Neil Mehta

They do three more meetings or maybe four more meetings. There's this great Elon Musk quote, which is, Every manufacturing process is wrong. Every production process is wrong. Every design. Yeah, I won't get exactly right. Every design process is wrong. It's just a question of how wrong.

They do three more meetings or maybe four more meetings. There's this great Elon Musk quote, which is, Every manufacturing process is wrong. Every production process is wrong. Every design. Yeah, I won't get exactly right. Every design process is wrong. It's just a question of how wrong.

Because the likelihood we could have envisioned all the available capabilities that we have today when we design that process is zero. Like, you know, so many things have changed. I think our industry is a little bit like that. You're going from this process where people would take a little bit of time. They wouldn't really know your company when you walk through the door.

Because the likelihood we could have envisioned all the available capabilities that we have today when we design that process is zero. Like, you know, so many things have changed. I think our industry is a little bit like that. You're going from this process where people would take a little bit of time. They wouldn't really know your company when you walk through the door.

Now, we've gone from a cottage industry into a large-scale asset class at this point. And I think there are a lot of firms, correctly so, that believe venture at scale, venture with lots of capital, lots of companies, lots of coverage, lots of AUM, lots of people, is the right way to prosecute it. And I think they're right because...

Now, we've gone from a cottage industry into a large-scale asset class at this point. And I think there are a lot of firms, correctly so, that believe venture at scale, venture with lots of capital, lots of companies, lots of coverage, lots of AUM, lots of people, is the right way to prosecute it. And I think they're right because...

I'll get to why we're doing it differently, but I think they're right because why should people have earned 35 net IRRs for the course of many decades? That's too high for any asset class. It should be in the teens. And usually you could deploy a lot more capital and a lot more people and bring down to the teens and still have lots of people excited about the way you invest.

I'll get to why we're doing it differently, but I think they're right because why should people have earned 35 net IRRs for the course of many decades? That's too high for any asset class. It should be in the teens. And usually you could deploy a lot more capital and a lot more people and bring down to the teens and still have lots of people excited about the way you invest.

I think that has resulted in essentially the private equitization of our industry. I think of a lot of our brethren and these are friends of mine. I really like them and I think they're doing a great job, but they essentially have like a matrix. They have industries on the top and I don't know, maybe geographies or stage on whatever their matrix is.

I think that has resulted in essentially the private equitization of our industry. I think of a lot of our brethren and these are friends of mine. I really like them and I think they're doing a great job, but they essentially have like a matrix. They have industries on the top and I don't know, maybe geographies or stage on whatever their matrix is.

Something comes into their firm, they serve it to that part of the matrix, that little box of people goes and chases after it. And what they've done is they've said, listen, Everybody has a slide which says, what are the series A's or series B's or series C's that happened this quarter? And what percentage coverage did we have?

Something comes into their firm, they serve it to that part of the matrix, that little box of people goes and chases after it. And what they've done is they've said, listen, Everybody has a slide which says, what are the series A's or series B's or series C's that happened this quarter? And what percentage coverage did we have?

What they're explicitly telling you is they're saying, we are optimizing for coverage. There's too much happening. There's too many ways to make money. The world's a big place. We have five offices and all these great people, and we are a factory that's able to produce it. Now, I think that's actually the right end state for a vast majority of our industry.

What they're explicitly telling you is they're saying, we are optimizing for coverage. There's too much happening. There's too many ways to make money. The world's a big place. We have five offices and all these great people, and we are a factory that's able to produce it. Now, I think that's actually the right end state for a vast majority of our industry.

I think 90 something plus percent of our industry should work that way. I think for the 10 to 15 best founders each year, that's precisely the wrong way to work. What you should definitely not do is meet someone in that little matrix, have it elevated to a senior partner at the firm, or maybe most of these firms are not found to run anymore anyway, but have it elevated to someone at the firm.

I think 90 something plus percent of our industry should work that way. I think for the 10 to 15 best founders each year, that's precisely the wrong way to work. What you should definitely not do is meet someone in that little matrix, have it elevated to a senior partner at the firm, or maybe most of these firms are not found to run anymore anyway, but have it elevated to someone at the firm.

And then they chase it all down and bring some people in and try to win it. And you become one of... 35 or 40 investments they make that year. I think it reduces the purpose of venture capital, which is a little bit of validation, a little bit of actual company building and partnership, a little bit of speed and velocity.

And then they chase it all down and bring some people in and try to win it. And you become one of... 35 or 40 investments they make that year. I think it reduces the purpose of venture capital, which is a little bit of validation, a little bit of actual company building and partnership, a little bit of speed and velocity.

And so I think if you're one of the 10 to 15 best founders, people like us should be able to find you before anybody else finds you. You shouldn't have to explain what you do all that much. We can understand from the outside in better than most anybody else on the earth. And you should get all of Greenhouse, not a little bit of Greenhouse, all of us.

And so I think if you're one of the 10 to 15 best founders, people like us should be able to find you before anybody else finds you. You shouldn't have to explain what you do all that much. We can understand from the outside in better than most anybody else on the earth. And you should get all of Greenhouse, not a little bit of Greenhouse, all of us.