OpenLP

🔥What‘s different in the way seed and growth investors approach winning opportunities, and what stays the same? 🔊 A new Origins Minisode is live! Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson (LP at Sapphire Partners) and Nicholas Chirls (GP at Asylum Ventures) dive into their recent convo with Mike Maples, Jr (Seed investor Floodgate) and Jai Das (Growth investor Sapphire Ventures) to answer this burning question... 💡 No matter the stage one invests in – there’s one thing everyone agrees on, including the LP: “Team is crushingly important.” At the end of the day, you’re just backing people — whether that’s a GP at pre-seed or Series C, or an LP backing a Fund I or Fund VI. Links to listen to the minisode in comments. Here’s an overview: 1:20-Is This the Team That’s Going to IPO? 4:02-Early Stage Pivots 7:44-How Hard a Pivot is Too Hard? 12:23-LP Strategy for Picking Managers 13:09-The Importance of Timing 15:59-You Need to Call the Customers Thank you to our guests for a fascinating conversation on seed vs growth. #VentureCapital #Origins #OpenLP

We’re proud to see Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson, Partner at Sapphire Partners and Co-Founder of OpenLP, featured on the cover of the latest issue of Venture Capital Journal! ✨ With a career built on breaking barriers and raising the bar for inclusivity, Beezer reminds us that 'venture capital has to work for everybody, or it doesn’t work.’ Read more for insights from Beezer and the inspiring women featured and be sure to check out Beezer’s podcast Origins, which she co-hosts with Asylum Ventures’ Nicholas Chirls to bring more transparency into the LP perspective. (Links in comments) #WomenInVC #OpenLP #VentureCapital

🎙 My interview with Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures where we discuss the venture capital fundraising market today and Precursor’s journey from Fund I to Fund V.   We would like to thank Carta for sponsoring this episode! #VentureCapital #VC #Startups #OpenLP Turpentine 10X Capital Link to Podcast in Comments Below 👇

Hot off the press—The #OpenLP newsletter is out, featuring the latest LP & GP perspectives. 🔥 Check out the round up of some of our favorite content from October: 💫Do Startups Have a Chance vs. Big Tech in the Age of AI? History Says Yes… In Due Time – Aileen Lee, Founder of Cowboy Ventures 💫How the $3.5B University of Rochester Endowment Invests – Rob Rahbari, Senior Investment Officer and Assistant Treasurer at the University of Rochester, sits down with David Weisburd on the 10X Capital Podcast 💫Survivorship Bias in Venture and the Importance of Raw Data – David Clark, CIO at VenCap International plc 💫VC's Power Law: Top 5% Underperformance on 75% of Deals – Meghan Reynolds, Partner & Head of Capital Formation Altimeter 💫Lessons from DoorDash's Series A Pitch Deck – Alfred Lin, Partner at Sequoia Capital 💫Investing Lessons from Seeding Uber, Airtable & Coupang – David Frankel, Managing Partner at Founder Collective, sits down with Harry Stebbings on The Twenty Minute VC 💫Seed vs Growth Investing: What Changes & What Stays the Same – Jai Das, President & Partner at Sapphire Ventures, & Mike Maples, Jr, Partner at Floodgate, sit down with Nicholas Chirls & Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson on the Origins Podcast. 💫Credit Due: The 50 Over 50 Reflects on 50 Years of Equal Credit Access for Women — Forbes' Vickie Chachere featuring Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson Special thanks to all of the contributors from this month! Subscribe to get the next one in your inbox, linked in comments 👇 #venturecapital #LPvoices #GPperspectives

For founders trying to raise a Series A... Alfred Lin, Partner at Sequoia Capital, shares DoorDash's CEO and Co-founder Tony Xu’ superpowers - clarity and conviction. Despite a crowded food delivery market, Tony saw a gap—85% of restaurants couldn’t afford delivery staff, and existing solutions didn’t meet their needs. By 2013, the rise of smartphones and app-based economies made the timing perfect to rethink local logistics. Check out the pitch deck (link in comments). #startups #fundraising #seriesa

Can startups really compete with big tech in the AI era? 🤔 Cowboy Ventures' Aileen Lee believes history says yes, but patience is key. In her latest blog, Aileen highlights that while tech giants dominate early in platform shifts (like the web, mobile, and cloud), they often pave the way for startups to out-innovate over time. AI may follow a similar path: though incumbents like OpenAI and Microsoft are thriving, there’s still untapped potential for AI-native companies to emerge, especially by solving new problems and enhancing B2B and consumer applications. For founders, the opportunity is still ripe, with lessons from past tech cycles. Read the full article linked comments. 👇 #Startups #Innovation

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), which made it illegal for lenders to require that women have a male cosigner when applying for credit cards, mortgages or bank accounts. Forbes highlighted this landmark legislation with this year’s cohort of ‘50 Over 50’ women, including Sapphire Partners’ Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson, whose memory of this event draws strong parallels to her line of work as an LP investing in venture. “The ability to independently manage finances meant empowering women to control their purchasing decisions — a huge step forward in gender equality, but also a battle that took far too long to win, and frankly one we never should have had to fight.” Read more at the link in the comments. And in case you missed it, check out the full Forbes 50 Over 50 Investment list, highlighting powerhouse women proving that age is one’s best asset. 💪 #WomeninVC #Forbes50over50

🎙️ In the latest Origins episode, two industry legends—Jai Das, SaaS and venture veteran from Sapphire Ventures, and Mike Maples, Jr, seed investing pioneer of Floodgate, join Nicholas Chirls (GP, Asylum Ventures) and Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson (LP, Sapphire Partners) to dive into what it takes to select companies across different stages of venture capital. Plus: — What does it take to spot someone who sees the future before it’s here?  — How do inflection points like AI impact an investor’s thesis?  — Are there more opportunities in the market for VCs today?  — The one throughline from seed to growth 📩 Subscribe to the newsletter for key takeaways from some of the brightest minds in venture. #VentureCapital #Origins #OpenLP

Another great post by David Clark with fresh data that shows the fund size debate lives on – and we agree 100% that VC is a power law asset class. Access to that top 1% of companies is critical to the success of your fund.    That said, Sapphire Partners’ Laura Thompson recently shared with PitchBook that she believes there’s significant potential in smaller fund sizes:   “The average venture return is not very exciting... Where can you get really good returns? It’s the smaller fund sizes and emerging managers.”   Read more in PitchBook at the link in comments.   #VentureCapital #EmergingManagers #VC

Looking forward to an exciting conversation at StrictlyVC’s first-ever event at TechCrunch Disrupt! Featuring some of the top names in venture and institutional investing, including our very own Elizabeth "Beezer" Clarkson of Sapphire Partners ✨ With speakers like Aileen Lee (Cowboy Ventures), Wesley Chan (FPV Ventures), Rick Prostko (Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan), and many more, don’t miss this incredible opportunity to connect, share ideas, and hear the real talk about the future of VC. Investor pass is required for this off-the-record convo, so be sure to grab yours today! 📅 When: Tuesday, October 29, 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM 📍 Where: Deal Flow Cafe, Moscone Center 🎟️https://lnkd.in/gMv7DbjX #TechCrunchDisrupt #StrictlyVC #OpenLP