996 culture applies to early stage venture. It is about pounding the pavements and meeting amazing builders. The harder you work, the more you meet, the luckier you get, the sharper your benchmarks become. Euro summer is not a thing at 20VC. Period.

Today’s show with @rodriscoll @jasonlk is going to be a banger. We have the one and only @bhalligan joining the discussion. Agenda 👇 Let me know what we should add.

The fascinating thing about the truly great $10BN founders. They learn to enjoy being punched in the face. They literally gain energy from the struggle. They are inspired by the fight. And they always get up for the next round; win or lose. Insanely rare trait.

Let’s be honest. Most podcasts suck right now. Repeated guests. BS first principles “frameworks”. The best podcasts are with people with immense power who have never spoken publicly before. Today, we go behind the scenes into @CarnegieMellon’s $4BN Endowment Fund. - Why 90% of LPs Shouldn’t Invest in VC. - The $140BN Problem with Multi-Stage Funds. - The Hidden Math Behind DPI, TVPI, and Illiquidity. My 6 takeaways with Miles Dieffenbach👇

I have been fortunate to invest in 11 unicorn founders. The best all hold two thoughts simultaneously. 1. Superiority Complex: they inherently feel they are better than others. 2. Self-Inferiority: they constantly feel they aren’t doing enough, moving fast enough, achieving more. All greats share this.

Poor early stage investors rely on data. Mediocre early-stage investors rely on references. Great early-stage investors rely on intuition and upside maximisation.

Index Ventures are the most impressive firm in venture today. They have more partners who have picked fund returners than any other firm. Figma ($59BN): @dannyrimer Revolut ($75BN): @martinmignot Adyen ($44BN) + Robinhood ($82BN): @janatindex Scale (14.9BN): @mavolpi Wiz ($32BN): @shardul_shah Datadog ($46BN): @shardul_shah @bdalle Roblox ($86BN): @narimer Total ≈ $438.9 billion 😎 Top 8 performers spread across 7 different partners. 4 of the 7 have been investing at Index for more than 15 years. This is a team sport. Go long.

Why does everyone “working on themselves” have to tell the world and social media that they are “working on themselves”. The work you do in private is the work you are rewarded for in public. 💪🏼

There are literally 50 micro content strategies in startups alone that could easily be home to a $5M per year solopreneur business. There has never been more opportunity than there is right now.

One of the best performing companies in 20VC Fund I now doing $100M in ARR, I would have had in the bottom 20% of performers for the first two years. Do not overestimate your ability to pick your winners at seed. It is a myth.