Origins - Inside Venture Capital, Hosted by a GP and an LP

OpenLP from Sapphire Partners
  • 4.6 (62)
  • INVESTING
  • UPDATED DAILY

Hosted by a General Partner (GP) and a Limited Partner (LP), Origins dives into the venture capital ecosystem to learn how the people behind the money make decisions: How LPs choose VC funds to invest in, what drives performance in venture, the dos and don'ts of fundraising, what founders/entrepreneurs/CEOs need to do to raise a Seed, Series A and beyond, what it takes to go from emerging manager to franchise VC, and the latest private market trends and dynamics shaping the investment ecosystem. Origins is co-hosted by GP Nick Chirls and LP Beezer Clarkson.

  1. FEB 20 · BONUS

    Revisiting Power Law VC Performance with David Clark

    Beezer Clarkson, LP at Sapphire Partners, revisits her conversation from 2023 with David Clark, Investment Director at VenCap International plc. In this episode, she and co-host Nick Chirls, Partner at Asylum Ventures, dive into David’s nearly four decades of experience in investing in some of the most established VC funds across the US, Europe, China and India. David shares historical figures on where to find performance in venture and his findings from a recently uncovered 30 year trove of data from 400+ funds with 15,000+ underlying portfolio companies. In this data set, he found that 50% of VC investments don’t actually return capital. So how does an LP unlock performance and find the enduring managers? Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partners Learn more about OpenLP: openlp.vc Learn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vc Learn more about Top Tier Capital Partners: ttcp.com Subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter for a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, delivered straight to your inbox. CHAPTERS: 0:00-Welcome to Origins 2:46-30 Years of Data at VenCap 6:10-Almost Always Working With Established Managers 11:19-A Very High Breakage Rate Between Funds One & Two 16:01-Figuring Out Who the Next Great Ones Are 24:41-Having At Least One Company That Returns the Entire Fund 31:26-Building an LP Program 36:18-Building a Program Where DPI Matters 42:06-Looking Back On Predictions for 2024 50:49-Looking for GPs to Get Ahead of the Curve

    56 min

  2. JAN 22 · BONUS

    Minisode: Franchise Funds: Grading Performance

    Origins host Beezer Clarkson sits down with her colleague Laura Thompson, fellow LP and Partner at Sapphire Partners, to unpack her recent conversation with Jessica Archibald, a GP at Top Tier Capital. They discuss Jessica’s engineering-based analytical approach to answering the question “what makes a franchise?” and discuss some surprising things they learned - Jessica’s view that there’s only one real way to do succession, the importance of breaking good and bad news in a way that creates a performance culture, and whether or not they’re going to adopt Jessica’s policy of assigning letter grades to funds at Sapphire Partners. Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partners Learn more about OpenLP: openlp.vc Learn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vc Learn more about Top Tier Capital Partners: ttcp.com Read Laura Thompson’s blog on why venture reserves aren’t always a good thing: sapphireventures.com/blog/dirty-secret-venture-reserves-are-not-always-a-good-thing/ Read Laura Thompson’s blog on fund recycling: sapphireventures.com/blog/fund-recycling-moves-the-needle-for-both-lps-and-gps-heres-how/ Read Laura Thompson’s blog on QSBS: sapphireventures.com/blog/how-lps-gps-and-founders-can-leverage-qsbs-to-make-more-money/ Subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter for a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, delivered straight to your inbox. CHAPTERS: (0:00) - Intro (1:08) - Jessica Takes It In a Different Direction (3:41) - Communicating with your LP base (So There Aren’t Surprises) (7:15) - Franchise Funds Are Intentional (9:44) - Getting to 1x DPI in Nine Years (15:55) - 2x is the new 3x (19:43) - Giving Funds Letter Grades

    23 min

  3. JAN 8

    Franchise Funds: Metrics To Be Extraordinary with Jessica Archibald

    Jessica Archibald is a GP and member of the Investment Committee at Top Tier Capital Partners, where she is co lead of the funds team and participates extensively in the capital formation efforts of the firm. She and Beezer Clarkson, LP at Sapphire Partners, sit down for the next episode in this miniseries on franchise funds - what it takes to build one, and how some firms lose their franchise status. Jessica digs into Top Tier’s numbers to discuss the importance of getting reliable DPI in a set timeframe, why it’s often better to bet on consistent 3x or even 1x returns, and the importance of succession in building a franchise fund. Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partners Learn more about OpenLP: openlp.vc Learn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vc Learn more about Top Tier Capital Partners: ttcp.com Subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter for a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, delivered straight to your inbox. CHAPTERS: 0:00 Welcome to Origins 2:10 Jessica’s Time with Top Tier 4:08 Fund Graduation Rates 8:43 Who is a Franchise Fund Today? 13:21 ”Is There a DPI Number Somebody Has to Hit to Be Considered Extraordinary?” 17:10 Can You Become a Franchise Fund By Doing Secondaries? 25:08 The Range of Strategies in Franchise Funds 31:32 Maintaining Franchise Status 35:33 What Do Founders Want? 39:42 ”Are You a Franchise Fund If You Haven’t Had Some Level of Succession?” 48:02 End of Year Guidance For New Venture Funds

    54 min

  4. 12/17/2024 · BONUS

    Minisode: Franchise Funds: Why do LPs & Founders Care?

    Origins host Beezer Clarkson sits down with her colleague Laura Thompson, fellow LP and Partner at Sapphire Partners, to discuss her recent conversation with Stephen Bluestein, Partner of Primary Investments at Adams Street and formerly Packard Foundation, about what it takes to make (and potentially later break) a franchise fund in venture. Together, Beezer and Laura debrief their top takeaways, including: do the hallmarks of a franchise differ between GPs and LPs (or even amongst different LPs); how does a franchise produce a lights-out 5x or 10x fund at their fund size; is a consistent 2x net good enough; parallels of sports franchises; and, does the right to win with the best founders mean you will then deliver the best returns? Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partners Learn more about OpenLP: openlp.vc Learn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vc Learn more about Adams Street Partners: adamsstreetpartners.com Read Laura Thompson’s blog on why venture reserves aren’t always a good thing: sapphireventures.com/blog/dirty-secret-venture-reserves-are-not-always-a-good-thing/ Read Laura Thompson’s blog on fund recycling: sapphireventures.com/blog/fund-recycling-moves-the-needle-for-both-lps-and-gps-heres-how/ Read Laura Thompson’s blog on QSBS: sapphireventures.com/blog/how-lps-gps-and-founders-can-leverage-qsbs-to-make-more-money/ Subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter for a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, delivered straight to your inbox.

    17 min

  5. 12/10/2024

    Franchise Funds: Becoming (and Remaining) One with Stephen Bluestein

    Stephen Bluestein has had an impressive career in Venture, beginning at Bessemer Venture Partners before moving to TCV, Light Street Capital, and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, before landing in his current role as a partner in the primary investment team at Adams Street Partners. He sits down with Beezer Clarkson, LP at Sapphire Partners, to discuss what makes a fund a franchise. They discuss the importance of building and maintaining a brand that stands for something in the market, making investments that are consistent with your philosophy, and together, they zero in on the tipping point of when a fund can be officially considered a franchise. Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partners Learn more about OpenLP: openlp.vc Learn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vc Learn more about Adams Street Partners: adamsstreetpartners.com Subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter for a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, delivered straight to your inbox. CHAPTERS: 0:00-Welcome to Origins2:15-Digging into Franchise Funds: Stephen’s Background 6:48-What Defines a Franchise? 15:30-How Long Does it Take to Become a Franchise? 21:06-The Minimum Viable Performance Metric to be Considered a Franchise 27:13-Pivoting From One Exceptional Fund into a Franchise 33:21-How to Inculcate Exceptionality 39:55-Diligencing Franchise Funds 45:28-“Know Thyself”: A Message for Aspiring Franchise Funds

    51 min

  6. 11/26/2024 · BONUS

    Minisode: Building Google & Betting Big: Lessons from Wesley Chan

    Nick Chirls, GP at Asylum Ventures,  and Beezer Clarkson, LP at Sapphire Partners go deep into their recent conversation with Wesley Chan, the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of FPV Ventures. They unpack Wesley’s direct learnings from Sergey Brin coming up at Google, how it is the job of the investor to spot greatness, his views on company pivots (and how they oppose another recent guest, Mike Maples’ views on pivots), the difficulties of thinking independently in Silicon Valley, and the serendipitous way Wesley and Sapphire Partners wound up working together in the first place. Plus Nick, it turns out, is kind of a tax guy. He and Beezer discuss the hidden benefits of being an expert on QSBS. Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partners Learn more about OpenLP: openlp.vc Learn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vc Learn more about FPV Ventures: fpvventures.com Read Laura Thompson’s article on QSBS: sapphireventures.com/blog/how-lps-gps-and-founders-can-leverage-qsbs-to-make-more-money/ Listen to Mike Maples & Jai Das discuss pivots: open.spotify.com/show/23H0tOX63xMChV2SErQKnZ?si=a9aab8b3e4c34dde Subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter for a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, delivered straight to your inbox.

    16 min

  7. 11/13/2024

    Finding Founders Who Will Change the World with Wesley Chan

    Wesley Chan is a true legend in Silicon Valley. He spent time at Microsoft and HP, and in 2002 he jumped to Google. There, he worked as Sergey Brin’s Chief of Staff and founded Google Analytics and Google Voice - all before then founding and leading the seed investing program at Google Ventures as GP. Under his tenure, GV was the first institutional check into companies like Plaid, Gusto, Lucid, and Robinhood. Wesley sits down with Nick Chirls, GP at Asylum Ventures,  and Beezer Clarkson, LP at Sapphire Partners, to discuss his investment philosophy and what motivates him. Wesley discusses his early days at Google being pushed to make products that change the world, finding founders who have a 100-year plan, and being driven not by the desire to prove other people wrong, but to prove himself right. Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partners Learn more about OpenLP: openlp.vc Learn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vc Learn more about FPV Ventures: fpvventures.com Subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter for a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, delivered straight to your inbox. CHAPTERS: 0:00-Introduction & the Burning Question3:11-Working for Sergey Brin: “If you’re not changing the world, you’re wasting your time.” 9:22-They're not there to screw the world, they're there to improve the world. 15:07-I'm not a university or your tuition money. We're giving you a check to go win. 17:05-Knowing just enough to be dangerous 27:58-The Exit Market: No one wants to test the market. LPs, hang on. 33:07-FPV’s take on AI 34:09-Founder success is the gift that keeps on giving

    42 min

  8. 10/15/2024 · BONUS

    Minisode: Seed vs Growth Investing - What Changes and What Stays the Same

    Nick Chirls, GP at Asylum Ventures,  and Beezer Clarkson, LP at Sapphire Partners, unpack their recent conversation with Jai Das, President + Partner at Sapphire Ventures and Mike Maples, Co-Founder + Partner at Floodgate,  to answer their burning question: What changes in the way seed and growth investors think, and what stays the same? They discuss the crushing importance of team no matter the stage; the parallels in LP land (at the end of the day, you’re just backing people); the difference between small iterations on a business model vs a radical remaking of a company; and the imperfect information you get at Seed vs the luxury of canvasing an entire landscape at growth via customer calls and key metrics.   Learn more about Sapphire Partners: https://sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partners/ Learn more about OpenLP: https://openlp.sapphireventures.com/ Learn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vc Learn more about Floodgate: https://www.floodgate.com/ Subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter for a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, delivered straight to your inbox. CHAPTERS: 0:00-Intro & Takeaways 1:20-Is This the Team That’s Going to IPO? 4:02-Early Stage Pivots 7:44-How Hard a Pivot is Too Hard? 12:23-LP Strategy for Picking Managers 13:09-The Importance of Timing 15:59-You Need to Call the Customers 18:05-Outro

    19 min
See All (96)

Trailer

4.6
out of 5
62 Ratings

About

Hosted by a General Partner (GP) and a Limited Partner (LP), Origins dives into the venture capital ecosystem to learn how the people behind the money make decisions: How LPs choose VC funds to invest in, what drives performance in venture, the dos and don'ts of fundraising, what founders/entrepreneurs/CEOs need to do to raise a Seed, Series A and beyond, what it takes to go from emerging manager to franchise VC, and the latest private market trends and dynamics shaping the investment ecosystem. Origins is co-hosted by GP Nick Chirls and LP Beezer Clarkson.

Information

You Might Also Like

Content Restricted

This episode can’t be played on the web in your country or region.

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada