20VC: Why the Theory of Pro-Rata is Often False, How Rolling Funds Impact Both Pricing and Competition & The Biggest Lessons from Working with Jack Dorsey with Avlok Kohli, CEO @ AngelList Venture
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 21 December 2020
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Avlok Kohli is the CEO of AngelList Venture which has facilitated the funding of over 5,000 startups including 47 unicorns and is home to 4,300 funds and syndicates with $2.2B in assets under management. This year, AngelList Venture launched the much-discussed, Rolling Funds and Avlok recently launched his own rolling fund, Avlok Capital. Prior to AngelList, Avlok built and sold two companies; FastBite, acquired by Square in 2015 and Fairy, also acquired. If that was not enough, Avlok is also an angel in 25 companies.
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Avlok made his way into the world of facilitating over $2Bn in AUM having sold 2 prior companies on the other side of the table as a founder? What is Avlok's favourite Jack Dorsey story?
2.) Why does Avlok believe Rollings Funds are the "printing presses of innovation" for capital markets? Does Avlok believe that everyone should be a fund manager and managing capital? What are the benefits of rollings funds vs traditional micro funds?
3.) How does the rise of rolling funds impact the early stage pricing of companies? How does it impact the competitive landscape for seed and pre-seed allocations? Is Avlok concerned about a wave of undisciplined capital entering the market?
4.) How does Avlok evaluate reserve allocations for early stage and micro fund managers today? What does the data show for funds that do reserve for pro-rata vs those that do not? How has this impacted Avlok's own approach to pro-rata and reserve deployment?
Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode
Avlok’s Favourite Book: Meditations
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It is the final episode before the Christmas break, and what better way to finish them by |
| 0:03.4 | discussing an organisation introducing new structures and new vehicles that change our industry |
| 0:08.0 | by the day? Yes, AngelList, and I'm so excited to stay to be joined by Angelus Venture CEO, |
| 0:12.8 | Avloc Koli. Now, to frame the magnitude of the Angelus Venture organisation, they have |
| 0:17.5 | facilitated the funding of over 5,000 startups, including 47 unicorns, and they're |
| 0:22.4 | the home to 4,300 funds and syndicers, with over $2.2 billion in assets under management. |
| 0:29.2 | This year, Angellis Venture launched the much-discussed rolling funds, and Avlock recently |
| 0:33.1 | launched his own rolling fund, Avlock Capital. |
| 0:35.6 | Prior to Angel List, Avlock built and sold two companies, |
| 0:38.6 | FastBite acquired by Square in 2015, and Ferry, which was also acquired. And if that wasn't enough, |
| 0:43.9 | Avlock is also an angel in 25 companies. But before we move into the show today, I want to take |
| 0:48.5 | a moment to mention HelloSign, a great example of a company that found success in building a product |
| 0:53.1 | focused on user experience. |
| 0:55.1 | HelloSign is an effortless e-signature solution used by millions to securely send |
| 0:59.3 | and request legally valid digital signatures and agreements. |
| 1:03.1 | They raised a total of $16 million in funding and recently got acquired by Dropbox for an impressive $230 million. |
| 1:10.0 | Check out HelloSign.com forward slash 20VC to join the thousands of companies and founders |
| 1:15.6 | who value fast, secure and simple e-signatures. |
| 1:19.0 | And speaking of beautiful products there, and honestly, cutting the crap, there are a few |
| 1:22.5 | products I truly could not live without and use 10 plus times a day. |
| 1:26.4 | Affinity, it's a home screen app for me. |
| 1:28.9 | And not just me, it's the number one venture capital CRM, allowing you to manage deal flow so |
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