Invest Like The Best
Episode 327 Building a VC Firm that Lasts Centuries
Invest Like The Best

Episode 327: Building a VC Firm that Lasts Centuries

Invest Like The Best

Episode 327

Building a VC Firm that Lasts Centuries

Jeremy Levine, Kent Bennett, and Brian Feinstein are partners at Bessemer Venture Partners. We cover their investing outlook and playbook for assessing companies, how talent is developed at Bessemer, and what the next wave of technology means for today's software businesses.

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(00:03:14) - (First question) - The unique history of
Bessemer
and how the firm stays current

(00:08:55) - The role of heritage and cooperative partnership in Bessemer’s model

(00:14:36) - How giving each partner autonomy and commissions can lead to better personal and company outcomes

(00:17:18) - The extent of freedom a partner has in terms of the style of investments made

(00:20:38) - Retro-analyzing the effectiveness of their investment roadmaps and core insights

(00:25:10) - What conflict typically looks like in partners’ conversations and how they resolve it

(00:27:06) - How they enable their junior staff using apprenticeship and open dialogue

(00:31:31) - Their different taste in investment targets 

(00:35:11) - How they each evaluate companies based on their unique interests

(00:42:32) - Their thoughts on valuations and how they have dealt with with run-ups in the tech market

(00:45:46) - What they anticipate in the future of early-stage investing

(00:49:43) - The significance of Centaur companies that have hit $100-million in revenue

(00:52:38) - The success of Bessemer’s writing and online content

(00:55:13) - Where the vertical market software industry is in its life cycle

(00:59:12) - How the next wave of innovation may revolutionize software or even depart from it

(01:02:33) - Advice they give to companies looking to prepare for future shifts in tech and AI

(01:04:46) - What excites them and what scares them within the development of LLMs

(01:08:18) - Defensibility of an LLM-based company, given the high level of competition 

(01:10:39) - How their firm deals with terminating partners if and when they aren’t a good fit

(01:14:53) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for each of them

Building a VC Firm that Lasts Centuries

Introduction

Patrick
My guests this week are Jeremy Levine, Kent Bennett, and Brian Feinstein. They are partners at one of the oldest and most storied venture firms in the world, Bessemer Venture Partners. Our conversation is split into two parts. First, we explore Bessemer itself. It's over 100 years old and has a unique operating model with lessons for every investment firm in the market. We then discussed Jeremy, Kent and Brian's investing styles and outlook. What they look for in businesses, their thoughts on various sectors like vertical market software, and we closed with a discussion about AI and defensibility. Please enjoy this great

conversation. The first voice you'll hear is Jeremy, then Kent, then Brian.

Bessemer's Origin Story

Patrick
Kent, Jeremy, and Brian, thank you so much for doing this together with me. I don't think I've ever done three people from the same firm at the same time. So this is kind of a fun experiment. And when we talked last time, we figured we'll give this a whirl and see how it goes. And I think in this case, it's going to be really fun because Bessemer is such a storied firm. It has such a long history. It also seems to be among the firms, the one that is most willing to evolve with the times change, its investing style change, its stripes change, how it thinks about presenting itself to the world really easily through time.

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