20VC: Why 75% of Active Investors Will Disappear in the Next Few Years, The Death of "So So" Venture Firms is Coming, The Rise of Blackstone of Venture Firms and What That Does To Venture Returns, How the World of LPs is Broken and more with Kyle Harrison
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 21 October 2022
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kyle Harrison is a General Partner @ Contrary and one of my favorite writers on the venture space with his blog, Investing 101 2.0. Before joining Contrary, Kyle worked in the ranks of some of the biggest and best names in venture, starting with a spell at TCV before moving to Coatue and making his final stop at Index. Across firms, Kyle has led or participated in investments including Ramp, Pave, Anduril, Gitlab, Databricks and Snowflake to name a few.
In Today's Episode with Kyle Harrison:
1.) From Film Lover to Technology Investor:
- How Kyle went from creating a professional services marketplace around film to joining the ranks of TCV and investing in breakout technology companies?
- What was Kyle's biggest takeaway from TCV? How did it impact his mindset?
- What was Kyle's biggest lesson from working with the Laffont's at Coatue? How did it change the way he thinks about price and market sizing?
- Why was Index such a transformational school of venture for Kyle? How did that experience change how he thinks about what it takes to be a great investor?
2.) The Death of So So Venture Firms:
- Why does Kyle believe many of the "so so" venture firms will die?
- What does Kyle believe makes a venture firm "so so"? Who is vulnerable then?
- How does Kyle think the lifespan and "death" of venture firms will change in the next decade?
3.) The Rise of "The Blackstone of Venture Firms":
- How does Kyle define "the Blackstone of VCs"? Who are they?
- With increasing fund sizes will we see VC returns denigrate to PE returns?
- How is the world of family offices changing the venture environment? Will we see more or less money flood into venture over the coming years?
- Of the incumbents, who has done "The Blackstone" model well? Why? Who has failed? Why?
4.) The Rise of Community in Venture:
- What does "community" really mean to Kyle? Why does he believe it will play such a prominent role in the way the best invest in the future?
- How have existing players failed to build, sustain and productize communities?
- What are the best opportunities for new entrants to create and utilise communities to invest?
Items Mentioned in Today's Episode:
Kyle's Favourite Book: Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are listening to 20VC with me, Harry Stebbings, and I'm thrilled today to be joined by one of my |
| 0:04.0 | favourite writers on the venture space and also a brilliant investor in the form of Kyle Harrison, |
| 0:08.5 | general partner at Contri. If you had not checked out his blog, Investing 101.2.0, then it is a must. |
| 0:14.6 | And Carl has really cut his teeth in the world of venture, working in the ranks of some of the biggest and best names, including spells at TCV. |
| 0:21.5 | Carl then moved to Co2 and made his final stop at Index before moving to Contri. |
| 0:26.0 | Across firms, Carl has led or participated in investments in companies including Ramp, |
| 0:31.3 | Pave, Angeril, GitLab, Databricks, and Snowflate, to name a few. |
| 0:35.5 | And I'd also want to say a huge thank you to Mark Goldberg at Index, Bryce Roberts at OatVC, and Rex Woodbrier Index for some amazing questions |
| 0:42.4 | suggestions today. But before we move into the episode today, holiday gifting for your friends and |
| 0:47.3 | family can be hard. And for your business, it can be even harder. And Open helps companies |
| 0:52.2 | of all sizes deliver better gifts, and they make it super easy. |
| 0:56.3 | Their platform is filled with best in class brands. There are no bad gifts ever. They source |
| 1:01.1 | locally and operate globally. You don't even need an address. Simply send an email or DM with a |
| 1:06.9 | unique gift link. Ready to put the ease and joy back into your company's gifting, |
| 1:11.5 | head over to and open.com forward slash 20VC. That's and open.com forward slash 20VC to get started |
| 1:20.4 | today. And speaking of amazing tools, which really take complex processes and make them super easy, |
| 1:25.7 | Angel List has been a key partner for me in managing my |
| 1:28.3 | investments. I love using the AngelList platform because it abstracts away all the complexity |
| 1:33.0 | and operational burden of fund management. Whether you're running SPVs, a traditional venture |
| 1:37.6 | fund like me, or even a rolling fund. AngelList has you covered. The team is also just |
| 1:41.9 | exceptional. They're great, great partners. I'm also super |
| 1:44.9 | excited about their new product though, Angel List Stack, which is purpose built for founders. With |
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