Boris Wertz
Founding Partner, Version One Ventures. On 3 shows, 3 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
investorfounderexecutiveoperator@bwertz ↗LinkedIn ↗versionone.vc ↗
After co-founding online bookstore JustBooks and serving as COO of AbeBooks through its 2008 acquisition by Amazon, Boris Wertz transitioned into venture investing. In 2012, he founded early-stage venture firm Version One Ventures and also served as a board partner at Andreessen Horowitz.
3shows
3appearances
46statements
6resolved
6supported
0contradicted
100%fully supported
16said about them ↓ Everything Boris Wertz said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Wertz: VC portfolio construction can be learned, but founder taste cannot
“So you know, kind of that, that certainly can always be fixed over time and kind of managers can learn proper portfolio construction. What can't be fixed is your taste for entrepreneurs and for unique opportunities that can become these outlier opportunities.”
Second-time founders often fail by raising too much money before product-market fit
“Lots of second time openers that were able to raise lots of money very quickly came down with a top down thesis on, on a market. Right. And Never really got to product market fit because the team that they were able to build because the capital they could rais…”
Wertz: Crypto Value Will Accrue Primarily at Protocol Level
“A lot of the value will accrue at the protocol level and will be monetized through a token business model, right?”
Wertz: Top Crypto Founders Are Returning to Private Pre-ICO Rounds
“A lot of the smartest entrepreneurs are going back to privately negotiated rounds, at least for the first step.”
Wertz: Most successful crypto projects will combine centralized and decentralized elements
“I actually believe that truth is really in the middle, that centralized platforms are amazing for efficiency. Decentralized platforms are amazing for trust. And I think the most successful project is going to pick the best out of both worlds. And it's not the …”
Wertz: Early-stage marketplaces must almost always focus first on supply
“Ultimately you usually always have to start with supply and kind of getting something onto the platform that key people can buy.”
Version One remains bullish on crypto because traditional banks cannot effectively compete
“We're still very bullish on crypto, right? I mean, crypto has gone through lots of ups and downs and lots of cycles, but the ultimately ultimate idea of rebuilding the financial system on a global scale in an open source environment. Is still a very attractive…”
Boris Wertz argues India's current economic trajectory resembles China two decades ago
“High level thesis for me is really India feels like China two decades ago, increasing population, increasing middle-class geopolitical in a super interesting spot where people try to move out of China and move into India.”
Wertz: The average Indian entrepreneur is hungrier than their North American peers
“I mean, no question about it. I think the average entrepreneur in India is hungrier than the average entrepreneur in, in, in, in North America, but there's an incredible hustle culture there.”
Wertz: Crypto Technology Maturity Is Currently Equivalent to Internet in 1995
“Technology wise, we feel like it's 95. It's kind of around the emergence of the Netscape browser, which at the time was kind of the first time that, you know, kind of the masses could really use the Internet. And that's really feels we're around that in terms …”
Wertz: Crypto protocol success requires evaluating team execution beyond technical white papers
“I think, first of all, I think it's super important, especially if you can invest at the protocol level to really understand the technical details of a white paper. At the same time, I think to build a successful protocol, build a successful community of devel…”
Wertz: Telegram will probably raise up to $2B in ICO
“They certainly have had a lot of financial interest in the ICO, and will probably raise up to two billion or so.”
Wertz: Native crypto platforms will likely outperform retrofitted platforms
“I think it's going to be generally hard to retrofit in an existing platform, especially an existing platform at the scale of Telegram to crypto. But, you know, jury's out. I personally believe that native crypto projects will most likely be more successful.”
Wertz: VCs require startups to scale to $100M revenue in 5-7 years
“When we look at those opportunities through the lens of a Venture capitalists that needs to make a certain return for their fund and hence kind of has a requirement in, in, in, in, to invest in companies that can scale to, you know, a hundred million dollars i…”
Wertz: On-demand 'Uber for X' startup business models are overhyped
“As much as we're excited about on demand I think it's also a little bit overhyped. At some stage, you know, kind of people said kind of, I'm going to create the Uber for X, for vertical X. So there was a lot of this on demand for here, Uber for X et cetera. I …”
Boris Wertz limits his LP investments to venture funds capped at $30M
“I really think fund size matters in terms of the potential for returns. And so ideally I want to stay in funds that are below 20 max, thirty million dollars.”
Wertz predicts 2021 and 2022 startup vintages will take longer to mature
“I think especially in everything that was invested in, in 21 and 22 will take even longer, right? Because most of the startups that got invested in, in that period of time were a little earlier, a little less mature given the hotness of the market.”
Undisciplined emerging managers hurt returns with undersized checks and over-concentration
“Especially emerging managers sometimes are not as disciplined around portfolio construction. They suddenly end up with tons of really small investments where they put in a small check. But even if that company does super well, it doesn't really drive any fund …”
Wertz: A reverse brain drain from North America is powering Indian startups
“What you're seeing is just the reverse brain drain of people that Indian people that have studied in the US, have worked in the US or Canada for that matter. And I know going back to India to build startups again and kind of bring lots of learnings and lesson …”
Historical data shows emerging managers' first and second funds generate top returns
“History has shown fund one and twos of lots of emerging managers have done exceptionally well and kind of created some of the best returns.”
Emerging managers should raise a 'minimum viable fund' to prove their strategy
“I think everyone should kind of think about what is the investment strategy and then what is the minimal viable fund to prove out that investment strategy.”
Wertz: The venture market has bottomed out but may never reach 2021
“So I feel like we've definitely hit bottom and kind of there's optimism coming back into the market. I mean, obviously it's still far away from kind of what we saw in 21 and we might never get back to 21.”
Wertz: Andreessen Horowitz succeeded by operating and scaling like a tech startup
“They really thought about building A-C-C-C like a startup, right? And not like a traditional venture firm. And that curiosity of how do you find product market fit? How do we experiment a lot? How do we scale aggressively? That was just pretty fascinating to s…”
The other half of the tape: Boris Wertz's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 14 times in 5 episodes across the shows. 2 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 10Boris Wurtz 1
Statements about Boris Wertz, by other people (2)
Wertz: AbeBooks involved sellers in product discussions while retaining final operational control
“Everything is up for discussion, but eight books ultimately takes the business decision. We run the business.”
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
20VC 10
the a16z Podcast 4
2019 4 mentions in 1 episode
2018 5 mentions in 1 episode
2016 5 mentions in 3 episodes 2 per episode
- 20VC: What Makes A Great marketplace Founder, The Key Metrics Marketplace Success Is Centred On & 3 Ways To Prove To Investors You Are A Domain Expert with Karthik Sridharan, Founder & CEO @ Kinnek
- 20VC: When To Transition From Growth to Profitability & The KPI's of The On Demand Economy with Frank Mycroft @ Booster Fuels
- 20VC: a16z's Balaji Srinivasan on Why There Is A Financial Incentive For Truth In VC & Why The Best VCs Invest In Founder To Make Them Richer Than Themselves
- every mention in 2016, scene by scene →
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Boris's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20VCLEDGER | Founding Partner, Version One Ventures | 2 | 24 | 100% 5/5 | full record on 20VC → |
 NEON SHOWLEDGER | Founding Partner, Version One Ventures | 1 | 22 | 100% 1/1 | full record on the Neon Show → |
| a16zLEDGER | Founding Partner, Version One Ventures | 0 | 0 | — | full record on the a16z Podcast → |