benjamindblack

@DangerousThinkg San Francisco is run by moderates now. And it’s awesome. Update your mental models.

An update on Virginia's new leftist government This is why every seat must be fought for, the GOP cannot cede so many positions across the country There can be no allowing these people into office

The problem with RVI is that it put too many shares into the market when the fund still has substantial blind pool risk. They have $350M that is just cash, undeployed. Makes sense it’s trading below NAV. Let’s check back after these investment decisions have been made. Right now, the stock price doesn’t mean much.

Robbinhood Ventures, which holds some of the best private companies (Databricks, Stripe, Revolut, etc), went public on NYSE and is trading at a ~10% discount to NAV Not a good sign for private market valuations when liquid wrappers trade *below* the illiquid underlying

@auren @davemcclure And yet so many firms do low quality work in quarterly letters and provide no DD for SPVs. The bar for excellence is low.

VC funds can be way more LP friendly most funds are NOT optimized for LP friendliness. there are massive amounts of decision points where GPs can favor themselves over LPs. the obvious one is fees. the less obvious one: when a fund does an SPV, that deal was sourced because the fund was already an investor. should some of the SPV economics flow back to the fund's LPs? very few funds do this. it gets talked about but almost never implemented… funds should also clearly decide which expenses it should charge to the fund and which expenses it should charge to the management company. The fewer expenses charged to the fund, the better it is for LPs. LP-friendly funds should recognize this and telegraph how they charge expenses to LPs. there’s also the community side. many LPs in seed funds are incredible individuals -- founders, executives, family offices -- who'd benefit enormously from knowing each other. funds see emerging categories early, spot trends before they're obvious, identify other funds worth backing. most funds share none of this with their LPs. the bar for being LP-friendly in venture is genuinely on the floor. quarterly letters and a capital call notice -- that's the industry standard. it shouldn't be hard to clear that bar but most funds don't even try. the best fund-LP relationships aren't transactional. they compound the same way the best founder relationships do.

@C2Cbsbl What’s up with that shirt? Not the best look

Robbie Rays day is likely done, and it was a great one He threw 5 perfect innings with 8Ks today against the Brewers Fastball ran up to 95, and the secondaries looked SHARP He’s looking good as we push closer to Opening Day #SFGiants

@BenMillerise @vladtenev I agree

@vladtenev Agreed. The solution is SEC-registered venture funds that open private markets to the public. We filed the first in 2021. Cathie Wood followed in 2022. Then Coatue in 2023 (altho only for accredited investors). And Robinhood filed in 2025. It's the future.

Thanks for the thought-provoking piece. My main critique is that you are overemphasizing flashy but low probability events like “left-handed bacteria,” while merely giving lip service to the risk of extreme economic concentration of power, which is very real and materializing as we speak. Anthropic is reportedly raising funds at a $350B valuation, and the wealth created thus far has been concentrated into a few hundred (perhaps more like dozens) high net worth individuals / institutions. It’s looking increasingly likely to me that none of the leading AI labs will IPO until they reach valuations in the trillions, at which point retail investors will finally be able to get shares. In order for retail to get a 100x return on these investments, which was achievable for Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, the valuations of the AI labs will need to reach hundreds of trillions of dollars, meaning it’s likely too late for a more equitable redistribution of wealth. Simply put, you are currently exacerbating the problem. The consequences of this are that voters may take matters into their own hands and push for either or both 1) more aggressive / nonsensical forms of redistribution — the CA Founders’ Tax is just the beginning or 2) a drastic knee-capping of the AI industry in America, which make the CCP dominance scenario more likely. The solution is to enable retail ownership now, increasing the number of Americans with economic exposure to Anthropic and other AI labs from hundreds of people to millions.

@auren I like to say, “cash is always strategic to somebody.”

@E_Bruxxx VCs need to get serious about their information advantage

Every LP reviews the same GP decks, DPI tables and Cambridge comps. Information advantage is eroding and AI is killing diligence advantage. Real edge going forward is access to the right GPs before consensus and having conviction to back them early.

@HarryStebbings @infoarbitrage Thank you. Everyone is thinking 2026 is a great IPO year. Why would a company like Databricks go into the public markets like this?

We have a big problem. The venture model doesn’t work with the current public market revenue multiples. Datadog ⬇️ 21% Figma ⬇️ 20% Wix ⬇️ 38% Braze is 2.5x ARR Atlassian is 4.8x ARR Klaviyo is 4.5x ARR Venture doesn’t work unless this changes. Agree @infoarbitrage @bgurley @jasonlk @rodriscoll?

@shomikghosh21 Someone remind me why we think 2026 is going to be a big IPO year? If I am a top private software company, the private markets are looking way better than this…

From Meritech's excellent "Technology Exits in Review" Only 1 software IPO trading above 10x = $FIG

@awaken_tom @FT With the SoftBank deal it became a corporation with significant ownership by the non-profit.

@FT How can a non-profit like Open AI have an IPO? Smells rotten.

SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic prepare to launch landmark IPOs ft.trib.al/iWrrsri

@A1Anduril @PalmerLuckey Sounds like you need a partnership with @colossal. They got this dire wolf thing down

Anduril Founder @PalmerLuckey on the Future of Bioengineering in Defense: “You could give every canine unit the characteristics of the strongest Arctic Wolf that ever walked the earth.” “I’m really excited about engineered biologics for defense applications.” “Muscles that go in machines are gonna be a really big deal… self-powered scavenging robots that can live off of grass… radio relays that roam the plains.” “Another big one is de-extinction work of species… you think that German Shepherds that weigh 150 pounds are good canine units?” “Well how about Dire Wolves… 600-pound canines units carrying 150 pounds of armor.” “All of the survival instincts of Arctic Wolves, but with the obedience and trust and loving characteristics of domesticated animals.” Make Dire Wolves Great Again. 🇺🇸

Just a reminder: crime in SF is WAY, WAY down growsf.org/news/2025-04-1…

This should get the VC's hearts flowing! HeartFlow lost $32M last quarter and popped 50% on IPO day. Proof the IPO window is back: Wall Street saw red ink and said, “Huge TAM tho.”

@danprimack Here is one thing I am worried about: linkedin.com/posts/benblack…

The private equity executive order is signed. Now what? axios.com/newsletters/ax…

I had such a good time talking with Brian, I forgot the cameras were rolling.

What happens when a fund loses over half its capital overnight… and still ends up a 2x DPI win? This week on the Ignite Podcast, we sit down with @benjamindblack, co-founder and Managing Director at @AkkadianVC and the visionary behind the Raise Global Summit. With 20+ years in venture, Ben has built a career on navigating complex capital markets — from launching one of the earliest triple-bottom-line funds to pioneering secondary transactions in startups like DocuSign and Splunk. We dive deep into: 🔍 How secondary deals create early DPI and liquidity 📉 What to do when an LP defaults 💡 The origin story behind Raise — and why LPs love it 📈 Why concentrated bets in growth-stage secondaries can outperform 🤝 Tactical advice for fund managers looking to generate returns before year 10 Ben brings clarity, candor, and battle-tested insights that every GP — new or seasoned — needs to hear. 👂🎧 Watch, listen, and follow on your favorite platform: buff.ly/juh0XLI 🙏 Join the conversation on your favorite social network: buff.ly/3oX3Ofb 💬 What’s your biggest takeaway from Ben’s story? #VentureCapital #EmergingManagers #SecondaryInvesting #PrivateMarkets #LPStrategies #RaiseSummit #DPI #VCfunding #IgnitePodcast

The IPO market is speaking loud and clear:
AI and crypto are eating SaaS & Fintech. Coreweave: +200% 
Circle: +600%
Hinge Health: +25%
Chime: –15%
Omada: –23% Investors want exponential platforms, not incremental products.

@auren VC is a dollar meat grinder

talked to a company today that raised a $220M seed round (in a SAFE). yes, $220 million seed. and they are now raising an "A round".