audiences and AUM

Inside the secret flywheels that are shaping the new venture playbook

narrative capital (converting attention to equity)

~2,500 words on what I think is the biggest thing going on in venture

99 brutally honest takeaways from working in venture capital

Our updated list of non-obvious things we've noticed

buying networks, compounding leverage, and a different approach to solving the coverage problem

Why knowledge is no longer a moat, a bleak future for junior investor roles, and some explanations for the emerging manager boom

outlier frameworks: how tier-one investors think

96 mental models used by investors at Sequoia, Benchmark, Accel, and others

Read by investors, founders, and employees at the top funds and companies in the world.

📶 What’s (actually) working in GTM in 2025

What's working / not working, the new GTM stack, and AI impact is lower than anticipated

📶 dear emerging manager,

Some things an LP thinks you should hear

📶 VOL, pricing improbability, and positioning yourself in an increasingly unpredictable world

How to win as the world becomes harder to predict

📶 some thoughts on the right # of companies per fund

Why more > less, where value accrues for AI companies, and Sequoia raises another set of funds

📶 some thoughts on engineering luck

Ways to get luckier, data on deal counts and dollars, a16z is raising another massive fund, and some more signs of hope for emerging managers

📶 some unfiltered thoughts for somebody thinking about starting their own investment firm

Playing devil's advocate against the advice that everybody should start their own firm

📶 momentum is not a moat

Some thoughts on the AI bubble, you can now raise SAFEs through Stripe Atlas, NFX raises a new fund, and a visual on the token revolution

📶 systems of records ➡️ systems of action

Autonomous systems, the death of social contracts, and some data on how frothy the market really is

📶 courage is the moat

The last moat in venture, access vs. outliers, and a deep dive on the solo GP model at scale

📶 prediction markets and product-moment fit

Thoughts on the prediction economy, notes from Outlaw, and the best from last week

📶 some new GTM benchmarks

Data on what "great" looks like for GTM teams, takeaways from LP meetings, and thoughts on only investing in what you know

📶 consensus (investing) is for cowards

Finding conviction, what junior roles are still hiring for, and some data on founder vesting schedules

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Clay Norris

founder @ Confluence.VC, gp @ Outlaw

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