When Keith Rabois announced in January that he was leaving Founders Fund to return to Khosla Ventures, it came as a shock to many in the venture capital world, and not just because Rabois is a big name in the industry.
This was surprising because, unlike many other fields, venture capitalists, especially those who reach partner or general partner level like Lavoie, traditionally don't move around much.
VC funds have a 10-year life cycle, and partners have good reasons to stay the course. In some cases, a partner may become the “key man” of the firm's fund, in which case, if that partner exits, the fund's LPs have the right to withdraw their capital if they wish. Many partners and GPs also invest some of their own money in the firm's fund, giving them further reason to stay.
Big name investors aren't the norm in venture capital, but it has appeared to be happening in recent months, with notable cases this year of investors returning to their old companies, starting their own ventures, or simply taking a break from investing altogether.
The people known so far are:
July
Alex Cook is preparing to leave Tiger Global after nearly seven years, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. During his time at Tiger Global, Cook led deals including TradingView, Scalapay, and TrueLayer. Prior to Tiger Global, he worked at Apollo. Bessemer Venture Partners announced on July 22 that it had hired Lori Moore as a partner. Moore was previously a partner at Foundation Capital for two years and an operator at LinkedIn before that. Moore will focus on early-stage investments in areas such as data, AI, and developer tools. On July 17, DCVC announced that it had hired Milo Werner as a general partner to lead the firm's climate investment practice. The firm is currently launching its first dedicated climate fund. Werner most recently served as a general partner at Engine Ventures for two and a half years. Prior to that, Werner was a partner at Ajax Strategies. Ang Lee Skates announced on July 11 that he has left Andreessen Horowitz, where he had been a partner on the consumer team since 2019. He added that he is leaving to pursue his “life's work” and will post more about his plans in the coming days. At Andreessen, he backed companies such as Whatnot, Kindred, and Prismz.
June
On June 17, Spencer Peterson announced that he would be leaving Bedrock after five years as a partner to become a general partner at Coatue. Peterson has invested in companies such as OpenAI and Rippling. Amanda “Robbie” Robson announced her departure from Cowboy Ventures in a LinkedIn post in early June. Robson had been with Cowboy Ventures since October 2019, and prior to that was with Norwest Venture Partners for three years. Robson plans to launch her own fund.
May
Allison Stillman, founding partner of Serena Ventures, announced she would be leaving the firm on May 14 after working with tennis star Serena Williams for nearly six years. Stillman did not announce her next steps. Teri Barnes announced on May 13 that she would be launching a new venture firm called Type Capital. Barnes was previously GV's first black female partner and left the firm in 2022. Her new fund will focus on pre-seed and seed-stage startups. Last week, TechCrunch scooped that Eva Ho, co-founder of Fika Ventures, would be leaving the firm after Fika wraps up operations for its current fund. Ho is leaving for personal reasons. The move was confirmed by the firm in a blog post on May 9. On May 9, Allison Lange Engel announced she would be taking on the role of CEO of Ceros, an AI-powered design firm. To take up the role, Lange Engel left Greycroft in December, where he had been a partner since 2019. After 15 years, Vic Singh Announced X announced that he will be leaving Eniac Ventures on May 1. Singh, who helped found the company in 2009, will be starting his own new company.
April
April 30, Ethan Kurzweil Announced He left Bessemer Venture Partners after 16 years as a partner, and Axios reports that Kurzweil plans to start an early-stage investment firm. Christina ShenOn March 29, he left Andreessen Horowitz after four years, and Mark Goldberg left Index Ventures after eight years last fall. On April 1, Christina Farr Announced Farr announced that he will be leaving OMERS Ventures after serving as a lead investor and head of the company's health tech business since December 2020. At X, Farr announced that he will be writing a health tech newsletter, writing a book focusing on the power of storytelling in business, and consulting to health tech founders.
march
Ethan Choi, who had been a partner at Accel for six years, announced in March that he was leaving the firm to join Khosla Ventures. At his new firm, Choi will focus on growth-stage investments and has backed companies such as Klaviyo, Pismo and 1Password. While many of the recent moves into venture capital are driven by people looking to start something new or take on different opportunities, that's not the case for everyone. On March 13, Chamath Palihapitiya's Social Capital Announced The firm fired partners Jay Zaveri and Ravi Tanuk. Bloomberg reported that this was due to issues with fundraising for AI startup Groq. Rabois is not the only one looking to return to his old company amid a flurry of investor turnover. On March 5, Myles Grimshaw announced that he would return to Thrive Capital as a general partner after three years at Benchmark Capital. Grimshaw joined Thrive Capital in 2013 and has backed companies such as Airtable, Lattice, and Monzo. The transition from operator to venture capital is a common career step in the startup ecosystem, but not everyone can do it. 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 was returning to operations and has held roles at companies such as Brex, Zenephys, and Echosign.
January
After 12 years at Andreessen Horowitz, Connie Chung announced she would be leaving the firm on Jan. 23. Chung had served as one of the firm's general partners for the past five years, backing companies such as Cider, Cobbold and Whatnot.
TechCrunch is keeping an eye on recent venture activity and will continue to update this article as things develop. If you have any tips or requests you'd like to share with us, please reach out to us at rebecca.szkutak@techcrunch.com.
This post was originally published on May 1. It was subsequently updated on May 13, July 12, and August 15 to include additional movement within the venture.
This post has been updated to better reflect Anne Lee Skates' investments at Andreessen Horowitz.