Alex Edelson

Founder & GP at Slipstream Investors

[Alex Edelson @asedelson]

Great @twentyminutevc interview with @HarryStebbings. @Joshuabrowder is n of 1. Grateful and proud to partner with him.

[Harry Stebbings @HarryStebbings]

I am going to piss off so many friends by saying this but if I could invest in one emerging manager sub $50M fund, it would be @Joshuabrowder.

A few things you need to know about Josh:

- He makes the founders he invests in live in his spare room at the Four Seasons until they raise their seed
- He turned his $100K Thiel Fellowship grant into a $10M angel portfolio
- He was one of the first cheques into Micro1, Yuzu and many more
- When he found out his father had been taken by the Russians, he was playing poker… (legend!)

I have never had founder references like the ones I got on Josh. I spoke to 12 founders. He averaged 9.2/10 across all 12.

This is one of the best episodes we have done in a long time and my notes below:

1. Why I Believe Young Founders Make the Best Founders

Young founders have no safety net and no option but to win. Corporate engineers often default to hiring big teams, while young founders stay focused on building the product. Their grit is much higher. Without that level of dedication, most people quit at the first real obstacle.

2. How I Test Founder Commitment Before Investing

To filter out tourist founders, schedule a pitch meeting at 11:00 PM. Elite founders accept immediately. Mediocre ones push it out by weeks.
During the interview, ask rapid-fire questions. If they claim a specific revenue number, have them pull up their live Stripe account on the spot. Look for tactical customer acquisition goals, not vague partnership promises.

3. Why I Make Founders Live With Me After Investing

The best early investments come from deep day-one relationships. Living together creates a focused, one-person accelerator where founders get a three-week crash course and avoid years of mistakes.
The rule is simple: co-founders share one room near the Four Seasons and cannot check out until they raise an institutional seed round.

4. Why Pre-Seed Companies Fail

Startups usually fail for three reasons: they run out of money, they run out of hope, or the co-founders break up.
Money problems usually come from weak pitching, which is why founders should drop the deck and show the product live. To maintain hope, ignore Silicon Valley vanity signals and focus on customer progress. To avoid team blowups, handle mechanics like vesting early.

5. What Founders Need to Know About Signing With a VC

VCs will say almost anything to get you to sign on the spot. They reverse-engineer your desires and claim they know every customer you want to meet.
Impressionable founders fall for it, but the promised intros often never happen. Never sign in the room. Take the night to think clearly.

6. My Biggest Lesson on Reserve Investing

Holding back reserves for later rounds has a huge opportunity cost. The biggest value creation happens at pre-seed, so saving capital for a Series A follow-on can limit your upside.
Deploying upfront into 20 to 30 pre-seed companies can produce far better long-term returns. Go all-in early.

(links below)

[Alex Edelson @asedelson]

Thanks to @DWeisburd for a thoughtful and fun conversation!

[David Weisburd 🚀 @DWeisburd]

BREAKING: Alex Edelson on LP Alpha, Seed Fund Diligence, and Why “Real Talk” Is the Hardest Edge in Venture

From QED to Slipstream, Alex Edelson has become one of the most influential LPs in early-stage venture. This episode goes deep into sourcing, references, anti-selling, and how top LPs separate signal from noise.

Highlights from my conversation with Alex Edelson (@asedelson )
(0:00) Introduction
(0:06) Seed funds, AI usage, and diligence processes
(1:56) Growing prominence of AI and unique investment approaches
(4:00) Constructive GP conversations and Slipstream's strategy
(6:11) Comparisons to Palantir and investment beliefs
(8:07) Differing views on identifying good GPs
(10:55) The importance and role of references in diligence
(19:04) Screening out funds and challenges for emerging managers
(25:49) Attracting top LPs and building relationships
(30:03) The concept of antiselling and excitement for the future
(35:17) Closing remarks

🎥 Full episode below 👇

[OpenLP @Open_LP]

“Did we learn nothing from 2021?”

On this Origins Minisode, @nchirls & @Beezer232 revisit their convo w @asedelson of Slipstream Investors to unpack whether the echoes of 2021 signal another bubble.

📈100x revenue multiples are back
💸Liquidity is still uneven
⏳& as Nick put it: “Cycles are getting shorter, lumpier, and crazier than they’ve ever been.”

[Beezer Clarkson @Beezer232]

We’re seeing echoes of 2021 in today’s market. But Is this discipline or déjà vu?

In the new Origins Minisode @nchirls & I unpack what’s really changed (and what hasn’t) since the last cycle—through the lens of our convo w/ @asedelson of Slipstream.

We discuss this & more listen now.👇

[Alex Edelson @asedelson]

Thanks to @Beezer232 & @nchirls for having me on the latest Origins podcast by @Open_LP and for a great conversation!

[OpenLP @Open_LP]

1/ “Most funds in venture don’t end up doing well.

The only point of investing in this illiquid, risky asset class is if you can outperform — & I think small, hard-to-access managers give you the best shot.”

–@asedelson, founder of Slipstream

🆕Origins episode out now! 👇

[Nicholas Chirls @nchirls]

I hear / see lots of folks in venture doing things because “they’re playing the game on the field.”

I’ve never understood this. Feels like a justification for mediocrity.

[Alex Edelson @asedelson]

Excited and grateful to partner with @joshuabrowder !

[Joshua Browder @Joshuabrowder]

Sequoia Capital, Marc Andreessen and top institutions back New $30m Browder Capital Fund Four:

Today, I’m excited to announce that I’ve raised Browder Capital Fund Four, a $30,000,000 fund backed by Sequoia Capital, Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, Arthur Patterson (founder of Accel), Walter Kortschak (founder of SignalFire) and some of the world’s top institutional investors, including Cendana Capital, General Endowment Management, Level Ventures, Hummingbird Ventures (Nomads), and Slipstream.

I’m an accidental investor.

In 2018, I stopped out of Stanford to take the Thiel Fellowship. One in ten Fellows goes on to build a billion dollar company.

That’s how I met Adam Guild.

I didn’t have a fund. I didn’t have any real savings. But my Thiel Fellowship payment had just hit my bank account. So I decided to invest it into Adam’s company as his first investor.

Yesterday, that company, Owner, announced their Series C at a $1 billion valuation.

Since then, I’ve been lucky to back many of the best young founders across previous funds (Whop, Wander, Assured, Pilgrim, Yuzu Health, Micro1, among many others), including other unannounced pre-seeds to unicorns. Indeed, Browder Capital is an investor in more Thiel Fellows than any other person or fund, including 50% from last year’s class (2023).

While many funds back dozens of startups at once, often chasing hype, I prefer to go all in on one overlooked technical founder at a time. I’ve hosted 19 year old strangers at my apartment, put their visas on my personal credit card, co-signed their first leases. Whatever it takes to get them to start their company.

Fund Four will double down on that mission: becoming the first believer to rare individuals who build billion dollar companies from scratch.

[Alex Edelson @asedelson]

Congrats to @seanwdoolan and @EmreTKaratas at @virtue_vc! Grateful for your partnership.

[Sean Doolan @seanwdoolan]

We are thrilled to share the close of our second fund, “V2”, at $55.75M!

In V2 we intend to continue partnering with exceptional pre-seed & seed healthcare founders as an additive lead or co-lead partner. Our check sizes will range from $1-2M across 25 companies over the next 3 years.

At @virtue_vc we partner with founders in their earliest financing rounds to tackle the real, intractable problems that continue to hinder the broader healthcare ecosystem. We are honored to have the unwavering support of our best-in-class Limited Partners – and specifically our anchor @CendanaCapital – for allowing us to deepen our commitment to the next generation of healthcare founders.

In the last three years, Virtue’s Fund I portfolio companies – such as @DxSmarter, Evvy, Mural Health, Anna Health, among others – have collectively raised over $225 million, reaching a combined valuation of $1B+.

Our stage and sector specialization allows us to meaningfully support a range of startups that are reshaping how healthcare is delivered, financed, and coded.

We are at an important moment in healthcare, fueled by the convergence of rapid AI breakthroughs, shifting policies and regulatory landscape, pressure to modernize antiquated operating systems and unlock valuable clinical data assets, rising costs of care and life saving drugs, and an evolving cultural sentiment that demands more from our healthcare system.

Read more here: https://t.co/qIfmIfncuv

[Sean Doolan @seanwdoolan]

We are thrilled to share the close of our second fund, “V2”, at $55.75M!

In V2 we intend to continue partnering with exceptional pre-seed & seed healthcare founders as an additive lead or co-lead partner. Our check sizes will range from $1-2M across 25 companies over the next 3 years.

At @virtue_vc we partner with founders in their earliest financing rounds to tackle the real, intractable problems that continue to hinder the broader healthcare ecosystem. We are honored to have the unwavering support of our best-in-class Limited Partners – and specifically our anchor @CendanaCapital – for allowing us to deepen our commitment to the next generation of healthcare founders.

In the last three years, Virtue’s Fund I portfolio companies – such as @DxSmarter, Evvy, Mural Health, Anna Health, among others – have collectively raised over $225 million, reaching a combined valuation of $1B+.

Our stage and sector specialization allows us to meaningfully support a range of startups that are reshaping how healthcare is delivered, financed, and coded.

We are at an important moment in healthcare, fueled by the convergence of rapid AI breakthroughs, shifting policies and regulatory landscape, pressure to modernize antiquated operating systems and unlock valuable clinical data assets, rising costs of care and life saving drugs, and an evolving cultural sentiment that demands more from our healthcare system.

Read more here: https://t.co/qIfmIfncuv

[Alex Edelson @asedelson]

Congrats to @nchirls, @jonwu_, and @kenzieregent on the launch of @asylumventures! Excited and grateful to partner with you.

[Nicholas Chirls @nchirls]

Today I'm launching @asylumventures, a new venture firm dedicated to the creative act of building companies.

Asylum's first $55 million fund is an embodiment of my belief that founders are artists, not assets:

[Nicholas Chirls @nchirls]

Today I'm launching @asylumventures, a new venture firm dedicated to the creative act of building companies.

Asylum's first $55 million fund is an embodiment of my belief that founders are artists, not assets:

[David Weisburd 🚀 @DWeisburd]

Ever wondered about the risk and reward dynamics of VC investing? @asedelson, our guest in the 10X Capital Podcast episode, breaks it down for us. One company gives the highest upside but also the lowest downside. But when you invest in a fund, the upside lowers and the downside increases. And with a fund of funds? You get a lower upside but a higher floor.

Edelson argues that while an average venture fund may not generate the returns most LPs dream of, a venture fund of funds has a higher chance of satisfactory returns. It's an intriguing perspective that goes against the common 'all eggs in one basket' strategy.

But as host David Weisburd poses the question - if you had $1,000,000 to invest in venture, why would you choose a single fund over a fund of funds? What's the trade-off? It's an interesting conundrum that's sure to spark some thought among investors.

Tune into E70 of the 10X Capital Podcast to hear more of this fascinating discussion and decide for yourself - is a fund of funds the safest bet in VC investing?

[Alex Edelson @asedelson]

Thanks again to @DWeisburd for having me on the 10x Capital Podcast 10X Capital Podcast! It was a fun conversation, as always!

[David Weisburd 🚀 @DWeisburd]

🎙 On today’s episode of the 10X Capital Podcast, @asedelson, Founder of Slipstream Investors and I discuss how VC fund of funds work, as well as:

Slipstream’s:

1️⃣ Investment thesis
2️⃣ Portfolio construction
3️⃣ Due diligence and manager selection process

Video clip below - Sound on.

Click “+ Follow” by my name to see more clips.

P.S. Link to full episode in comments.
#VentureCapital #VC #Startups #OpenLP @TurpentineMedia @10XCapitalVC

[David Weisburd 🚀 @DWeisburd]

🎙 On today’s episode of the 10X Capital Podcast, @asedelson, Founder of Slipstream Investors and I discuss how VC fund of funds work, as well as:

Slipstream’s:

1️⃣ Investment thesis
2️⃣ Portfolio construction
3️⃣ Due diligence and manager selection process

Video clip below - Sound on.

Click “+ Follow” by my name to see more clips.

P.S. Link to full episode in comments.
#VentureCapital #VC #Startups #OpenLP @TurpentineMedia @10XCapitalVC

[Alex Edelson @asedelson]

Thanks @alexabinns and @EarnestSweat for having me on @AllocatorsPod!

[Swimming with Allocators @AllocatorsPod]

💦 Episode 26: Lessons Learned from QED for Selecting VC Managers from @asedelson

🎧 Apple: https://t.co/LY3gml9fwT
🎧 Spotify: https://t.co/z4LOtv2Tje
🎧 YouTube: https://t.co/JEj6KZ8Gnv

#greatlp #vc #seeyoulaterallocator

[Swimming with Allocators @AllocatorsPod]

💦 Episode 26: Lessons Learned from QED for Selecting VC Managers from @asedelson

🎧 Apple: https://t.co/LY3gml9fwT
🎧 Spotify: https://t.co/z4LOtv2Tje
🎧 YouTube: https://t.co/JEj6KZ8Gnv

#greatlp #vc #seeyoulaterallocator

[Alex Edelson @asedelson]

Thanks to @eriktorenberg for having me on @TurpentineVC! It was a lot of fun.

[Turpentine @TurpentineMedia]

In this episode of Turpentine VC, @eriktorenberg sits down with @asedelson from Slipstream Investors, and explores the potential for a new fund built on top of Turpentine, Erik's media company.

This live pitch jam session covers the key questions and mental models for building and validating a new fund. They also cover portfolio construction, fund size and stage, and the delicate balance between sticking to proven strategies and evolving with the market's needs.

--

TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Intro
(00:39) Exploring the Potential of Turpentine as an
(09:13) Navigating the Challenges of Media and Investing Synergy
(17:22) Sponsor: Harmonic | Squad
(19:51) Portfolio Strategies and LP Preferences
(24:50 )Exploring Venture Capital Strategies and Insights
(26:10) Building a Media Empire
(31:01) Sector Focus and Portfolio Construction
(32:30) Building a Compelling Venture Fund Pitch Deck
(36:12) Proving Out the Strategy
(40:21) Future Fund Growth and Strategy Adaptation
(45:58) Wrap

[Alex Edelson @asedelson]

Thanks to @TheFullRatchet for such thoughtful questions and a fun conversation on @TFR_Pod!

[The Full Ratchet @TFR_Pod]

Posted TODAY - A great conversation with @asedelson of Slipstream Investors on decoding the myths and mastery of fund structure, size, reserves, access, and selection.

Listen to hear about fund to fund investing, the next generation of VC winners, the current market, and more!

[Alex Edelson @asedelson]

Thanks to @gracegongGG for having me on! It was a lot of fun.

[Grace Gong @gracegongGG]

EP153 Slipstream Investors' Founder and GP, @QEDInvestors ' former COO & General Counsel @asedelson

🍿YouTube: https://t.co/mXXdsRuMjP
🍎 Apple: https://t.co/evgeUZSh07
🎤Spotify: https://t.co/HKgwOfMdQP
💻Website: https://t.co/fLBQ7vna0Z

#LP

[Grace Gong @gracegongGG]

EP153 Slipstream Investors' Founder and GP, @QEDInvestors ' former COO & General Counsel @asedelson

🍿YouTube: https://t.co/mXXdsRuMjP
🍎 Apple: https://t.co/evgeUZSh07
🎤Spotify: https://t.co/HKgwOfMdQP
💻Website: https://t.co/fLBQ7vna0Z

#LP