Micha Lavner 🇫🇷

GP at Never Lift | Ex @Exor @PermiraNews @Balderton.

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

@hkanji The use of hypothetical “could” …

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

@MartinGTobias @pavelprata @hkanji That’s literally the job. 20-25 deals > pick the 5 winners and give them as much money as possible.
If you are not good at picking, pro rata is the least of your worry

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

The maths is right the philosophy is not. Very much disagree. Yes it theoretically hurt multiple to follow your money.
But by not following into generational companies you leave so much $ on the table.

Not doing follow on also assume you are able to take high % ownership from the get go which is less and less frequent

If you had done the seed or A or Anduril your reco is passing on the B and C? As long as you can return the fund with new $, then you are still in venture territory.

We overthink this as venture investor: find the best founders, give them as much money as possible.

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

London, Paris and most major European cities sit within range of an Iranian ICBM, and our reserves of Patriot missiles aren't what they used to be….

Thank you @Cambridge_Aero for protecting us. And tip of the hat to our ally @DerJunaid !

[Junaid Hussain @DerJunaid]

Today at @Cambridge_Aero we're announcing a $300M Series C funding round to accelerate our mission to protect Allied skies.

Thank you to lead investor @dfjgrowth and for the continued support of our backers @Accel, @eladgil, GFC, Lakestar, @Lux_Capital, Never Lift, Ora Global, @sparkcapital

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

Get that you are talking from an end user usage perspective. 2 is directionally right but I think some angle missing that exacerbate timing even more. Deployment or rip/replace of 2 is a larger decision often some level of exec committee / board level; not just at ic level. They have a long term “proven ROI”, a brand at multiple exec level, pre existing relationships/distribution etc… and for some (that are relatively unlevered, profitable and large enough) they have a lot of time and money to invest in AI and find ways to adapt with customers

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

@JaredSleeper Agree but lost cause. Most people don’t even know what ARR stand for, let alone what it means or how to get a true ARR…

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

@rak_garg Or is that when firms are in the up and up when they hire the star junior(s)?

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

@TRobinsonNewEra @grok is this true?

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

@HarryStebbings Better ? I just feel worse… countries run by incompetents…

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

European pro European here and agree with the above. For me the argument is the volume of high potential / high valuation companies is much higher in the US. Its not about a podium.
You need a sheer volume of A outcomes (not necessarily A*) to fuel the ecosystem. And we aren’t there yet!

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

@HarryStebbings Well… 15 years of you had invested in Nasdaq vs. 7yrs if you had picked the winners
—> public or private: picking is key

https://t.co/iKAnx6e46J

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

2/3 It would have taken only 7 years to get back to 1x if you had picked the winners vs. 15 years with the Nasdaq.

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

@SebJohnsonUK I think most forget that venture is better defined by the risk/ return profile of a deal

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

@chelsveteran @SebJohnsonUK @modic123 @wanderingvc Harry might have helped on the deal… but the sourcing, that was Tim B

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

@chelsveteran @SebJohnsonUK @modic123 @wanderingvc Not really. Revolut deal was June/July 15 ; Harry left in May (though his LinkedIn says Jul, he did a blog post in May and was out then … likely in garden leave)

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

@guilleflorvs There was a round before if not 2.
Seed camp and crowdfunding

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

@SebJohnsonUK @modic123 @wanderingvc Yep. Most if not all top deals at Balderton have been partner sourced. Should the model go back to its roots ? 🫣

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

@modic123 @SebJohnsonUK @wanderingvc Yes mate. 2015 was only 7 years after it became Balderton. Benchmark dna was still very present

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

@modic123 @SebJohnsonUK @wanderingvc Balderton had no juniors back then. Or barely any. And sourcing was mostly partner led

[Micha Lavner 🇫🇷 @ItsMichaLav]

@paulg But only 7 years if you had only picked winners (Amazon, adobe, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP).

And by end of 2021 you’d have been at 18x with those names vs. 3.5x with Nasdaq.