Chris Brown

Partner @inspiredcap, formerly @firstround. Brick by brick.

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

Today we announce @InspiredCap Fund IV. $450m more to back rational optimists shaping the intelligence age. The next decade will be unlike anything we've ever seen. Buckle up!

[Alexa von Tobel, CFP @alexavontobel]

Today, our team is excited to announce @InspiredCap Fund IV, $450M in new capital to back early-stage founders.

There has never been a moment in history when more is possible. It takes just one person with exceptional ambition to take on the world’s problems and change billions of lives for the better.

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

First Tranche Capital

[Gokul Rajaram @gokulr]

Multiple tranches have now become a feature of Seed / A / B rounds. No longer an anomaly.

Heard from a fund: "How dare <other-firm> try to put us in the second tranche! We are first tranchers!"

[signüll @signulll]

america is falling behind because its professional class has embraced managerialism as the ultimate aspiration.

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

@kevinshiiba 🫡🫡

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

~100 responses in 24 hrs. Very happy to see the interest, as it’s more important than ever that talent flows to the right places.

Alongside a few friends, we’re going to formalize this with an experiment called the Off Cycle Fellowship.

Join the crew: https://t.co/zgT2jzUM20

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

I love this idea from @mp_lew. I will do the same. Show me an offer letter for banking / PE / consulting and I will help you find an equivalently compelling conversation with a startup (likely NYC, SF, or Austin)

chris at inspiredcapital dot com

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

@TMTLongShort how do you have the time to do this

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

@rl_env sounds like pocket jacks doesn’t understand market norms

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

@davidtisch @ClaireSmilow @FortuneMagazine @BoxGroup 👑

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

@nunzi46 @yrechtman @arian_ghashghai @berkowitz_josh prediction markets have 30% chance of someone losing their job afterwards

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

@elocinationn respect

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

Important topic, but I find the continuous chatter on X about it to mostly be myopic

It doesn’t make someone more founder friendly to skip inquiry into competitive differentiation. One could actually argue the opposite. More typically, it reflects the fact that an investor is allocating capital from (1) a fund that is so small that by the time competitive differentiation manifests in a good or bad way they are far from the day-to-day call or (2) a fund so big that they have the ability to king make something that is working should the market become competitively concerning

Btw, if anyone is actually drilling you on moats, this is the format of the best response I’ve ever received (paraphrasing from notes):

“In a traditional sense, at scale, this business naturally benefits from [insert one of the trad moats: switching costs, network effects, cost advantages, etc.] That is a natural consequence of [insert the way pricing strategy, product usage, or market dynamics lead to the chosen option.]

But at this stage we tend to think more about the accumulating advantages that get us there. The first is team. [Insert why team is world class in some way and hard to replicate.] The second is what we call our competitive basecamp — the first milestone we’ve achieved that makes us hard to catch and starts the flywheel. That happened last month in the form of [describe]. Over the next 24 months, we will [insert milestone 2, then milestone 3.]

If we execute on all of that, we become pretty hard to catch — and the [reference trad moat chosen at onset of response] starts to become visible.

[james hong @jhong]

Lots of VCs kindof sound like this: "Your basketball team doesn't have a moat, any healthy human can throw the ball into the basket thingy. "

People who have not run companies before don't understand how much the team matters more than some imagined structural moat.

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

I love this idea from @mp_lew. I will do the same. Show me an offer letter for banking / PE / consulting and I will help you find an equivalently compelling conversation with a startup (likely NYC, SF, or Austin)

chris at inspiredcapital dot com

[Matthew Lewis @mp_lew]

Show me an EB/BB/PE Summer ‘27 offer letter, and I will introduce you to meaningful and exciting startups (in your geo & industry of choice) who will still scratch the must-address prestige/logo itch.

Seriously… I’ve been in your shoes. DM’s open.

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

@ryajetha @TheEconomist whoa

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

@jamesonhaslam yes

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

@themollette @InspiredCap 🙏

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

Today we announce @InspiredCap Fund IV. $450m more to back rational optimists shaping the intelligence age. The next decade will be unlike anything we've ever seen. Buckle up!

[Alexa von Tobel, CFP @alexavontobel]

Today, our team is excited to announce @InspiredCap Fund IV, $450M in new capital to back early-stage founders.

There has never been a moment in history when more is possible. It takes just one person with exceptional ambition to take on the world’s problems and change billions of lives for the better.

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

@ptsi @danpres @standinsurance @claydumas 🤝

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

The best business models in the world are often the oldest ones. Congrats @danpres and @standinsurance on all the progress.

[Dan Preston @danpres]

Today @standinsurance announced $70M at a $1B valuation, led by @Saga_Ventures. A year ago, we insured $1B of property. Today it's $10B. Disasters follow the laws of physics. Insurance should too. Here's what our team is building:

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

@IanRountree @InspiredCap

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

@roosontheloos @Cookie thanks sir!

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

I prefer to say "east coast hair, west coast flair" but alas thanks to @Cookie for the coverage of our newest fund

[Chris Brown @almostcmb]

@Beezer232 @InspiredCap 🫡🫡