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Dan Feder
25 posts
2300+ builders at @UMich in Ann Arbor this week. The biggest @ClawCon yet.
Maize looks good on a lobster.
Some special things coming. Stay tuned.🦞
luma.com/clawconmichigan
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We are thrilled to share that @jaltma is joining Benchmark as our newest General Partner.
The Benchmark partnership is built on a shared commitment to the craft of venture capital, where our work is defined by the depth of service and commitment to the founders we work with. We believe this work does not scale and is best practiced where we win as a team of partners. By operating as a true partnership rather than a collection of individual franchises, we ensure that every founder we back benefits from our combined experience and a singular, shared commitment to their success.
We first met Jack as a founder of Lattice over a decade ago. We followed Jack as he built Lattice into a leader in its category and navigated the turbulence that every software company faced in 2020. We admired Jack’s character and the way he prioritized transparency and authenticity to build a great team. That same value system defined his transition to founding a venture capital firm, Alt Cap, where he has made a familiar commitment to craft and service over capital.
As an investor, Jack has partnered with some of the most ambitious founders of the generation with his investments in Legora, Rogo, Owner, Avoca, Rippling, and many others. Founders told us “I call Jack first to work through the toughest problems,” “He is my most trusted partner on the board,” and “Jack provides steady and grounded support that is rooted in having been a founder himself.” He combines relentless energy, deep intellectual curiosity, and a competitiveness to see founders win, all anchored by high integrity.
We have always believed that our firm’s strength lies in its equal partnership: a small, focused group of individuals who operate with the same authority, responsibility, and singular mission to support entrepreneurs from the earliest stages. By joining our partnership, Jack brings a fresh perspective that will help us continue this mission.
Welcome to Benchmark, Jack.
– Ev, Chetan, Eric, Peter
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I’m really excited to share that I’m joining Benchmark.
The past two years as a full time investor have been the most rewarding of my career. I really love venture capital, which is not something I ever imagined I’d say when I was kid, but here we are.
I love new ideas and being part of a team with a mission. I love getting to be there for people who are struggling towards goals they really care about. I love learning from people who are better CEOs than I ever was. I love the texture of the work, the competition, and the way the job lets you invest in relationships.
I love it so much that I’ve even turned into a little venture nerd with a podcast who goes around harassing great investors and founders, trying to learn as much as I can as fast as possible. I’ve certainly learned what I care most about, and what kind of investor I want to be.
What I’ve realized is that I love investing at the Series A, when there’s enough going on that an investor can be useful but not so much that you can’t have an impact. I think there are many amazing ways to practice venture, it’s just the way that most speaks to me. And as I came to realize that, I started to think about how to best set myself up to do that craft as well as possible. It became clear to me there is nowhere better for this than Benchmark; the way they’re structured, their principles, their overall approach to investing, and their track record all create an environment that I believe will let me do my best work as an investor and help founders the most I possibly can.
As I’ve gotten to know the team at Benchmark I’ve come to admire so much about each of them. Peter is truly playing his own game. A lot of what he says sounds like poetry at first, but as the ideas roll around in your head for a while you realize how much depth they have. I first heard about Eric many years ago from my friend Saji at Benchling while I was building Lattice, who described him as the most amazing board member and attributed him with a lot of the company’s success. That’s the kind of partner I want to be one day. Chetan is brilliant and truly thinks for himself; I’ve realized over time what a courageous guy he is. And then there’s my friend Ev, whose skills complement mine and who I just love to be around. I can’t wait to have him as a partner in crime.
When given the chance to work with this group I just knew I had to go.
One of my motivating north stars with Alt Capital was to build a firm and be a partner that I most would have wanted as an entrepreneur. Although I haven’t gotten everywhere I want to be yet, I’m proud of the work so far. And now I’m excited to build on that work at Benchmark, where I hope to increase my rate of learning and get armed with the power of a partnership so I can help founders reach their dreams even more.
Thank you to the companies who’ve let me invest with them at Alt Cap. I’m keeping all my board seats and supporting everyone just the same as before.
Thank you to the LPs who’ve backed me as well. I am so excited about the portfolio we have and am grateful I can stick with all those companies.
And finally thank you to my teammates, Bala, Vivek, and Nate. Bala took a bet on me and started investing with me before it was remotely obvious, and we’ve been able to grow so much figuring it out together as investors. I credit Nate with helping Alt start feeling like a firm. He joined us from First Round over a year ago and made everything run smoothly. And while Vivek joined just a little while ago, even in the short time we’ve worked together he’s had a meaningful impact on how we think and invest. They’re all joining Benchmark with me.
So pumped for this chapter.
Benchmark@benchmark
We are thrilled to share that @jaltma is joining Benchmark as our newest General Partner. The Benchmark partnership is built on a shared commitment to the craft of venture capital, where our work is defined by the depth of service and commitment to the founders we work with. We believe this work does not scale and is best practiced where we win as a team of partners. By operating as a true partnership rather than a collection of individual franchises, we ensure that every founder we back benefits from our combined experience and a singular, shared commitment to their success. We first met Jack as a founder of Lattice over a decade ago. We followed Jack as he built Lattice into a leader in its category and navigated the turbulence that every software company faced in 2020. We admired Jack’s character and the way he prioritized transparency and authenticity to build a great team. That same value system defined his transition to founding a venture capital firm, Alt Cap, where he has made a familiar commitment to craft and service over capital. As an investor, Jack has partnered with some of the most ambitious founders of the generation with his investments in Legora, Rogo, Owner, Avoca, Rippling, and many others. Founders told us “I call Jack first to work through the toughest problems,” “He is my most trusted partner on the board,” and “Jack provides steady and grounded support that is rooted in having been a founder himself.” He combines relentless energy, deep intellectual curiosity, and a competitiveness to see founders win, all anchored by high integrity. We have always believed that our firm’s strength lies in its equal partnership: a small, focused group of individuals who operate with the same authority, responsibility, and singular mission to support entrepreneurs from the earliest stages. By joining our partnership, Jack brings a fresh perspective that will help us continue this mission. Welcome to Benchmark, Jack. – Ev, Chetan, Eric, Peter
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tech podcasts getting a lil dry these days - who is spicing up the bants?
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@TurnerNovak @andyreed @ThePeelPod Thanks for having me on the pod — and yes, the best soup around is at Le Dog = La Soup in Ann Arbor 😊
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New @ThePeelPod episode with @federdan @ UMich
Lots of great topics in here for LP’s and GP’s, including Dan's unique approach to asset allocation, and why uncertainty is the only way to generate alpha.
I am also 99% sure this is the first podcast sponsored by a soup shop.
The Peel@ThePeelPod
Episode #110: Rethinking Asset Allocation, The Past Present and Future of Venture Capital Dan Feder (@federdan) is a Senior Managing Director of Investments at the University of Michigan’s ~$18 billion endowment. Our two hour conversation talks through the past, present, and future of all things venture capital, and investing more broadly. Dan lays out the case for why most institutional investors should change how they approach asset allocation, why risk and uncertainty are not the same, the importance of relevance and independent thinking, advice for fund managers raising from institutional LP’s, the trend of VC’s rolling up services businesses, and what he learned beating Lance Armstrong in a race. Thanks to @tryramp for supporting this episode, and to @cdouvos and @ajkurki for helping brainstorm topics for Dan! Full episode here on X + link in the replies. Timestamps: 5:50 Beating Lance Armstrong in a race 8:05 The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare 10:39 Why investors need to re-think asset allocation 22:31 Difference between risk and uncertainty 29:26 How endowments work 33:12 Endowment portfolio construction 40:47 From law, to industrial buyouts, to venture 49:13 Narrowing scope to increase returns 54:54 Why career planning as an LP is hard 58:24 VC in the 00’s 1:08:18 Venture vs Adventure Capital 1:15:16 VC’s rolling up legacy industries 1:20:17 Importance of relevance 1:26:25 Traits of the top investors 1:28:25 Importance of trust in LP fundraising 1:32:54 Venture is the most competitive ass class 1:35:37 Why venture firms do not persist over time 1:38:27 How venture will change going forward 1:43:37 The Newman Cycle
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My goal when I became a full time investor was to be the type of partner I would have most wanted during my time building a company: someone who had done the work I was doing before, who had the network to help me reach my goals faster, and who had my back no matter what.
I’m really happy to share that we’ve raised Alt Cap II, a $275M early stage fund.
We backed ~20 companies at Seed and Series A in Alt Cap I. The new fund will be the same structure with a bit larger checks. But mostly we just want to be in business with people who inspire us.
There’s no way to say it without sounding cheesy but it’s true; I feel unbelievably lucky to do this job in the way I get to do it.
A special thanks to the founders that let us back them in Alt Cap I, you all are what it’s all about for me!
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まさに私好みの日米コラボレーションです！ 千歳市に間もなくオープンする「シーダーフィールド蒸留所」。米国と北海道のビジネスイノベーションと、ウイスキー製造の職人技が見事に融合した場所です。同蒸留所のジョー・シュメルザイスさんや千歳市の横田市長と一緒に、完成したウイスキーで乾杯する日を楽しみしています。
ジョージ・グラス駐日米国大使@USAmbJapan
My kind of 🇺🇸🇯🇵 collaboration 🥃! Cedarfield’s soon-to-open distillery in @cityofchitose is the perfect blend of American and Hokkaido business innovation and whiskey craftsmanship. Looking forward to tasting the finished product with Cedarfield’s @JoeSchmelzeisJr and @cityofchitose Mayor Yokota.
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welcome to the world, little guy!
he came early and is going to be in the nicu for awhile. he is doing well and it’s really nice to be in a little bubble taking care of him.
i have never felt such love.
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I biked in this morning. My house survived. Got valuables & sentimental things out.
My heart goes out to all my friends - so many friends - who lost everything.
I can’t explain why I got lucky and and embarrassed to even say it. But for anybody worried about me - I’m fine 🙏🏼🙏🏼
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Thank you for all the kind emails, texts, tweets etc. I need to log off from exhaustion but will try to respond another time.
We now know for sure houses in our neighborhood burned down. Winds expected to get worse over night. We won’t know anything until at least tomorrow, maybe longer.
We are safe. People got out. But so devastated for all the people affected. We can rebuy stuff. Others will struggle more.
So grateful for firefighters, first responders, police and everybody else who risks their life to help others.
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My whole neighborhood is on fire. Feeling devastated but no news on my house. I’m told even our fire station is on fire
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It would appear my partner @itsthomson ran the full NYC Marathon yesterday without really sweating much then Citi biked home. Some people are just built for it.
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Excited to be in Ann Arbor, MI for this event (and the corresponding football game they were kind to plan around it). 🤠🤘
eventbrite.com/e/michigan-ros…
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Mae is home. Mom’s a hero. Siblings are already competing for our attention . For a moment, everything is exactly as it should be.
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In the pantheon of liquid rocket engines, full flow unquestionably sits alone at the top. Hard? Yes. But needed for full reuse and long life. Unbelievably proud of our little team for pulling this off! #ffsc #fullflow
Stoke Space@stoke_space
🚀🔥 Full-flow staged combustion engine hotfire? Check. ✅ Want to learn more? Head over to our site for details: stokespace.com/stoke-space-co… #StokeSpace #FullFlow
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Home from the hospital with our third baby. My wife is amazing and life is a miracle ❤️
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Amazing progress made today. We will come back stronger & more unified than ever:
OpenAI@OpenAI
We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D'Angelo. We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this.
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i love openai, and everything i’ve done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together. when i decided to join msft on sun evening, it was clear that was the best path for me and the team. with the new board and w satya’s support, i’m looking forward to returning to openai, and building on our strong partnership with msft.
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