20VC: Fund Breakdowns
Breaking down the performance and learnings behind legendary venture funds
Welcome to the first edition of Fund Breakdowns!
Every Sunday we’ll share the performance of legendary venture funds along with what the partners learned from their experiences.
Founder Collective Fund I ($50M)
David Frankel, Eric Paley, and Micah Jay invested in the seed rounds of:
Uber ($95.8BN Market Cap)
The Trade Desk ($41.5BN Market Cap)
Coupang ($33BN Market Cap)
Airtable ($11BN Latest Valuation)
Seatgeek ($1BN Latest Valuation)
Riskified ($818M Market Cap)
Learnings
Build an efficient economic engine centred on customers from the start and you control your destiny. Much more important than fundraising.
"Weird & Wonderful" startups win: Invest in startups *before* they become "themes" – at that point, it's too late.
Great lemons don't ripen early: some of our biggest holdings in that fund are still private more than a decade after seed. Also, some of those companies were very slow to show early revenue. Entrepreneurship is a long-term venture for founders and funders! Patience pays.
Much has changed since 2009 when @fcollective started. Here's what hasn't: Efficient economic engines are a superpower for scaling. "Weird" startup pitches often turn into wonderful companies. Startups need to balance daily proof with decade-long horizons.
First Round Capital Fund II ($125M)
Phin Barnes, Josh Kopelman, Bill Trenchard, Rob Hayes, and Chris Fralic invested in the seed rounds of:
Uber ($100BN Market Cap)
Square ($33.35BN Market Cap)
Roblox ($17.6BN Market Cap)
DoubleVerify ($5.21BN Market Cap)
AppNexus ($2BN Acquisition)
Warby Parker (1.43BN Market Cap)
Moat ($850M Acquisition)
HotelTonight ($465M Acquisition)
Flurry ($300M Acquisition)
Learnings
Invest because of the one thing that could go right not the 100 things that could go wrong (@Uber)
When you really believe, ignore rules about ownership/price and lock in the allocation you are offered (@Square)
The scale created by the compounding power of user engagement and retention are hard to comprehend at the beginning (@Roblox)
When you have incredible talent playing on the same team with shared belief in the mission and each other, you win (@firstround)
Initialized Fund I
Alexis Ohanian, Garry Tan, and Harj Taggar invested in seed rounds of:
Coinbase ($18.5BN market cap)
Instacart ($15-$20BN IPO coming)
Reddit ($10BN valuation)
GOAT ($3.7BN valuation)
Cruise Automation ($1BN exit)
PlanGrid ($875M exit)
Learnings
We invested in around 70 companies on a $7M fund size with ~$50K checks.
Our thesis: cherry pick from the best of YC where we were partners.
Garry pounded the table for a pre-emptive round in Coinbase before their A which was quite valuable.
Learning how to do follow-on well is an important skill for early stage investing (also luck)
GOAT started as Grubwithus when we seed invested and then warehoused into the fund at cost - great team, super tenacious
No one should be a VC unless they want to serve founders who are doing the real work…in the arena
Felicis Ventures III ($71M)
Aydin Senkut and Sundeep Peechu invested in the seed rounds of:
Adyen ($24.4BN Market Cap)
Plaid ($13.4BN Latest Valuation)
Notion ($10BN Latest Valuation)
Credit Karma ($7.1BN Acquisition)
Ginkgo Bioworks ($4.72BN Market Cap)
Opendoor ($2.5BN Latest Valuation)
Cruise ($1BN Acquisition)
Greenhouse ($820M Latest Valuation)
Learnings
Markets matter, pick big incumbents (MS Office) or follow big demand (devs require better access to FinTech)
Generalist approach broadens access to more winners (not a single unicorn or decacorn investment we made was led by an expert)
Some of our biggest winners (Shopify, Adyen, Canva) came from non obvious geos
Portfolio size (per fund) does matter: 40-60 companies does impact winning odds
This was a great vintage to invest in (2012-14). The world was optimistic again with the ‘08 crash firmly in the rear view and a bunch of tech waves spinning up simultaneously - mobile, SaaS, fintech, synbio, CV. There was opportunity everywhere we looked. There are still a dozen companies going strong like ClassDojo and Earnin
Susa Ventures Fund I ($25M)
Chad Byers, Leo Polovets, and Seth Berman invested in the seed rounds of:
Robinhood ($10BN Market Cap)
Flexport ($8BN Latest Valuation)
Andela ($1.7BN Latest Valuation)
Mux ($1.6BN Latest Valuation)
Mashgin ($1.5BN Latest Valuation)
Expanse ($1BN acquisition)
Casetext ($650M acquisition)
Learnings
Founder/Market fit is a force multiplier. Most teams had F/M fit
The path to $1b+ can vary greatly. It can be fast or slow, straight shot up or a bumpy road, etc
Many industries can support unicorns: self-checkout kiosks, SMB 401k administration, etc
100% of credit goes to founders. They are the ones building.
Work hard and get lucky.
Be helpful when you can and don't get in the way.
Vintage really matters. Fund I was in 2013. What followed was a 8 year bull market.
If you invest at seed, be prepared for the long haul. 10 years in, 50%+ of portfolio is still illiquid.
IA Ventures Fund I ($41M)
Roger Ehrenberg and Brad Gillespie invested in the seed rounds of:
The Trade Desk ($42.4BN Market Cap)
Datadog ($33.1BN Market Cap)
Yipit Data (Latest Round: $475M Series E)
Vectra ($1.12BN Latest Valuation)
Recorded Future ($790M Latest Valuation)
Learnings
Contrarian view of how seed funds should operate - concentrated portfolio, follow on checks with conviction, high degree of recycling
Founders with non-negotiable visions that were bold and exciting with highly negotiable missions as they collided with the market