Michael Kim
Founder & Managing Partner, Cendana Capital. On 1 show, 1 appearance. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
investorfounder@MKRocks ↗LinkedIn ↗cendanacapital.com ↗
In 2010, Michael Kim established Cendana Capital as a fund-of-funds dedicated to backing seed-stage venture funds and emerging managers. Through Cendana, he has anchored early-stage venture firms such as Forerunner Ventures, IA Ventures, and K9 Ventures.
1shows
1appearances
16statements
2resolved
2supported
0contradicted
100%fully supported
26said about them ↓ Everything Michael Kim said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Kim: Most LPs invest via social proof and preserve failing VC funds
“I think most LPs are social proof investors. I think that there's a substantial dynamic of you don't get fired for buying IBM. And venture funds are hard to kill. A lot of them should have been killed, but they're 10 to 12 year vehicles.”
Kim: Most VC fund of funds are terrible asset gatherers
“I think most venture capital fund of funds are terrible. They're asset gatherers. They want AUM. They want management fee. A lot of them don't even charge carry.”
Kim: Micro VC seed funds now outperform larger traditional venture funds
“Ultimately, I think our thesis proved out these smaller funds do outperform, and these smaller funds have effectively become early stage venture capital today.”
Kim: Early-stage LP direct investing suffers from severe adverse selection
“At the high level, I do think that there are substantial issues with LPs investing directly. First and foremost is adverse selection. If an opportunity is available to the LP, why are they being shown this? Is something wrong with the company? Does the fund ma…”
Kim: Top VCs maximize ownership and squeeze LPs out of Series A
“If there is, at the earliest stages, a company that is High quality with high quality investors coming in. LPs are probably the last in line in terms of getting access to that. So imagine a seed funded company by one of our fund managers, a high quality firm l…”
Kim: 1% seed stakes do not move the needle in typical exits
“The typical venture exit is between 50 to a hundred million. If you own 10% of that company, that's ten million dollars back at a hundred million dollar exit. Ten million back to a seed fund is very meaningful. If you own one percent, you get the same kind of …”
Kim predicts long-term seed startup mortality rate will be 25% to 30%
“And, you know, I do think that the longer term sort of steady state mortality rate is probably 25% to 30%, but I don't think it's 80%, but we'll see.”
Kim: Party rounds are the absolute worst early-stage financing structure
“Now, the absolute worst scenario, and Mark Suster actually talks about it in his recent post on both sides of the table, are these party rounds. I don't think these party rounds are happening as often, but these party rounds are where 20 plus individuals, you …”
Kim predicts only 1-2 of Cendana's 18 funds will reach Sequoia status
“I would say that to be realistic, maybe one or two out of You know, the 18 plus funds that we work with may ultimately emerge in that category”
Kim: Institutional LPs have already exhausted their 2016 annual capital budgets
“A lot of them did, and so now institutional LPs are largely out of capital for the year. A number of LPs I know have already spent their budget or have already allocated their budget to these re-ups, and it's also not just in the U.S. There are a lot of re-ups…”
Kim: Cendana Capital's seed portfolio mortality rate is currently under 10%
“I will tell you that through our portfolio, Of 700 companies or more, our mortality rate right now is less than 10%. What I mean by that is companies that have shut down, companies that have been written as zero.”
Kim: Startups can achieve substantial traction with just $500,000
“Contrast that to today, where it's almost an order of magnitude cheaper to start a company, you can get substantial traction with 500,000 dollars.”
Kim predicts SoftTech VC will build a multi-generational platform like Greylock
“And if you look at the absolute top tier VC funds, they've done a phenomenal job of generational shift, and, you know, the older generation handing off to the younger generation, certainly firms like Greylock, have transformed themselves, and I think that is t…”
Kim: Cendana Capital has zero interest in becoming a multi-billion dollar fund
“So we have zero interest in becoming a multi-billion dollar asset gatherer and living off our fees and having swanky offices.”
Kim: US seed rounds in 2016 typically range from $1M to $2M
“The composition of a seed round, which today is about one to two million in the U S sometimes larger as large as three million.”
Cendana operates a direct fund targeting Series B and C portfolio companies
“Specifically to Sandana, we do have a direct investment fund. So we have a standalone fund that invests directly into the portfolio companies of our fund managers. The idea here is that we would invest at the early growth stage, so series B or C. These compani…”
The other half of the tape: Michael Kim's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 25 times in 11 episodes across the shows. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 20Rob Go 3Dave McClure 2
Statements about Michael Kim, by other people (1)
Venture math should focus on probability distributions, not ownership percentages
“But the point that I was making with Michael is that ownership really isn't the math that we use to kind of think about how we invest. We really think more in terms of number of investments and the likely probability distribution of finding large outcomes. And…”
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
20VC 25
2025 1 mention in 1 episode
2023 4 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
2020 6 mentions in 2 episodes 3 per episode
- 20VC: Multi-Stage Funds Investing At Seed Are Option Value Investing, Why The Biggest Enemy For Venture Firms Is Group Think and How Running Companies Changes Your Investment Mentality with Manu Kumar, Founder @ K9 Ventures
- 20VC: Moxxie Ventures' Katie Stanton on What It Takes To Raise A First Time Fund As A Solo GP, The Entrance of Multi-Stage Funds Into Seed Rounds and The Inverse Relationship of Those That Fund Diverse Managers and Those That Say They Do
- every mention in 2020, scene by scene →
2018 5 mentions in 2 episodes 3 per episode
- 20VC: Why The Engineer Will Replace The MBA As CEO, Why The Peace Dividends From The Autonomous Car Wars Will Generate More Value Outside of Transport & Why Old and Boring Industries Are The Most Exciting To Build In with Avidan Ross, Founding Partner @ R
- 20VC: Why Brands Can Have The Same Revenue Multiples As Enterprise Companies & The Right Way To Think About Amazon In Today's World of Commerce with Eurie Kim, General Partner @ Forerunner Ventures
- every mention in 2018, scene by scene →
2017 3 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
- 20VC: VC of The Year: Forerunner's Kirsten Green on 2 $Bn+ Exits in 1 Year, Why We Are In The Very Early Innings For Commerce & How Brand Has Fundamentally Changed Over The Last Decade
- 20VC: Why Cheque Size & Follow On Decision-Making Does Not Matter, Why Intelligence Is Overrated & Why You Should Do Everything You Can To Make Other People Successful with Anthony Pompliano, Founding Partner @ Full Tilt Capital
- every mention in 2017, scene by scene →
2016 6 mentions in 2 episodes 3 per episode
- 20VC: 500 Startups' Dave McClure on Whether Unicorns Are Necessary For Venture Returns & Why Ownership Is Not The Math To Think About When Investing
- 20VC: Why The Whole Industry Is Backward Looking, The Best Funds Are Entrepreneur Led and Venture Is All About Access with Alex Bangash, Founder @ Trusted Insight
- every mention in 2016, scene by scene →
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Michael's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20VCLEDGER | Founder & Managing Partner, Cendana Capital | 1 | 16 | 100% 2/2 | full record on 20VC → |