From Keith Lavoie to Ethan Kurzweil, many VCs have changed companies or spun out of established VC firms to launch their own funds this year. These employment changes are surprising because unlike many other fields, venture capitalists traditionally don't move around much, especially those who reach the partner or general partner level.
The lifecycle of a VC fund is 10 years, and partners have good reason to stay that way. In some cases, a company's fund may have a “key person.” This means that if they exit, the fund's LPs have the right to raise their capital if they wish. Many partners and GPs also invest some of their own funds in their own funds, giving them further reason to stick around.
As a result, it is not common for big-name investors to move to venture capital, but it looks like it will happen in 2024. So far this year, there have been notable examples of investors returning to old companies, going independent, or taking on investments. Stop investing completely. There were also some important hires worth noting.
Here's who we know so far:
november
On November 5, Andreessen Horowitz announced that Brian Roberts will join the firm as a general partner and work across the firm's American Dynamism Fund and AI Apps Fund. Roberts previously worked as a CFO at a number of notable companies including Splunk, OpenSea, and Lyft. Andreessen Horowitz also announced on November 5 that Andy McCall will join the firm as a general partner to work across the firm's American Dynamism Fund and AI Apps Fund. Mr. McCall most recently held a number of positions at cloud company Samsara.
October
Paris Hayman has left her role as a partner at Index Ventures to join JPMorgan as a co-managing partner in the asset management firm's venture and growth equity practice. The move was announced on October 15th. Heyman helped Index launch its New York office in 2022 and was previously a partner at Arena Holdings. On October 9th, Julian Eisson announced on LinkedIn that he is stepping down from his role as managing partner of Next Ventures. Ison said in his post that he is taking some time to think about what's next. He has supported companies such as Pair Team, Juno Medical, and Vital Biosciences. After four years as a partner at Khosla Ventures, Sandhya Venkatachalam spun out of the firm to launch a new VC firm, Axiom Partners, with a $50 million debut funding target to back AI and machine learning startups. Ta. News of Venkachalam's departure was confirmed on October 8.
september
James da Costa announced on September 17 that he is joining Andreessen Horowitz as a partner focused on B2B software and financial services. This will be da Costa's first foray into venture investing. He was previously the co-founder of Fingo, an African neobank. On September 11th, Jacob Westphal announced his departure from Andreessen Horowitz. Westphal was a partner at a16z for three and a half years. He left the company to become portfolio leader at Will Ventures.
August
Freestyle VC announced on August 15 that Maria Palma has joined the firm as a general partner based in San Francisco. Palma most recently served as general partner of London-based Kindred Capital. Parma supports companies such as Move, Novo and Lotti.
July
After nearly seven years, Alex Cook is preparing to leave Tiger Global, a source familiar with the matter tells TechCrunch. During his time at Tiger Global, Cook led trading for TradingView, Scalapay, TrueLayer, and more. Prior to joining Tiger Global, Cook worked at Apollo. Bessemer Venture Partners announced on July 22 that it added Lauri Moore as a partner. Moore previously served as a partner at Foundation Capital for two years and before that as an operator at LinkedIn. Moore will focus on early-stage investments in areas such as data, AI and developer tools. On July 17, DCVC announced that it has hired Milo Werner as a general partner to lead the firm's climate change investment practice. The company is currently raising its first dedicated climate change fund. Werner most recently served as general partner at Engine Ventures for two and a half years. Werner was previously a partner at Ajax Strategies. Ang Lee Skate announced on July 11 that Andreessen Horowitz, who had been a partner on the consumer team since 2019, has left the company. She added that she is leaving to do her “life's work” and will post about her future plans soon. At Andreessen, he supported companies such as Whatnot, Kindred, and Prisms.
June
On June 17, Spencer Peterson announced that he will be leaving Bedrock, where he was a partner for five years, to become general partner of Cortue. Peterson has invested in companies such as OpenAI and Rippleing. Amanda “Robbie” Robson announced her retirement from Cowboy Ventures in a LinkedIn post in early June. Robson has been with Cowboy Ventures since October 2019, and prior to that spent three years at Norwest Venture Partners. Robson plans to launch his own fund.
May
Serena Ventures founding partner Alison Stillman announced her departure from the firm on May 14 after nearly six years working with tennis star Serena Williams. Stillman did not announce next steps. Terry Burns announced on May 13th that he is launching a new venture company called Type Capital. Burns was previously GV's first black female partner, but she left the company in 2022. Her new fund will focus on pre-seed and seed stage startups. Last week, TechCrunch got the scoop that Fika Ventures co-founder Eva Ho plans to transition out of the company once Fika finishes rolling out its current fund. Mr. Ho is withdrawing for personal reasons. The company confirmed this move in a May 9 blog post. On May 9th, Alison Lange Engel announced that she will become CEO of Ceros, an AI-powered design company. Lange Engel left Greycroft in December, where she had been a partner since 2019, to take on the role. 15 years later, Vic Singh announced Singh helped launch the company in 2009 and is planning to start his own new company.
April
April 30th, Ethan Kurzweil announced He was leaving his role as a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, where he worked for 16 years. According to a report from Axios, Kurzweil plans to launch an investment firm focused on early-stage investments. Mr. Kurzweil plans to launch the company as follows. Christina Shenwho left Andreessen Horowitz on March 29 after four years, and Mark Goldberg, who left Index Ventures last fall after eight years. April 1st, Christina Farr announced Mr. Farr announced that he plans to retire from OMERS Ventures, where he has been the company's lead investor and head of health tech business since December 2020. Farr announced at X that he will work on a health tech newsletter and write a book focused on health tech. About the impact of storytelling on business and consulting health tech founders.
march
After six years as a partner at Accel, Ethan Choi announced in March that he was leaving the firm to head to Khosla Ventures. Choi will focus on growth-stage investments at his new company, having backed companies such as Klaviyo, Pismo and 1Password. A lot of the recent VC activity has been from people looking to start something new or try a different opportunity, but not all of it has been like that. March 13th, Chamath Palihapitiya Social Capital announced The company announced that it has fired partners Jay Zaveri and Ravi Tanuk. Bloomberg reported that the issue was due to funding issues for AI startup Groq. Lavoie isn't the only one boomeranging back to his old home amid the recent uptick in investor turnover. On March 5, Miles Grimshaw announced that he would be returning to Thrive Capital as a general partner after three years in the same role at Benchmark Capital. Grimshaw originally started at Thrive Capital in 2013 and has backed companies such as Airtable, Lattice, and Monzo. Moving from operator to VC is a common career progression in the startup ecosystem, but it's not for everyone. On March 4, Sam Blond announced that he had come to that conclusion and was leaving Founders Fund, where he had been a partner for about 18 months. Blond said he will return to sales, having previously held positions at companies including Brex, Zenefits and EchoSign.
January
After 12 years at Andreessen Horowitz, Connie Chan announced her departure from the company on January 23rd. Chan has served as one of the firm's general partners for the past five years, supporting companies such as Cider, KoBold, and Whatnot. Prominent venture investor Keith Lavoie announced on January 9th that he will be leaving Founders Fund and returning to Khosla Ventures. Mr. Lavoie was a general partner at Founders Fund for nearly five years. He returned to Khosla in his previous role as Managing Director.
TechCrunch has been monitoring recent developments in ventures and will continue to update this article. If you have a tip or call for our attention, please contact us: rebecca.szkutak@techcrunch.com.
This post was originally published on May 1st. It has since been updated on May 13th, July 12th, August 15th, September 23rd, and November 18th with additional moves within the venture.
This post has been updated to better reflect Anne Lee Skates' investment in Andreessen Horowitz.