Semil Shah (Haystack VC) on the LP landscape, advice for founders, and the "chocolate chip cookie company" fallacy

The Road Untraveled: VC Perspectives with Brian Hollins

Semil Shah, Managing Partner, Haystack VC

Key Takeaways:

1) LP's struggle to deploy capital without face to face opportunities, so emerging managers are not being funded as quickly as they hoped. On the flip side, many LP's are excited about the pending reset in asset prices from a downturn, and funding may pick up sooner than expected as they search for improved returns over the next decade.

2) The investors that are able to play offense through these times have triaged the portfolio effectively and are now focused on upside maximization.

3) COVID provides tailwinds, but many of these tailwinds are obvious in times like this (telemedicine, online education, collaboration software, etc). Funds should be careful before building a portfolio just off of the current times.