📶 buying networks, "future-proofing" yourself, and how winners keep winning in VC

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Good morning 👋

I’ve spent the past few weeks obsessing over a question:

The question applies to all knowledge workers, but in VC, what happens when it has become MUCH more effective to use ChatGPT, an agent, or software to:

• Find hyper-targeted companies and automate 95% of your sourcing? (ie. Harmonic)

• Research any market and know “enough to be dangerous” in ~five minutes? (ie. Deep research)

• Automate investment memos on the companies you present to IC? (ie, Wokelo, Velvet, etc.)

If you’re reading this and questioning what you still bring to the table, you’re probably not alone.

As knowledge becomes more and more commoditized, unique networks of people are one of the last sources of alpha left. 

Unique networks “future-proof” a person by giving them access to opportunities, founders, customer intros, and talent. I would argue this has always been the case, but it now that knowledge is no longer a moat, I would argue bringing a network is one of the only things that matters.

The biggest firms in venture have already realized this, and they are getting ahead of it with a unique way to expand their own presence while also working with the next generation of emerging fund managers.

Here’s a 1,500-word condensed summary of how we get here, why it’s a genius move, and what happens next.