Sri Batchu (former executive at Ramp, Instacart, and Opendoor) discusses how Big Tech companies facilitate safety nets for executives testing early-stage startups.
Assertion Partly supported
Sri Batchu: Angel investing consistently underperforms index funds
“It's really important to know that it's a consistently underperforming asset class. Like you will make less money doing angel investing than putting your money in an index fund or almost any other kind of equity investment by and large.”
Opinion
Sri Batchu: Prominent angel investors likely have poor returns under fund-style accounting
“Angel investors often tend to like overestimate their performance because when you see people that are like great angel investors, they're very selective in their disclosure of what deals they've done right on their. LinkedIn or Twitter, they'll have like, oh,…”
Insight
Sri Batchu: Power law dynamics disincentivize VCs from helping struggling startups
“Because of the power law dynamic, unless you're
A winner, a clear winner. They're actually not incentivized to work with you, which is the irony is like, okay, the person that needs the most help, they're least incentivized to help.”
Insight
Batchu: Enterprise AI is sustaining innovation favoring incumbents with distribution
“The way we're seeing AI being incorporated into a lot of businesses is that it's more of a sustaining innovation and not a disruptive innovation, if you were to use kind of Clay Christensen's framework. In, for example, in BtoB, it hasn't become a big enough w…”
Insight
Batchu: Winning allocations, not finding top founders, differentiates VC firms
“It turns out that that's not the most differentiating element for investors. Like, you know, because of the parallel dynamics of the portfolio of VC investment, you just have to have a handful of really good companies. Right. And there's the founders, the 10, …”
Opinion
Batchu: People pursue VC for status and power, not helping founders
“It's a high status job. That's why they seek it. Right. And I think it's a lot of, Extrinsic motivation and reason as to why people want to be VCs not necessarily intrinsic motivation. I think they tell themselves, oh, like I want to help founders. But I think…”