Good morning 👋
Summer Fridays are the best.
You don’t want to read emails today, so we’ll keep this one short.
Here are some thoughts from one of the top fund of funds on where the real value lives in venture today …
TOP
Where is the value in VC today?
Level is one of the best emerging manager fund of funds, and their writing is some of the best to help you get up-to-speed on how world-class LPs are thinking about our section of the asset class.
Their latest post breaks down some thoughts about the erosion of alpha and how some managers have built sources of alpha for themselves and their fund.
Here are some thoughts directly from that piece:
Structural inefficiencies. Smaller funds have more degrees of freedom in earlier stages and more alignment with founders. They can also deliver alpha returns via proper portfolio construction and better utilize secondaries for DPI/liquidity.
Deep Information asymmetry. Deep information advantage and timing is super important now. Managers that deeply understand a space and generate original, first principles thinking have an advantage, as they see things before others do (see our criticality post) .
Non-redundant sourcing networks. Since the cycle times for innovation is so fast, founder networks are changing rapidly. To the extent that there is non-redundant access to a high-value network, that can generate alpha to the extent that manager is properly compensated for risk.
Speed + analytical edge. Speed continues to be an advantage, to the extent that it is coupled with analytical edge.
TWEET
RECS
Confluence.VC courses: Pay less for all of our courses and info products
LINKS
🚀 Become a Truth-Seeking Missile: Great advice from Naval about asking better quesitons, embracing uncertainty, and letting your mind evolve
👀 How to Break Into Venture Capital: Learning VC offers a step-by-step guide to getting noticed and building credibility
💥 A Crash Course on Sharing Revenue or ARR numbers when Fundraising: Liz Wessel, partner at First Round, offers advice to founders raising money
🌱 Startups are the Main Driver of U.S Job Growth: Visual Capitalist charts data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, published 01/2025, that shows startups (firms less that 1 year old) are the job creators
👤 The Multi-Agent Future of VC—Will We See One-Person Billion-Dollar Funds?: Multi-agent systems mean better orchestration of both human and synthetic intelligence
🤔 How to Think with AI: Use AI to think more clearly and make better decisions
Thanks for reading this far and giving us a little bit of your attention this week.
Feel free to unsubscribe whenever this stops becoming valuable to you.
- Clay
(Founder @ Confluence.VC | GP @ Outlaw)
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