Jason M. LemkinCEO, SaaStr · Co-Founder of SaaStr AI, SaaStr Fund, Adobe Sign

VCs' Hidden Stress: Inside the Secret World of Venture Investments

6 Oct 2023 · 0 min

Watch on YouTube

0:20

A short YouTube conversation (Jason M. Lemkin interviewing a speaker) about the hidden stress venture capitalists experience when portfolio valuations no longer seem achievable. The speakers discuss how VCs holding many bets feel pressure when several portfolio companies cannot realistically grow into their last-round valuations, and reference Figma as an example of an ideal but rare high-upside outcome.

Questions this video answers

Jason M. Lemkin

October 6, 2023

And depending on what price they paid and what's in their portfolio, they are super stressed out right now because they don't see a path for their portfolio companies or a chunk of their portfolio companies to grow into the last round valuation. And so I think that is and they're probably pretending that everything's fine like, but inside they're like super stressed out. They're not sleeping.
Now when now, but, but of course VCs have multiple bets. I only get one bet and these my VCs in Jackson Hole or wherever they're in Europe, they get to make 20 or 30 bets. Why are they stressed because they've got a Figma in their portfolio. Why are they stressed?
Well, I mean Figma is a, well, we were talking about this earlier. I mean it is the thing that you want as a venture investor. I think there are a lot of really interesting lessons about that story.