Intro

Somesh Dash has been investing in startups for over 20 years at IVP where he is a General Partner. IVP is one of the most prominent venture firms in growth stage investing founded in 1980. In the last almost five decades, they have invested in over 400 companies, with over 135 of them going public.

IVP is an investor in generational companies like Anthropic, Uber, Snap, Twitter, CrowdStrike, Snap, Robinhood, Figma, Discord, Coinbase.

I had a wide ranging conversation with Somesh about his thoughts on the craft of investing itself, immigration, IVP’s firm structure, his role as a leader in the firm now, thoughts on the unprecedented era of AI and how he thinks about investing in this era and more.

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Timestamps

00:00:00 – Introduction00:00:55 – What 20 Years in VC Teaches You About the Job00:02:00 – Risk-Taking, Contrarianism, and Dealing with Failure00:02:45 – The Importance of LP Relationships00:03:30 – Building and Sustaining a Strong VC Partnership00:06:05 – Index / Spray-and-Pray vs. High-Conviction Investing00:08:10 – What Does “Contrarian” Mean at the Growth Stage?00:11:25 – Investing in Twitter in 200900:13:00 – Early Bet on Snapchat in 201300:14:45 – How Growth Stage Investing Has Evolved at IVP00:16:15 – Investing in Anthropic00:17:55 – How IVP Adds Value00:20:00 – Founder Mental Health & The VC as Counselor00:21:15 – Customer Introductions & The Day-to-Day VC Grind00:26:37 – The IVP Partnership Model & Shared Decision-Making00:28:05 – Depth vs. Breadth of Networks & Being In-Person00:29:40 – Cross-Pollination Across Sports, Culture, and other Industries00:33:33 – Favorite Podcasts, Comedy00:35:50 – Expanding into New Sectors: Healthcare, Defense Tech & Space00:37:45 – The Resurgence of Hardware & Semiconductors (Seagate, LSI Logic)00:41:05 – Silicon Valley, Immigration, and Global Talent00:45:15 – The Immigrant DNA of Unicorn Founders00:47:23 – Geopolitics, Soft Power, and Media Narratives00:52:16 – Immigrant Values, Capitalism, and Democracy as a Startup00:57:35 – Labor Market Matching and Skilled Immigration01:02:42 – How IVP Selects 8–10 High-Conviction Investments a Year01:05:05 – Capital Allocation Lessons from the Clean Tech Boom01:06:40 – Hot Take: Why Traditional Software/SaaS is Making a Comeback01:08:45 – VC Firm Governance: CEO Model vs. Pure Partnership Model01:11:50 – Generational Transition & Internal Mentorship at IVP01:13:55 – Navigating Market Cycles & Taking $4B in Liquidity in 202101:15:15 – How the Investment Committee Works at IVP01:19:25 – Apprenticeship in Venture Capital & Key Industry Mentors01:22:42 – Cooperation in VC01:24:48 – Somesh’s Media Diet and High-Signal Information Sources01:27:25 – The Resurgence of Print Media & Top Book Recommendations

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