Level Ventures

Really excited to launch our fund 4! techcrunch.com/2025/09/23/tim…

I asked Albert at @LevelVC why consensus investing has the most alpha: "At the end of the day, you need to be where capital is going. Capital flows drive everything. You want to position yourself in front of where capital flows are going. And you want to do it in a way where you get paid for the risk. You can't pay prices that are too high. You really want to be first to the new consensus. And benefit from the follow-on flows. This is the highest form of alpha. We call this Criticality Investing. One way to think about it, new startups need to solve problems. And there are problems that are not yet in the capital rotation. But they're going to be. Another way to think about it, there's the first-order effects, like the AI platforms. Then there's the second order, where if something is true, you think about the next thing (this might be MCP severs). And then there's a third order after that. And you want to figure out where the consensus will be in the second and third orders before everyone else. So I'm not saying you just want to be non-consensus. That alone doesn't make much sense. Especially as capital is concentrating more and more in the winners. What matters most is positioning yourself to where capital will be flowing."

Episode #108: How to Generate Alpha in Venture Albert Azout started and runs Level Ventures, a data-driven Fund of Funds backing emerging managers. Venture investing is hard, and this conversation covers all their research unpacking exactly how to generate alpha. We also talk about how Level picks and backs emerging venture managers to invest in, and Albert demoes the custom software they’ve built internally to do so. Thank you to @tryramp and @hanoverpark for supporting this episode. And to @jbkupperman, @sashakaletsky, @nathanbenaich, @robby_mtf, and @davefontenot for helping brainstorm topics! Full episode here on X, or grab a link in the replies. Timestamps: 5:01 Top 3 forms of alpha in VC 10:11 Other ways to generate alpha 12:47 Avoiding false positives 17:11 Optimal fund size and portfolio construction 22:25 The role of Luck 23:55 Spin-out vs outsider funds 25:43 Level’s backchannel reference process 29:29 Finding alpha in Criticality Investing 34:45 Why capital flows drive all returns 43:53 Early, consensus investing has the most alpha 48:46 Networks are more persistent than performance 52:03 The strongest and weakest networks 58:41 Demo of Level’s internal software 1:04:48 Building a Fund of Funds around their data 1:10:01 Ideal LP GP relationship 1:12:39 Benchmarks are relative 1:15:39 VC funds using AI 1:17:43 How venture will change in the next 10 years

How we built a unicorn from seed in 5 years… There are no secrets, but purpose, pace, and an incredible team certainly help. “We’re combining ancient ancestral wisdom with the power of nature’s chemistry with modern AI and drug discovery,” Colluru said. “We’re standing on the shoulders of maybe the giant, which is Mother Nature.” Read more by @damiangarde in @business about how we raised our Series D, advanced our lead candidate in atopic dermatitis to Phase 1b, and brought on a pharma legend Mikael Dolsten as we prepare to enter more programs in the clinic this year... and stay tuned for more. #Unicorn #Startups #AI #DrugDiscovery #Nature

Episode #108: How to Generate Alpha in Venture Albert Azout started and runs Level Ventures, a data-driven Fund of Funds backing emerging managers. Venture investing is hard, and this conversation covers all their research unpacking exactly how to generate alpha. We also talk about how Level picks and backs emerging venture managers to invest in, and Albert demoes the custom software they’ve built internally to do so. Thank you to @tryramp and @hanoverpark for supporting this episode. And to @jbkupperman, @sashakaletsky, @nathanbenaich, @robby_mtf, and @davefontenot for helping brainstorm topics! Full episode here on X, or grab a link in the replies. Timestamps: 5:01 Top 3 forms of alpha in VC 10:11 Other ways to generate alpha 12:47 Avoiding false positives 17:11 Optimal fund size and portfolio construction 22:25 The role of Luck 23:55 Spin-out vs outsider funds 25:43 Level’s backchannel reference process 29:29 Finding alpha in Criticality Investing 34:45 Why capital flows drive all returns 43:53 Early, consensus investing has the most alpha 48:46 Networks are more persistent than performance 52:03 The strongest and weakest networks 58:41 Demo of Level’s internal software 1:04:48 Building a Fund of Funds around their data 1:10:01 Ideal LP GP relationship 1:12:39 Benchmarks are relative 1:15:39 VC funds using AI 1:17:43 How venture will change in the next 10 years

Thrilled to announce @mtf_vc - a $22M pre-seed & seed fund helping technical founders move faster 🚀 After 9 years in VC, the pace had changed - tech exploded, and AI gave founders superpowers. So, we built @mtf_vc to help them go even faster. open.substack.com/pub/mtfrobby/p…