Ideas that are someplace between half-baked and overcooked…
It’s been my expertise that almost all enterprise companies both exist *as a result of* of a partnership, or as a substitute are a set of companions. The previous is a couple of group of individuals creating (or inheriting) a agency collectively as a result of it was the easiest way for them to perform one thing they needed to do. The latter is extra about people who’ve discovered themselves as a part of the identical group, practising their enterprise collectively and individually.
This would possibly sound like the previous is “good” and the latter is by some means lesser however I don’t imply it that approach. Each variations might be run nicely or poorly. Each variations might be nice traders. However they do are likely to have totally different playbooks and implications for founders.
The previous normally advantages from collaboration however can endure from groupthink. The latter can include constructive competitors and difficult thought or simply plain disfunction.
The previous typically has extra bother navigating a generational change or including new out-of-bounds thinkers. The latter is simpler to plug new gamers into however tougher to maintain these items all collectively.
The previous is aware of what they stand for and it sometimes shines via of their model, however has bother with self-reflection and leaving the previous methods behind.
The latter has extra problem in articulating why they exist past the financial movement of enterprise, but in addition readability within the true north of these incentives.
It’s probably an overgeneralization (or simply plain incorrect) to recommend the previous are collaborative of their determination making round investments whereas the latter is extra lone wolf. I’m additionally hesitant to say that a lot of these companies routinely divvy up economics in another way however constantly inside their categorization.
However after I’m speaking with a GP, and attending to know their agency as coinvestors, I do discover this framework one which I mentally apply to grasp how they could ‘get to Sure’ on a portfolio firm, what assist of that firm will appear like over time, and what may occur to the startup post-investment if the sponsoring GP leaves their agency.
