Should an investor with a differentiated strategy operate solo or build a multi-partner firm?

Harry Stebbings · May 22, 2023

A partnership provides an accountability check that solo GPs lack, because partners remind you that you broke the model and that it was an exception.

It is very easy for solo GPs to lull themselves into treating exceptions as normal.

32:59 20VC: Why Your Fund Model Should Not Rely on $10BN+ Outcomes, Why the Large Funds Got Too Large, The Rise of Solo GP's; The Pros and Cons & Is Consumer Subscription Even a Good Sector to Invest in with Nico Wittenborn @ Adjacent

Hussein Kanji · Jan 20, 2025

Investing in a partnership is better than being a solo GP

You get an error-correction mechanism from other smart people who catch things you missed

Scope: breaks down if partners block deals for no good reason and just run interference

44:19 20VC: Why Large Seed Rounds Increase the Chances of Success | When to Sell in Venture | Why Multi-Stage Firms Do Not Do The Work | Is Europe Totally F****** and Why AI Means London Can Compete with the US with Hussein Kanji

Nico Wittenborn · May 22, 2023

For the right person, the solo GP model is a very good fit for early-stage investing, because early-stage returns come from holding a unique non-consensus view rather than a consensus-driven decision.

Early stage rewards believing something nobody else believes; negative or dismissive partner feedback can change or frustrate a strong individual opinion, so a single opinion can be beneficial.

Scope: only for the right personality type; single-opinion model only works if you are right more often than wrong; a very self-aware, mutually supportive partnership can also work

34:47 20VC: Why Your Fund Model Should Not Rely on $10BN+ Outcomes, Why the Large Funds Got Too Large, The Rise of Solo GP's; The Pros and Cons & Is Consumer Subscription Even a Good Sector to Invest in with Nico Wittenborn @ Adjacent

Oren Zeev · Feb 2, 2026

Doing things your own idiosyncratic way is harder as the leader of a group than as a solo investor

A solo operator only has to answer for themselves, whereas Mickey has to carry a whole firm with him

62:36 20VC: 50% of Funds Will Go Out of Business | Why Growth Expectations Today are BS and Will Not Last | Why Oren Zeev Takes $0 Management Fees But 30% Carry | Why GPs Should Not Tell LPs Their Strategy

Harry Stebbings · May 22, 2023

LP worries about solo GP key-man risk are overplayed, since partnership breakups are the number one killer of venture partnerships.

A solo GP cannot fall out with themselves, whereas partnerships fail from internal breakups; and if the GP is hit by a bus, the risk is moot anyway.

34:21 Solo gp key man risk is overstated since partnership breakups are the bigger threat