The Ledger
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Abrams: Claiming to 'fall into VC' is usually masking unacknowledged privilege
“Really it does sound like the benefit of privilege when a family member or a former college roommate or somebody gives you this lucky break that is an entree into that world. It's a weird way of saying that you fell into it. It just doesn't sound like somethin…”
Abrams: Most venture capital funds deliver mediocre returns under 2x TVPI
“The reality is most funds have pretty mediocre performance between one and two TVPI. So most investors are not doing that great.”
Abrams: Many new micro VC funds will fade away due to lack of focus
“There are ones that I think are going to go away because I think there are some folks in the, so I don't even like the term micro VC because it's really just early stage venture capital back to the roots. There's some that are going to be real permanent instit…”
Abrams: Top VC repeatable playbooks for startup success are a myth
“I actually think that's sort of a myth, that there's some sort of playbook for startup success that the top VCs have that they can do again and again”
Abrams: AI is currently overhyped in startup pitches and VC focus
“I think one of the things I think is overhyped now is AI, and, or really, or maybe talking about AI, because I'm sure a lot of the, you know, I've invested as an angel in over-fifty startups, I'm sure plenty of them are using AI, but when I hear everybody talk…”
Abrams: VC GPs pitch fund strategies that contradict their actual execution
“A lot of managers, GPs, are coming to them And pitching a certain strategy for their fund that is not at all what they've actually been doing or not what they end up doing, and they're pitching that they're going to have a certain specific type of strategy and…”
Abrams: Winning Frontier Tech Companies Will Emerge Cycles After Current Startups
“So I kind of feel like some of these sort of frontier tech areas that people are interested in right now, if they're actually really going to be big, the companies that will really be big in those industries will probably be the companies that'll come a couple…”
Abrams: Friendster Went Through Six CEOs In Six Years
“And selling the company six years later, we went through six CEOs in six years. I was, you know, sort of routinely excluded from board decisions and the, our software was rewritten into worse software. The website barely worked for a couple of years and a lot …”
Abrams: VCs claiming to 'fall into VC' contradicts firm diversity excuses
“When you hear venture capital, you know, famous VCs sometimes in the media talking about the lack of diversity in their firms and being challenged about it and saying that they can't relax their standards, and fair enough, but when then you hear people saying …”
Abrams: Investor empathy and founder experience provide a key VC advantage
“For me, an investor that has an entrepreneur background that has been in my shoes, that's a big advantage to me because I think they're going to be able to understand my side of things better. And contrary to somebody who's been recently in the news, I actuall…”
Abrams: VC stances on valuation sensitivity are personal religion, not data
“When it comes to this idea of whether you should be price sensitive or not, there's a lot of different opinions, and none of them really seem to be backed up by data, so it'd be interesting if a venture capitalist came on the show and said, look, we analyzed o…”
Abrams: Seed funding volume is going down, not up
“Well, first of all, I think seed funding is actually going down, not up.”
Abrams: Seed valuations peaked around 2015 and stopped rising
“In terms of valuations, I think those might have already hit their peak in 2000 and maybe 15. So the idea that the valuations have just, you know, as they went up throughout 2000, maybe 10 to 2015, I don't think they've continued to go up in 16 and 17.”
Abrams: Overvaluation was a late-stage unicorn problem, not a seed problem
“I think the biggest problem with valuation was the later stage valuations of so-called unicorns. That was, I think, a bigger problem, and it's, that's still, to some extent, sitting around in some companies, some overvalued companies having raised hundreds of …”
Abrams: Large VC funds face a much harder path to strong returns
“The amount of capital going into the Cedar Micro VC is still pretty small compared to some of the money that's been flowing into really huge venture capital firms, where it's still much harder to get a good return.”
Abrams: Statistical analysis proves larger VC portfolio size correlates with solid returns
“The reality is there are people who've actually done the math. I've actually seen, you know, a bunch of people who've done the math and proven that a portfolio that has a certain size statistically can be correlated with decent returns.”
Abrams: 'Spray and pray' label is weaponized by lead investors chasing ownership
“So I think spray and pay can be a bit sometimes a pejorative by folks who want to say, okay, we lead our deals because they're looking to get a certain minimum ownership or whatever they're looking for.”
Abrams: Forcing previous success playbooks onto new startups leads to failure
“Trying to take what worked for one successful company and then apply it to a later startup is, in fact, one of those patterns of failure that can be imposed”
Abrams: Top VC brand signaling matters much less than people pretend
“The idea that, that being a Sequoia company is going to be this huge advantage in terms of the branding, there's a lot of great investors these days that have great reputations, so chances are, if you have a bunch of Competitors. They probably have great names…”
Abrams: Most startup boards are fundamentally ineffective
“This is an unpopular opinion, but I think most boards are just not very successful, and you look at some of the things that you read in the press about very famous companies sometimes, and some of these companies have some of the most famous venture capitalist…”
Abrams: VCs cannot effectively serve on 10 to 15 boards simultaneously
“I think a lot of people are on too many boards. So even if you are a fantastic board member, I don't know how you can be a fantastic board member at 10 companies or 15 companies at once. I just think that requires sort of a superhuman attribute.”
Abrams: Startup boards need operational executives over celebrities and investors
“And I think more boards should probably have more nerdy Choices like more CFOs, more CIOs, CTOs, CMOs. I think there should be just more boring operational people on, on some of these boards than the, you know, quite as many celebrities and investors, but ulti…”
Abrams: Facebook Delivers Fake News and Nobody Has Solved Discovery
“What people are getting on Facebook, you know, it's a lot of fake news. It's a lot of clickbait news. I think that nobody still has solved this problem.”
Abrams: Sand Hill Road VC Team Collaboration Is Largely A Myth
“And my experience working with a large central road firm is you primarily are engaged with one partner. Even if they talk about their sort of collaborative team approach, the reality is you're pretty much talking, you know, mostly engaging with one person. And…”
Abrams: Machine Learning Software Fails At News Curation Compared To Social
“Not with machine learning software that doesn't really work, but really Harnessing the power of social to help people find the right stuff.”
Abrams: Higher-priced angel investments performed better than cheaper deals
“In my case, the angel investments that I've made that were a little high in price have been ones that I was glad that I've made. And when I see ones that are sort of below market or really on the cheaper side, usually they're not the deals I want to do.”
Abrams: Netscape Missed Webmail And Messaging Due To Lack Of Focus
“Netscape had a lot of opportunities it didn't actually successfully achieve, because if you think about so many of the things that came after, you think, why didn't, you know, why wasn't Netscape the company that did web mail and instant messaging and just so …”
Abrams: Startups Lower Their Odds Of Success By Tackling Multiple Priorities
“If you're working on, on something at a startup, the likelihood of being successful is so low. And if you're working on three things instead of one, Then it's even worse.”
Abrams: Daily Retention Is A Far Better Signal Than User Opinions
“Asking people what they think is a lot less useful than seeing what they're actually doing, and if they're coming back and using it every day, I think that's a really strong sign”
Abrams: Mobile App Store Distribution Alone Makes User Growth Significantly Harder
“I think just being an iOS app, you know, or iOS and Android app alone, it's harder to grow. There's been some exceptions, but it's tough.”
Abrams: Nuzzel Fundraises Specifically From Investors Who Actively Use The Product
“In terms of the fundraising strategy for Nuzzle, we've consistently gone after investors who are using our product a lot”