Should a venture firm define itself by fixed investment parameters like stage and round size, or by its relationship and commitment to founders?

Wesley Chan · Aug 22, 2022

The right five-year goals for a venture firm are staying a small team, being founders' genuine first phone call, and having everyone find fulfillment — with money always secondary

They started the firm so that everyone working with them, and their founders, can be fulfilled in what they do

Scope: framed as his own firm's core values

45:00 20VC: Why Market Always Wins Over the Founder & Why I Do Not Do Market Sizing | Why it is not the Best Time to be Investing but it is the Best Time to Have a Fund & The Type of Deals to do Today | Why The Best Founders Have 100 Year Plans with Wes Chan, C

Bret Taylor · Oct 2, 2024

The best investor–founder relationship is one where the investor is the founder's first phone call on a strategic issue, not a transactional one.

His conversation with Peter Fenton worked because he came for advice on what they were doing and why rather than to transact.

60:40 20VC: Bret Taylor: The AI Bubble and What Happens Now | How the Cost of Chips and Models Will Change in AI | Will Companies Build Their Own Software | Why Pre-Training is for Morons | Leaderships Lessons from Mark Zuckerberg

Victor Lazarte · Apr 14, 2025

Rigidity is nonsense for a venture firm; what matters is being the first call for every entrepreneur it works with

What defines Benchmark is being a partner to the most important companies being created and being the founder's first call, not a fixed entry point

47:04 20VC: Benchmark's Victor Lazarte on Why Portfolio Construction is BS| Why SaaS Spreadsheet Investing is Dead | Why China is a Stabilising Force for the US | Three Traits All the Best Founders Have & The Lie All Big Tech Companies Have Been Telling

Victor Lazarte · Apr 14, 2025

Benchmark's biggest thing to fix is the perception of what 'a Benchmark round' is — it should be defined solely by a founder capable of going after a very big market, not by round size

Being a small firm means a lot of deals are never seen, and founders self-select out when their round doesn't look like a stereotypical Benchmark round

Scope: applies whether the raise is $5M or $200M

56:15 20VC: Benchmark's Victor Lazarte on Why Portfolio Construction is BS| Why SaaS Spreadsheet Investing is Dead | Why China is a Stabilising Force for the US | Three Traits All the Best Founders Have & The Lie All Big Tech Companies Have Been Telling

Harry Stebbings · Apr 14, 2025

Investors should aspire to be the founder's worst call — the one they reach for when things really go wrong — not the first call

Every VC says they want to be the first call; your mom should be your first call. What matters is being the person who helps in the terrible moment.

47:26 Being the worst call not first call is what matters

Victor Lazarte · Apr 14, 2025

It is not true that all investors want to be the founder's first call — many smart investors explicitly don't want board work and just want to write the check

Financial investors' model is to deploy and move to the next company; close partnership simply isn't the product they offer

47:48 Many investors explicitly dont want to be first call just capital