Harry Stebbings was kind enough to invite us back to 20VC’s latest roundtable on a niche but very interesting topic — Founder-Led VC Funds.
When we raised the first SaaStr Fund in 2016, this concept was still fairly new. Fast forward to today, it’s blow up. Some top SaaS CEOs now run true institutional venture funds managing hundreds of millions, including Jack Altman and Auren Hoffman, both who joined Harry and me on 20VC. Others run fusions of community and funds like Harry and 20VC and SaaStr. And others chair funds, but aren’t involved full-time, like the CEOs of Freshworks, Harness, and more.
A great deep dive on the topic, and if you should pick a founder-led fund vs a “traditional” VC fund … or not … from some of our favorites here at SaaStr:
Jack Altman is the Founder and CEO @ Lattice, the #1 people management platform, last valued at $3BN. Jack is an investor through his founding of Jack Altman Capital where he has invested in WorkOS, NexHealth, Owner.com, Mercury and more.
Auren Hoffman is the Founder and CEO @ Safegraph, the most accurate database of global points of interest, last valued at $550M. Auren is an investor through his founding of Flex Capital where he has invested in Chime, Checkr, Coinbase, Flexport, Vercel and more.
Jason Lemkin is the Founder and CEO @ SaaStr, the world’s largest SaaS community. Jason is an investor through his founding of The SaaStr Fund. In the past, Jason has invested in Pipedrive, Algolia, Salesloft, Front, GreenHouse, Owner.com, Gorgias and more.
In Today’s Episode on Founder-Led Funds We Discuss:
- Why have we seen the rise of “Founder-led Funds”?
- Are founder-led funds more empathetic to the founders they invest in?
- How do founder-led funds source and pick investments in a way that traditional VC does not?
- Will we see founder-led Funds truly compete against the Sequoias of the world?
- How does being an operator make you a better investor?
- How does investing help you be a better founder and operator?
- How do you communicate your investing practice and firm to your company and team?
- What are the biggest excitements and concerns LPs have for Founder-led Funds?
- Will we see the face of venture changing much more broadly and structurally?
- How do founder-led funds manage both time and company conflicts?
The post New 20VC Roundtable “Founder-Led VC Funds: Are They Any Better?” with Jack Altman (Lattice / Altman Capital), Auren Hoffman (Safegraph / Flex Capital), Harry and Jason appeared first on SaaStr.
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Jason Lemkin, Khareem Sudlow
