs prioritize capital deployment over 15-year fund performance
“Most LPs probably aren't going to be in the same job when that feedback comes. So they're more worried about deploying than they are about what happens 15 years down the line when, you know, when the performance data is, is actually in.”
Clark: Poor Succession Planning Is a Leading Cause of VC Firm Failure
“One of the reasons why we see great firms fail is because they don't handle succession well, and some of them will handle succession badly, but get there eventually.”
Clark: VenCap declines existing VC managers only for performance and succession
“I think that the two reasons we don't do, the two reasons we would say no to an existing manager would be performance and succession.”
David Clark: Quantitative VC Decision-Making Erodes Excess Returns
“I think the more quantitative the decision becomes, the more that excess returns will probably get competed away.”
Clark: Compare Current Venture Fund Sizes to Exit Market Sizes 10-15 Years Out
“What you need to do is to compare fund sizes today with the exit sizes in 10 to 15 years because that's when those companies are ultimately going to become liquid.”
Clark: LPs do not need every top fund to succeed
“One of the things that, one of the things that we've learned is that you don't have to do every great manager out there. You just have to make sure all the managers you do are great.”
Clark: LPs must invest across every vintage rather than timing markets
“From an LP's perspective, the way that you're able to do that is to make sure that you are investing consistently across every vintage. You're not trying to time the market.”
David Clark: Early-Stage VC Funds Must Offer 1x Fund Return Potential
“We still feel comfortable that they're, whatever the fund size they're investing out of, that there's a, an opportunity for them to return the fund from within it, with a single investment. It, it's slightly, certainly for early stage funds. I think for later …”
Clark: Reference VC managers with non-co-investing sector peers
“So I think that's probably the biggest thing that's come out of our decision review process is to be, is not just to reference people who we know work with each other, but reference people who are in that particular sector, who we would normally expect to have…”