David Bloom

loved this answer from @rabois on identifying exceptional talent early. few have done it better over the past 25 yrs! https://t.co/uxSoXlfsbl

“I try to live my life by what I call my ‘freedom quotient’: the numerator is money and the denominator is fame,” he said. “I’m trying to maximize money and minimize fame.”

They grew up counter-positioning against the classic 1990s VC model.”

But there’s still a taboo around venture funds going public: Valley graybeards still remember dot-com bomb Internet Capital Group listing on Nasdaq in 1999. The VC shop’s valuation ballooned to nearly $60 billion before plunging 99.5% in less than two years.

We just reinvented venture capital and obliterated the barriers to entry. Anyone can launch a VC fund in a day with no up front costs and take LP commitments as low as $10K. I am proud to introduce the Start Fund.

“What I’m there for is to have a strategy discussion with the founder — for them to be totally ruthless and put me in my place. And not in a bullshit way. At this point, I’m pretty good at spotting the delta between bravado and actual competence.”

$1b = unicorn. $10B = decacorn. $100B = centicorn. $1T = kilocorn. It's very clear to me that the large multi-stage firms are now purely centicorn and kilocorn shops. a16z raising $20B, Sequoia and others changing their reg status to hold companies beyond IPO, it's a new game and a new capital stack in venture. Sequoia and Sutter Hill put $2m in to... See more

One marker that I’m seeing someone clearly is when I understand how their strengths are also their weaknesses, how their genius lives right next to their dysfunction. I know that I’m further away from clarity when I am overly excited or overly skeptical.