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Joined July 2020
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Odin retweeted
I wonder how much of VC's disillusion about public markets is a product of the fact that so many went out in 2020–2022 and got slaughtered.
...which was a fairly specific product of that era and the capital environment.
In general, across history, the IPO has been the favoured exit opportunity and the driver of the largest returns by a significant margin.
Importantly, it also allows a company to stay in "founder mode" rather than just being sold-off to an incumbent — a feature that any "founder friendly" VC should value.
The largest VC firms are more frequently backing the same companies.
This research measures how alike the biggest platform firms have become: whetherthey back the same companies, enter the same rounds and follow each other’s picks.
Looking at dollar-weighted activity, they have converged sharply since 2023.
Growing Enmeshment and the Rise of Venture Beta
@JoinOdin x @harmonic_ai
research.joinodin.com/#/pape…
Bridgit Mendler (@bridgitmendler) hadn’t started a venture-backed company before @NorthwoodSpace.
Mike Annunziata (@nunzi46), Managing Partner of @CapitalAlso, backed the ground station problem her team was solving, and SpaceX engineers in his network agreed with that view.
When he introduced Northwood to @foundersfund and @a16z, that support took the pitch from “former Disney Channel star starting a space company” to “where do I wire?”
Full episode of Going Solo out now.
From an old dentist’s office in Palo Alto to this in less than 3 years
Legendary stuff happening at @NorthwoodSpace
Excited for @CapitalAlso to continue supporting @bridgitmendler and her exceptional team of ground nerds
A generational company in the making
Odin retweeted
A curious finding, as the dataset is extended to cover more M&A transactions:
While the methodology makes a real effort to control for scale, the focus on IPOs is likely to preference larger funds that require larger exits to drive DPI.
Despite that, debut funds and funds up to $25M are both significantly overrepresented in the top 10%.
The abruptness with which that Fund I edge falls away illustrates how bad most LPs are at deciding which managers will get to raise a Fund II.
Research indicates this is likely down to focusing on incremental (and potentially frothy) marks rather than making rational (bust costly) qualitative judgements about the underlying investments.
The Top 50 VC Firms
Ranked by the long-term value created by primary investments per dollar at risk.
The top 10:
1. @shv
2. @foundersfund
3. @iaventures
4. @gigafund
5. @Lowercase
6. @pelion_vp
7. @usv
8. @benchmark
9. @BessemerVP
10. @DFJvc
Read more: blog.joinodin.com/p/the-top-…
Odin retweeted
“Robots everywhere!”
More on that and other hot takes in my chat with @credistick and @JoinOdin 👇
It’s been 7 years since starting @CapitalAlso with @WillBruey and @Cfsocc, but we’re still having just as much fun as when we started
Mike Annunziata (@nunzi46) spent most of a decade on the LP side before making investments of his own.
He began at the Soros family office before moving on to the @Cornell endowment, where he learned how an institutional manager sets the bar for success.
Today, Mike is the founder of @CapitalAlso, a boutique hard tech fund which grew out of his angel investing alongside @WillBruey. Their early commitments include companies like @RadiantNuclear and @VardaSpace — where Bruey is now CEO.
In this conversation, he describes why @CapitalAlso answers around ten questions about enterprise value before it looks at technical risk, and why fundraising works like selling a luxury good.
He and @credistick get into processes for controlling groupthink, his formative experience with @DormRoomFund, and the introduction that helped @foundersfund understand (and invest in) portfolio company @NorthwoodSpace.
They finish on Mike’s advice to emerging managers to get into business early, and why his vision for the next decade is a Golden Age of Robotics.
Going Solo is Odin’s series talking to small and emerging managers in venture capital. Subscribe to catch future episodes:
linktr.ee/goingsolowithodin
0:00 Intro to Mike and Also Capital
1:24 From the Soros family office to the Cornell endowment
5:24 Where the bar sits for a new fund
6:00 Clearing an endowment's opportunity cost
7:31 Learning seed investing at Dorm Room Fund
11:43 Controlling groupthink in investment decisions
13:28 Why the best deals are contentious
14:22 Stories from Dorm Room Fund
16:28 Varda and the origins of Also Capital
20:07 Diligencing deep tech as a non-engineer
23:15 Using AI in technical diligence
25:34 Raising Fund 1 and Fund 2
30:34 Origination: Atlas and Northwood Space
35:48 The best advice for emerging managers
38:26 What the world looks like in 10 years
Odin retweeted
A great anecdote from this conversation is the story of @bridgitmendler and @NorthwoodSpace, and how it relates to the art of origination in VC.
@nunzi46 was the earliest investor in Northwood, and helped later investors understand the scope of the problem space, including getting input from engineers at @VardaSpace and @SpaceX.
The ability to recognise outlier opportunities and pull them into the venture-backed universe is why smaller firms like @CapitalAlso play a critical role as VC's discovery layer.
More on this topic in my article for @JoinOdin:
blog.joinodin.com/p/the-orig…
Mike Annunziata (@nunzi46) spent most of a decade on the LP side before making investments of his own.
He began at the Soros family office before moving on to the @Cornell endowment, where he learned how an institutional manager sets the bar for success.
Today, Mike is the founder of @CapitalAlso, a boutique hard tech fund which grew out of his angel investing alongside @WillBruey. Their early commitments include companies like @RadiantNuclear and @VardaSpace — where Bruey is now CEO.
In this conversation, he describes why @CapitalAlso answers around ten questions about enterprise value before it looks at technical risk, and why fundraising works like selling a luxury good.
He and @credistick get into processes for controlling groupthink, his formative experience with @DormRoomFund, and the introduction that helped @foundersfund understand (and invest in) portfolio company @NorthwoodSpace.
They finish on Mike’s advice to emerging managers to get into business early, and why his vision for the next decade is a Golden Age of Robotics.
Going Solo is Odin’s series talking to small and emerging managers in venture capital. Subscribe to catch future episodes:
linktr.ee/goingsolowithodin
0:00 Intro to Mike and Also Capital
1:24 From the Soros family office to the Cornell endowment
5:24 Where the bar sits for a new fund
6:00 Clearing an endowment's opportunity cost
7:31 Learning seed investing at Dorm Room Fund
11:43 Controlling groupthink in investment decisions
13:28 Why the best deals are contentious
14:22 Stories from Dorm Room Fund
16:28 Varda and the origins of Also Capital
20:07 Diligencing deep tech as a non-engineer
23:15 Using AI in technical diligence
25:34 Raising Fund 1 and Fund 2
30:34 Origination: Atlas and Northwood Space
35:48 The best advice for emerging managers
38:26 What the world looks like in 10 years
Mike Annunziata (@nunzi46) spent most of a decade on the LP side before making investments of his own.
He began at the Soros family office before moving on to the @Cornell endowment, where he learned how an institutional manager sets the bar for success.
Today, Mike is the founder of @CapitalAlso, a boutique hard tech fund which grew out of his angel investing alongside @WillBruey. Their early commitments include companies like @RadiantNuclear and @VardaSpace — where Bruey is now CEO.
In this conversation, he describes why @CapitalAlso answers around ten questions about enterprise value before it looks at technical risk, and why fundraising works like selling a luxury good.
He and @credistick get into processes for controlling groupthink, his formative experience with @DormRoomFund, and the introduction that helped @foundersfund understand (and invest in) portfolio company @NorthwoodSpace.
They finish on Mike’s advice to emerging managers to get into business early, and why his vision for the next decade is a Golden Age of Robotics.
Going Solo is Odin’s series talking to small and emerging managers in venture capital. Subscribe to catch future episodes:
linktr.ee/goingsolowithodin
0:00 Intro to Mike and Also Capital
1:24 From the Soros family office to the Cornell endowment
5:24 Where the bar sits for a new fund
6:00 Clearing an endowment's opportunity cost
7:31 Learning seed investing at Dorm Room Fund
11:43 Controlling groupthink in investment decisions
13:28 Why the best deals are contentious
14:22 Stories from Dorm Room Fund
16:28 Varda and the origins of Also Capital
20:07 Diligencing deep tech as a non-engineer
23:15 Using AI in technical diligence
25:34 Raising Fund 1 and Fund 2
30:34 Origination: Atlas and Northwood Space
35:48 The best advice for emerging managers
38:26 What the world looks like in 10 years
Across four annual @Intralinks LP surveys, the preference for managers >$1B AUM has fallen from 46% to 22%, and the >$5B bucket has fallen from 19% to 5%.
Meanwhile, LP preference for <$100M managers has tripled since last year's survey, to 18%.
Check out the latest survey:
ssctech.com/blog/alternative…
Of the top 10 funds in our ranking, five are debut funds from new firms:
- @Techstars Bullet Time Fund I
- @Lowercase Fund I
- @FirstMarkCap Fund I
- @Initialized Fund I
- @iaventures Fund I
Of the remaining five, @foundersfund and @firstround are in the ranking with a Fund II, and @foundersfund Fund III also makes the cut.
TL;DR — Almost all of the top-performing funds were emerging managers and half were new managers.
Top 5 VC firms by value/$
█████ 11.6× — @shv
█████ 11.2× — @foundersfund
████ 10.0× — @iaventures
████ 9.1× — @gigafund
███ 8.8× — @Lowercase
Median: 1.0× · top50.joinodin.com View article
In previous articles we've covered the outperformance of emerging managers:
blog.joinodin.com/p/venture-…
This analysis includes data from @ColibriInst, @Open_LP, @PitchBook, @stepstonegroup, @team8group and more.
Clearly, there's a strong argument for LPs to maintain exposure to the emerging part of the market and promising Fund I managers.
Odin retweeted
@JoinOdin's Top 50 VC firms ranking: portfolio IPOs since 2014, long-term value per dollar deployed, primary checks only, and a penalty for one-hit wonders.
Check out the full Top 50 report, which breaks down methodology, data sources, robustness checks, top firms, top funds, and top companies:
Get it here: top50.joinodin.com
"When you realise that different people have different ways of approaching problems, then they can work together — because we are all natural explorers."
💜 @OpenRouter
The biggest lie in AI is that the future belongs to one winner.
Every technology wave starts with one company promising that one walled garden is all you'll ever need. And every time, market forces and creativity break the walls down.
I cofounded OpenSea and now OpenRouter around the opposite bet: humanity will refuse to be locked in.
Intelligence was never meant to belong to one lab, one model, or one gatekeeper.
The future of AI is open, plural, and yours to choose.
Top 5 VC firms by value/$
█████ 11.6× — @shv
█████ 11.2× — @foundersfund
████ 10.0× — @iaventures
████ 9.1× — @gigafund
███ 8.8× — @Lowercase
Median: 1.0× · top50.joinodin.com View article
Check out the full Top 50 report, which breaks down methodology, data sources, robustness checks, top firms, top funds, and top companies:
Get it here: top50.joinodin.com
The Top 50 VC Firms
Ranked by the long-term value created by primary investments per dollar at risk.
The top 10:
1. @shv
2. @foundersfund
3. @iaventures
4. @gigafund
5. @Lowercase
6. @pelion_vp
7. @usv
8. @benchmark
9. @BessemerVP
10. @DFJvc
Read more: blog.joinodin.com/p/the-top-…
Odin retweeted
The top VC firms by value created per dollar at risk.
1️⃣ Sutter Hill: 11.6x (@Snowflake)
2️⃣ @foundersfund: 11.2x (@SpaceX)
3️⃣ @iaventures: 10.0x (@digitalocean)
4️⃣ Gigafund: 9.1x (@SpaceX)
5️⃣ Lowercase: 8.8x (@Uber)
The median across the 147 ranked firms: 1.0x.
Founders Fund created $95.2bn. Sutter Hill got its 11.6x on $1.33bn at risk.
Source: @JoinOdin.
Who wins in VC: the biggest funds, or the sharpest pickers?
Odin retweeted
Good neighborhood
The Top 50 VC Firms
Ranked by the long-term value created by primary investments per dollar at risk.
The top 10:
1. @shv
2. @foundersfund
3. @iaventures
4. @gigafund
5. @Lowercase
6. @pelion_vp
7. @usv
8. @benchmark
9. @BessemerVP
10. @DFJvc
Read more: blog.joinodin.com/p/the-top-…
Odin retweeted
Roger the 🐐.
Not only building a top 3 firm, but also planning succession perfectly & then swinging again on a more focused thesis @gamechangersvc
Proud to be a co-investor with @infoarbitrage & team.
The Top 50 VC Firms
Ranked by the long-term value created by primary investments per dollar at risk.
The top 10:
1. @shv
2. @foundersfund
3. @iaventures
4. @gigafund
5. @Lowercase
6. @pelion_vp
7. @usv
8. @benchmark
9. @BessemerVP
10. @DFJvc
Read more: blog.joinodin.com/p/the-top-…
Odin retweeted
The @JoinOdin Top 50 uses a fairly contrarian methodology, in that it does not simply reward AUM.
What matters is a firms exposure to the value created by generational companies, relative to managed capital.
So, the list features a number of firms who aren’t ranked as frequently as they likely deserve. For example:
#15 Founder Collective — @fcollective
#17 Granite Ventures — @GraniteVentures
#22 Romulus Capital — @RomulusCap
#24 Gemini Israel — @GeminiVC
#27 Amplify Partners — @AmplifyPartners
#30 Highway 12 Ventures — @hwy12
#33 Red Swan — @redswanventures
#37 Section 32 — @S32_VC
#38 Flybridge — @flybridge
#41 Altos Ventures — @altosvc
#42 JVP — @JVPVC
#44 Celesta Capital — @CelestaCapital
#46 Madrona — @MadronaVentures
#47 Cathay Innovation — @Cathayinnov
#48 Revel Partners — @RevelPartners
Check out the full report: top50.joinodin.com
If there was an "on-base percentage" for venture capital, what would it look like?
It might involve looking at a firm's exposure to the world's most consequential tech companies.
Not just an arbitrary mark at an exit, where they may or may not have taken liquidity, but the subsequent compounding of those investments over time; using public markets as a sorting mechanism for quality.
For this ranking, we started with venture's greatest success stories, and worked backwards to find out who invested, when, and what fraction of their managed funds the investment represented.
The resulting list reflects the long-term performance of each firm's most successful portfolio companies, relative to capital deployed.
Other interesting features:
• Two firms in the top 10 were founded by the Draper dynasty (@shv and @DFJvc).
• Luke Nosek is a co-founder of two of the firms in the top 10 (@foundersfund and @gigafund).
• Founders Fund created more value than the bottom 22 firms put together, at $95.2B, primarily thanks to @SpaceX and @PalantirTech.
• If you rank by value alone, the top five firms are: Founders Fund ($95.2B), @sequoia ($82.6B), @Accel ($56.0B), @BessemerVP ($48.4B), @NEA ($33.0B).
• Seven out of the ten best performing funds were technically emerging managers, and four were debut funds.
(@iaventures I, @FirstMarkCap I, @Techstars Bullet Time I, @Lowercase I, Founders Fund II, @firstround II, Founders Fund III)
The top 10 firms are:
1 — Sutter Hill Ventures, founded by Paul M. Wythes and Bill Draper (William H. Draper III), in 1964
2 — Founders Fund, founded by Peter Thiel (@peterthiel), Ken Howery (@KenHowery), and Luke Nosek (@LukeNosek), in 2005
3 — IA Ventures, founded by Roger Ehrenberg (@infoarbitrage), in 2010
4 — Gigafund, founded by Luke Nosek (@LukeNosek) and Stephen Oskoui (@oskoui), in 2017
5 — Lowercase Capital, founded by Chris Sacca (@sacca), in 2010
6 — Pelion Venture Partners, founded by Jim Dreyfous (as Utah Ventures / UV Partners), in 1986
7 — Union Square Ventures, founded by Fred Wilson (@fredwilson) and Brad Burnham (@BradUSV), in 2003
8 — Benchmark, founded by Bob Kagle, Bruce Dunlevie, Andy Rachleff, Kevin Harvey, and Val Vaden, in 1995
9 — Bessemer Venture Partners, founded by Henry Phipps Jr. (as Bessemer Securities; VC arm formalized later), in 1911
10 — Draper Fisher Jurvetson, founded by Tim Draper (@TimDraper), in 1985
Read the write-up here:
blog.joinodin.com/p/the-top-…
Read more about the methodology and get the full report here:
top50.joinodin.com/
Odin retweeted
this is a way better analysis than looking purely at dollars returned
The Top 50 VC Firms
Ranked by the long-term value created by primary investments per dollar at risk.
The top 10:
1. @shv
2. @foundersfund
3. @iaventures
4. @gigafund
5. @Lowercase
6. @pelion_vp
7. @usv
8. @benchmark
9. @BessemerVP
10. @DFJvc
Read more: blog.joinodin.com/p/the-top-…