Good vs. Great VC Firms

The Early Newsletter | 16th Edition

Happy Saturday and welcome to the first weekend edition of the Early 🎉 Thanks for the support as always, and welcome to everyone who’s joined the waitlist for our VC candidate portal so far!

💹 Today’s schedule:

• New VC Roles This Week 💫

• Good vs. Great VC Firms, The Case for Smaller VC Funds & more  🧠 

• Announcing Our Next Interview Guest: Shaun Chaudhuri! 👏 

• Submit a Question for Shaun 💭

• Refer a Friend 🙂

• Resources 📝

• Say Hi 👋

New VC Roles This Week 💫 

Internships 🤓 

• University Intern @ Expanding Capital (Remote, US) - Apply Here

• Summer Analyst @ IgniteXL Ventures (Remote) - Apply Here

Analyst 😍 

• VC Analyst @ AP Ventures (San Francisco or London) - Apply Here

• Analyst @ LVP (London, UK) - Apply Here

• Analyst @ Volta Circle - Apply Here

Associate/Senior Associate/Principal 😄 

• Associate @ M13 (Hybrid - Los Angeles, CA) - Apply Here

• VC Associate @ Planetary Scale (US, Remote) - Apply Here

• Investor (~5 YOE) @ Latitud Ventures (Mexico City, MX) - Apply Here

• Principal @ Female Founders Fund (Hybrid - New York City, NY) - Apply Here

Operational Roles 🤠 

• Events Coordinator @ First Round Capital (San Francisco, CA) - Apply Here

• Research Senior Associate @ Third Derivative (Remote, US) - Apply Here

• Investor Relations Intern @ Inovexus (Paris, FR) - Apply Here

• Senior Partnerships Associate @ Village Global (Remote, US) - Apply Here

• Community Manager @ VITALIZE Venture Capital (N/A) - Apply Here

Roles Still Open From Last Week 🏃‍♀️ 

• Summer Associate @ Urban Innovation Fund (San Francisco, CA) - Apply Here

• Summer Intern @ Azolla Ventures (San Francisco, CA or Cambridge, MA) - Apply Here

• Analyst @ Mercury (Houston, TX) - Apply Here

• Venture Capital Analyst - Growth @ Type One Ventures (Malibu, CA) - Apply Here

• Marketing Data Analyst @ Alumni Ventures (Boston, MA) - Apply Here

• Analyst, Compliance @ Energy Impact Partners (Hybrid - New York, NY) - Apply Here

• Investment Associate - Early Stage @ Fin Capital (NY/SF/Miami/London) - Apply Here

❗️ Note that many VC roles are posted without application deadlines and filled on a rolling basis - if you see one you like, I’d recommend applying within a week, or as soon as possible!

Reads This Week 🌟 

📈 Big Winners and Bold Concentration: Unveiling the Secret Portfolio Returns of Leading Venture Funds (Primary Venture Partners)

The Primary team released a blog analyzing 150 VC firms to highlight differences between “good” and “great” firms. A few key insights:

• Great funds (17.95X MOIC average) hit home runs over 2x more often than ‘good’ funds (3.53X MOIC average.)

• 10X funds get 10X+ returns on 14.1% of their portfolio companies, compared to good funds, which see a 10X on ~6.5% of investments.

• Great funds know how to double down on the right companies - they invest ~40% of their capital in investments generating 5X+. Good funds only invest ~20% of capital in their 5X investments.

🤔 Bigger Isn’t Always Better: The Case For Small VC Funds (RBC)

RBCx wrote a blog post arguing that large VC funds may not always win the performance and efficiency battle. Here are a few key takeaways:

• Smaller VC firms may offer more aligned incentives between fund managers and LPs, given that the majority of their financial upside is rooted in performance. Large VC firms take chunky management fees that may dull the drive for outsized performance.

• ^To add to this point: “The GP that returns just 1.0X on their $500M fund will earn $20M more in profits than the GP that returns 4.0X on their $100M fund.”

• Small funds have the advantage when it comes to speed of decision-making and the ability to seize market opportunities without having to go through rounds of approvals amongst a large team.

🤯 7 Rejections (Brian Chesky, Founder of Airbnb) 

I recently re-read this blog post by Airbnb founder Brian Chesky, who shares five rejection emails Airbnb received when the team attempted to raise a $1.5M seed round. A few fascinating points from the post:

• YC had introduced Airbnb to 7 potential investors for the round - five rejected them outright and two didn’t respond.

• Airbnb was raising a $150,000 round at a $1.5M post-money valuation. So, a $150k check would have bought you 10% of Airbnb (which would now be worth over $10B.)

• One of the rejection emails noted that the “market opportunity did not seem large enough” - Airbnb is now valued at over $100B.

Welcoming Our Next Interview Guest, Shaun Chaudhuri! 👏 

I’m excited to announce our next interview guest, Shaun Chaudhuri! 🎉 Shaun is a principal at the Westly Group, having joined the firm as an Associate four years ago. Shaun graduated from Harvard University with degrees in Gender Studies and Economics, and worked in college admissions after graduation. He also held finance roles at PG&E and Apple prior to starting his VC career. Submit a question for Shaun below 👇️ 

Submit a Question for Shaun! 💭 

Check Out Our Recent Posts 👇️ 

Refer a Friend 👭 

Enjoying the newsletter? Click the button below to refer a friend 🙂 

Resources 📝 

• Download my meeting notes template for VC/investment pitches 🧠

• Check out my previous post for a list of VC interview resources that I use!

• Take a look at the Early VC job board with roles updated twice weekly 🤗 

• Join the waitlist for our VC candidate portal 🤝 

Say Hi! 👋 

And that’s all for this week! You can find me on LinkedIn and X. As always, feel free to reach out to [email protected] with any questions and/or feedback. I’d love to hear from you! 🙂 

-Mic