“The first institutional investment I ever made was a company called Lending Club, which when it went public was the largest tech IPO of the decade.”
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More from Ben Narasin
Disclosure
Narasin remains underwater on Surf Air after a cram-down by 'bad people'
“I was in their first investment round, and I'm still underwater on the public company. It's ridiculous. Because of a bad round done by bad people, in my view that crammed me down even though it was an upfront.”
Ben NarasinJul 14, 2026▶ 2:47Happiness Found Him Through a Crappy Movie at 2AM
Opinion
A major incubator overemphasizes game theory to maximize valuations, Narasin says
“There's a large incubator out there that spends, I believe, too much time, and I've funded a bunch of their companies, too much time on game theory and how to maximize your valuation.”
Ben NarasinJul 14, 2026▶ 3:11Happiness Found Him Through a Crappy Movie at 2AM
Insight
Shady venture capital firms often build the most polished websites
“If you're a scammer bank, your bank's going to be the most beautiful bank in town. And if you're a scammer VC, wow. Are you going to have a nice website?”
Ben NarasinJul 14, 2026▶ 10:16Happiness Found Him Through a Crappy Movie at 2AM
Opinion
Venture capitalists who fund one percent of pitches are weak investors
“So some investors will say, we invest only in the top one percent. I immediately think those are weak investors. Because clearly I invest in like the top one dip. It is hard in the current economy to find. If you invested in one out of every hundred pitches yo…”
Ben NarasinJul 14, 2026▶ 18:26Happiness Found Him Through a Crappy Movie at 2AM
Disclosure
Narasin passed on Oura Ring because Will Smith and Prince Andrew led
“I almost invested in the first round. Interestingly, it was the round that ended up being led by Prince Andrew and the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Will Smith, and I was like, I'm not paying Prince prices. These people are amateurs. I don't know what they're doing…”
Ben NarasinJul 14, 2026▶ 30:01Happiness Found Him Through a Crappy Movie at 2AM
AssertionPartly supported
Parker Conrad's Rippling is worth $17.8B after his Zenefits peaked at $5.5B
“Xenefits was worth about five and a half billion at peak when he got fired. And his next company, Rippling, which I invested in, is currently worth 17.8 billion dollars.”
Ben NarasinJul 14, 2026▶ 2:17Happiness Found Him Through a Crappy Movie at 2AM
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