The largest venture capital funds are eating more LP capital than ever before, leaving some smaller firms scrambling for cash. But rising venture concentration isn’t stressing our panel of investors, as @mikeeisenberg @mikejgr and @ldcovert think that there is still room in the startup investing game for craft. In a packed venture roundtable, the investors went long with @alex to chat consensus investing, breakout startups, AI gross margins, the power crunch, supply chains, and even the impact of the Iran War on technology. 0:00 Intro + sponsor reads (Grasshopper Bank, PaperOS, LinkedIn Jobs) 0:58 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off! 2:13 Introductions: Eisenberg (Aleph), Granoff (Maniv), Covert (Oxcart) 3:57 The impact of rising venture capital concentration 6:43 "We may be witnessing the end of venture capital" 9:17 Consensus VC vs. Traditional VC 10:01 LinkedIn Jobs - Hire right, the first time. Post your first job and get $100 off towards your job post at LinkedIn.com/twist 11:48 Why mid-size firms beat the behemoths on founder access 19:35 Coining "Consensus Colossal Collaborative Capital" (CCCC) 20:03 AngelList's USVC retail VC fund — does it help mid-size funds? 20:18 PaperOS - Whether you're raising a round, launching a fund, or managing a venture portfolio, PaperOS can unlock simplicity and scale across your empire of capital, contracts, and companies. Claim your $10,000 credit at paperos.com/twist 23:27 Are there more breakout startups today than 5 years ago? 28:36 The "bullshit ARR" problem and AI gross margins 30:03 Grasshopper Bank - Time is money. Don't waste either. Go to grasshopper.bank/twist and get an exclusive $500 cash bonus just for opening an account. 32:08 Cursor's negative gross margins and the hyperscaler funding flywheel 33:06 Are we all electron constrained? 35:35 Are we headed for surge pricing on compute? 40:22 Will anything replace NVIDIA? NextSilicon, Hailo & Israel's chip stack 43:33 Distillation, small models, and Apple's edge advantage 46:38 Public trust in AI: should government mandate Waymo & FSD? 1:02:58 Defense tech: Saronic, Anduril & the coming defense M&A wave 1:06:35 The Iran war timeline & supply chain impact 1:18:52 Lightning round: Jiga, Divergent, Volaback, Firehawk, Harbinger 🎥 Watch the full episode here 👇
