20VC: Why VCs Should Care More About Cost of Capital and Less About Ownership, Lessons from working with Peter Thiel, Why Liquidity Aligns Incentives & Why It Is The Last Double That Matters in Venture with Justin Fishner-Wolfson
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Justin Fishner-Wolfson is founder and the managing partner of 137 Ventures. They are a growth-stage venture firm that provides customized liquidity solutions to founders, investors, and early employees of high-growth private technology companies. Their portfolio includes SpaceX, Wish, Anduril, Flexport, and WorkRise (formerly Rigup) to name a few. Previously, Justin worked on the investment team at Founders Fund. Before that he served in the US Department of State under Alan Larson, Undersecretary for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs.
In Today’s Episode with Justin Fishner-Wolfson You Will Learn:
1.) How did Justin Fishner-Wolfson make his way into the world of Venture with Founders Fund? How did that lead to his founding 137 Ventures? What specific lessons did he learn from Peter Thiel that he has applied to his investing mindset?
2.) What does Justin mean when he says, “it is the last double that matters”? Why does Justin believe that liquidity aligns incentives between VCs and founders? When is the right time for this liquidity event to occur? Are there limits to the sizes of secondaries founders and teams should take
3.) How does Justin think about his own price sensitivity? Why does Justin believe that the conventional VC views on ownership are outdated and no longer relevant to this class of company? How does Justin think about diversification within his portfolio today? What is the right level? Is there such a thing as being too diversified? What is too concentrated?
4.) Why does Justin Fishner-Wolfson believe that the standard thoughts around CAC/LTV are wrong? How have these thoughts changed over time? How should founders think about this and present these metrics to their investors? Given these metrics, how does Justin feel about the revenue multiples we are seeing today in both private and public markets?