The Ledger
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Vrionis: Sequoia's global, multi-stage success is an anomaly others cannot replicate
“Look, I think Sequoia is an anomaly. Operating a VC firm the way they have on a global basis, it's unbelievable. I think a lot of firms are trying to emulate that, and I'm not so sure others can pull it off.”
Vrionis: Multi-stage VCs write seed checks merely for Series A optionality
“I personally think that the stage agnostic firms, as you pointed out, are buying optionality, that they're way too smart to give up those deals before what is their sweet spot now, which are these 15, 20, twenty-five million dollar series A's. They don't want …”
Vrionis: HBCUs and foundations lack specialized staff to evaluate VC managers
“Some of the LPs that we went to, some of the historically black colleges or foundations, they don't employ highly paid chief investment officers, so therefore they don't have a staff that's very sophisticated when it comes to knowing which managers to get into…”
Vrionis: VC firms must specialize to achieve best-in-class performance
“To be best in class, to be truly the best you can be. You have to specialize and it's not just sports. It's medicine. It's music. It's art, right? To do things very, very well here, which is what venture capital and entrepreneurship is. It's such a competitive…”
Vrionis: Seed founders need hands-on company building help, not investor brand
“It's not the brand or the network that they need. They need someone to actually get in and give them real help, company building help, the brand that can come later.”
Vrionis: Seed startups do not need CIO introductions in their first two years
“Remember, they're introducing you to CIOs and VP-level people. That's not what you need in the first two years.”
Vrionis: CAC and LTV metrics are useless in a startup's first 24 months
“The growth investors, what they do is they talk about CAC and LTV and unit economics. Look, that stuff is super valuable. It's just not valuable in those first 18 to 24 months when the entrepreneur is trying to turn that idea into something real.”
Vrionis: Benchmark co-founder Andy Rachleff is the best board member ever
“Andy Reckliff. I had the pleasure of sitting on the NYSERA. Participating in those board meetings was just, I couldn't have paid enough to learn. And the why is, his whole style is to hold up the mirror to the founder, right? The board meetings are for them, H…”
Vrionis: Venture capital reduces to sourcing, selecting, and earning founder trust
“The job comes down to sourcing, selecting, earning founders' trust and respect”
Vrionis: Half of the Unusual Ventures team is women
“The team is very diverse. It's half women, no compromises.”
Vrionis: Organizational success breeds cultural inertia preventing VC firm adaptation
“When organizations are working, when they're successful, it's very hard for them to embrace significant change. And so the combination of those two things, I think, makes it very hard for VC firms to make adjustments quickly, certainly significant ones.”
Vrionis: Every VC should be required to raise their own fund
“I think every VC should have to do it. Their empathy goes up.”
Vrionis: Jyoti Bansal Will Soon Build Another Billion-Dollar Enterprise Business
“He's already built one billion dollar enterprise company, and there's likely to be another one very soon.”
Vrionis: I generated a few billion dollars of liquid returns
“He sold a company for almost four billion dollars, and I have a few billion dollars of liquid returns”
Vrionis: VCs must be supportive and demanding, not just cheerleaders
“That what you signed up for is to be supportive and demanding. Because you want them to fulfill their potential and frankly do things they're not even maybe sure that they can do, but you want to see them succeed. That is at the heart of what you signed up to …”
Vrionis: Most of Unusual Ventures' capital comes from non-profit institutions
“Most of our money comes from nonprofits.”