Snapshot · The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Mikey Schulman, CEO of Suno, told Frankel he spends 30–40% of his time on recruiting — echoing Jeff Bezos's famous claim that he spent 50% of his time on hiring.
Where this was said
At 13:46 · chapter starts 5:21
An honest and revealing section where Frankel admits what Founder Collective has become in this market: an insurance policy. He's seen it clearly in the last 20 deals — founders take the multi-stage fund's $8–9M but keep FC in at $500K or $1M, knowing their champion at the big fund might leave, might lose mandate, or might simply move on to the next hot company. FC's brand and reputation as patient capital is itself a product. Frankel also issues a clear-eyed warning: there is very little evidence yet that the hot AI companies raising massive rounds are capital efficient — if anything, they're anything but. The discussion then moves to valuations: uncapped notes are economically bad for investors but Frankel has written one because he loved the founders. He also raises the normalization of startup founding through YC and questions whether there's a meaningful difference between 'founders' and 'entrepreneurs' — arguing the latter is a rarer, more demanding breed.
Frankel agrees that the worst-performing funds of this vintage will be the $50M–$100M seed funds — too big to be a collaborative friend, too small to lead an $8–$10M seed round.
Of all companies created in the last 25 years, fewer than 100 have sustainably maintained a valuation over $10 billion.
Forget trillion-dollar outcomes. Founder Collective's internal analysis shows the median valuation among the top 500 companies created in the last 25 years is $2.6 billion. Own 5% of one of those, and you've returned your fund. Seed isn't dead — it's just math.
Founder Collective's analysis of the top 500 companies created in the last 25 years shows a median valuation of $2.6 billion — meaning 5% ownership returns a seed fund.
Smart founders are increasingly taking $8–10M from multi-stage funds while quietly keeping Founder Collective in at $500K–$1M. They know the big fund's junior associate might leave, and FC is patient capital that won't orphan them. It costs very little to have a real insurance policy.
Frankel is looking for one specific combination: a CEO who is a great salesperson and a CTO who is a genuine magician. The alchemy between them — not identical, not finishing each other's sentences, but deeply aligned — is what separates fundable companies from great companies. In 18 years, he's seen it five times.
Every technology wave has produced bigger bubbles than the last — internet, SaaS, mobile, AI. The AI wave is the biggest yet, and Frankel has no doubt there will be enormous roadkill. But the survivors — OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceX — will be the Googles and Metas of this era.
Nick and his wife make nearly $95,000 a year but are broke and living paycheck to paycheck with $41K in debt.
Using wedding gift money to eliminate credit card debt is a fast, tangible first win for a couple starting their financial journey together.
Kevin Roose noted that Meta's $942 million New Mexico fine represents roughly 1.4 days' worth of Meta's revenue, calling it 'chump change' relative to the company's scale.
At 53 with $600K invested in good mutual funds, compound growth alone should produce over $2 million by retirement age 70.
A larger case in Oakland involving Meta and 4 states is seeking up to $1.4 trillion in damages — an amount that would be genuinely threatening to Meta's business.
A 19-year-old self-employed pressure washer earning $120K a year proves hustle and hard work can outpace formal education at a young age.
Failing to set aside about 25% of business profit for quarterly taxes is one of the most common and costly mistakes new self-employed workers make.
Nearly 4 in 5 airline miles earned on reward credit cards are never used, making 'miles hacking' a bad financial strategy for most people.
Earning six figures but carrying $58K in debt at 19 illustrates how a high income without a budget still produces financial chaos.
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