Just 18 months after joining a prestigious Silicon Valley company, Sam Blond is leaving Founders Fund and his career as a venture capitalist.
In a tweet on Monday, Blond expressed gratitude for the opportunity to work at Peter Thiel's venture capital firm, saying, “Full-time investing or being a venture capitalist is not for me, so I'm excited to get back into management. '', he explained. ” That probably means he has accepted, plans to accept, or is in the process of founding a position at a startup or another technology company. Blonde, who arrived early today, told TechCrunch that “so far there are no comments other than posts.”
Personal news – Last week was my last week at Founders Fund. Investing/VC full time wasn't for me, so I decided to go back into management. I'll explain more about what's next later. For now, a big thank you to FF and all the wonderful people. and…
— Sam Blond (@samdblond) March 4, 2024
Before joining the VC firm, Blonde was best known as the former Chief Revenue Officer of Brex. Although Brex is not a Founders Fund portfolio company, Founders Fund has invested in Lamp, one of Brex's largest competitors. As such, Blond's move to a venture capital firm drew some curiosity, especially since at the time (September 2022) Brex had reached decacorn status with a $300 million funding. . It's a strange time for a top salesman to resign. Typically, when a company is this successful, startup employees salivate at the wealth that could come from an IPO or another exit. Prior to that, he was vice president of sales at Zenefits, a Founders Fund-backed once-high-flying, then-troubled HR technology startup. Trinet acquired Zenefits in 2022.
This resignation is friendly to the people. “Sam was a great operator and a great resource for our founders. We hope we have the opportunity to work with him again,” Founders Fund spokesperson Erin Gleason told TechCrunch. Told. And maybe there's a clue there that a VC firm might one day support something new Blond is trying to do, or at least listen to the pitch.
But this is the second high-profile departure of a Founders Fund partner in recent months. Keith Rabois shocked the startup world when he left in January to return to his former company, Khosla Ventures.
It's fairly rare for a senior partner to leave money in another fund, especially a prolific dealmaker like Lavoie. This is because their returns are tied to the results of investments, and such investments can take years to mature. This situation creates solid golden handcuffs. It's common for someone like Blond, who comes from the world of startup management and has invested his own money, to leave his VC role after a short period of time. Investing other people's money is a completely different skill.
The way Founders Fund operates is also a little different. While Silicon Valley companies all pay lip service to being pro-founders and founder-friendly (otherwise no founders would sell parts of their companies), Founders Fund has more to offer in that regard. There are strict rules.
As Founders Fund partner Trey Stevens told TechCrunch's Connie Loizos at last week's Strictly VC LA event, “We're founder absolutists,” he said. . Partners at the firm rarely have a seat on the board, saying, “We always vote for the founder. And the moment the company no longer has a founder as CEO, we're done.'' does not invest in businesses led by anyone other than the founder.”
Still, the company doesn't deny that its partners are also founders of its own startups. For example, Thiel famously founded Palantir. Rabois founded his OpenStore and Stephens co-founded his Anduril. Many other VC firms also have partners who run startups at the same time. If being a founder and a VC aren't automatically mutually exclusive, that means the desire to be a “manager” may not fully explain why the blonde took time off. Masu.
I don't know the reason other than what he has stated publicly. But many VCs like to think of themselves as “value-add” partners, meaning they want to be involved in supporting the businesses they support, and Founders Fund is averse to such involvement.
“The more VCs say, 'I'm going to add value,' the more you should hear them say, 'I'm going to embarrass you motherfuckers for the rest of your life.'” Cap Table on,” Stevens told the Strictly VC audience. “So I think our approach is more to say, we invest in companies because we believe that their founders or their group of founders are the people who are going to grow this business.”
And that means that while VC careers there depend on the selection of winners, they have little say in how those selections work out.
Are you a member of the VC industry who would like to share your insights about Founders Fund? Contact Mary Ann Azevedo at Signal 408.204.3036.