The Fermi Paradox of Venture Capital

Once again another capital cycle rotates. As with the passing of every civilisation, certain durable (or lucky) relics and memories survive into the new age. This is why we have giant myths, pyramids, 20% management carry structures and limits on bank CEO salaries. And I guess this is why crypto will hang around as an asset…More

The power of ambition compounding in Irish startups

There has been a flurry of media attention about Wayflyer, whose recent investment valuation (led by DST) made them Ireland’s sixth startup unicorn. Congrats guys! But also, congrats Ireland! It’s pretty remarkable what a decade of compounded startup experience can do.More

UK rapper upsides

I’m a huge fan of UK rap, which continues to flourish. Central Cee is a young rapper who has blown up over the last eighteen months with an impressive trajectory.More

High-confidence predictions

On the weekends, I cook and listen to podcasts. Today was Razib Khan’s interview with demographer Eric Kaufmann and, combined with the usual flurry of January prediction posts, it made me wonder what highly confident statements we can make about 2050 based on what’s true today.More

There is a lot of <$1b company M&A coming…

Recently I had coffee with David Newns and we were discussing the opportunities around M&A for small-cap companies. Historically the VC world has not been acquisition-driven so it’s reasonably rare for someone to tolerate my perspective on this. It seems clear that over the next few years (probably measured as remainder of average current VC…More

Sleep lessons for founders and CEOs (also investors and boards)

In the current capital-rich environment where anything seems possible, I’ve been slipping into a habit of wondering how previous companies would have worked out had we started them today. After much rumination I think my biggest missed opportunity was not a constraint of capital, but rather an undervaluation, and misunderstanding, of sleep. Like many, I…More