How has your firm adapted fund strategy to larger VC funds?

David Haber

Board Member · Partnership For New York City

Reinvest Management Fees

David Haber says Andreessen Horowitz's founders took all the management fees and reinvested them into the operating platform—go-to-market, marketing, HR, talent and media—rather than paying themselves, spending hundreds of millions a year to tilt the board in founders' favor.

KR

Keith Rabois

Managing Director · Khosla Ventures

$50 Million Minimum

Keith Rabois says his firm sets a $50 million minimum, arguing that if they don't invest that much it makes no sense to invest less because the company can't hit any milestone below that amount.

The answer starts at 35:28.

Sameer Dholakia

Partner · Bessemer Venture Partners

Baked-In Reserves

Sameer Dholakia says his firm has reserves baked into its $1.75 billion fund, though he adds they don't just do pro rata checks and will back up the truck for companies they believe are taking off.

Peter Fenton

General Partner · Benchmark Capital

Inflated Core Fund Size

Peter Fenton says Benchmark inflated its core fund size to match the economy, calling the prior $500 million cap a tactical error, so it can keep practicing its core early-stage business.

Tom Duffy, CFA, CFP

Director, Private Markets · Tiff Investment Management

Favor Smaller Fund Sizes

Tom Duffy says his firm tends to favor early stage investing and smaller fund sizes when selecting venture managers, though he notes these are not hard and steadfast rules.

Jeff Morris Jr.

Founder & General Partner · Chapter One

Adjust Check Size Proportionally

Jeff Morris Jr. says that if a firm raises a smaller fund, it would just adjust its strategy proportionally, making $100,000 investments in the same number of companies instead of $1 million checks.

MF

Morgan Flager

Managing Partner · Silverton Partners

Bias Toward More Seed Checks

Morgan Flager says his firm is not changing much but has a slight bias toward more seed checks, reasoning that the gap between real winners and the rest has widened, with top companies reaching far higher valuations than successful companies did seven to ten years ago.

Charles Hudson

Managing Partner · Precursor Ventures

Strategic Investors Earlier

Charles Hudson says he has changed his tune and now thinks it is not so bad to bring strategic investors into companies earlier, because financial investors may not be a realistic option.

The answer starts at 6:09.

Brian Singerman

Partner · Founders Fund

No Carry on Fund Investments

Brian Singerman says his firm does not charge carry on the fund investments, explaining that they want their LPs to be able to scale with emerging managers as those managers grow.

Eric Lagier

Founder & Managing Partner · Byfounders

Back ~40 Companies Per Fund

Eric Lagier says his firm backs around 40 companies in every fund, which he frames as staying true to venture discipline and backing founders who aren't treating them as an ATM.

David Weisburd

Co-Founder · Weisburd Pierce

Fees Tied to NAV

David Weisburd says his firm's fees are based on net asset value, so they rise as net asset value rises, which he cites as a fundamental advantage of closed-end funds over 10-year liquid funds.