Today, it’s quite different. The VC side has unbundled into all sorts of niche firms who act as signal for larger multi-stage GPs, and who partner at nearly every stage of technology risk level.
Ours is a livelihood dependent on successfully being able to predict the future. And in a world so dominated by fat tails, randomness and optionality, this is a very hard thing to do.
Speaking to these guys, a common sentiment that’s come through is that the good founders want to deal with individuals. Julian Shapiro put it well the other day: You can carry a hero brand within a firm (such as Chris Dixon in a16z crypto), or you can carry a firm on your hero brand.