Venture capital is full of investors who claim to have access to the next big thing. Meanwhile, Gabriel Jarrosson, a French engineer-turned Youtuber-turned investor, built a VC company around a single filter.
That discipline has forced Jarosson to manage a second fund already in the work, from explainers of a poor venture in Paris to managing Lobster Capital's $12 million worth of assets, according to a recent SEC filing. His logic is simple. He believes YC's track record of producing billions of dollars is beating chasing startups elsewhere.
In 2017, unhappy with the lack of access to promising French startups, Jarrosson launched a YouTube channel to share his investment journey in French.
The channel has grown loyal supporters and evolved into one of Europe's largest angel syndicates, rolling out $36 million to startups since 2020. That track record paved the way for Lobster Capital, with the debut fund shutting down for $12 million and surpassing its $8 million target.
Jarrosson's inference about YC-only startups only depends on probability. According to the report, around 4.5% of YC companies become unicorns (as opposed to the 2.5% results of other venture-backed seed stage startups), and around 45% of companies continue to raise Series A (average exceeding 33%).
Similarly, YC funds over 90 unicorns, about a quarter of which have grown to big corn.
Therefore, YC trading premiums often do not stop Jarosson as their valuations are multiples higher than non-YC peers in the seed stage.
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“When you think about VC mathematics and returns, these results are obviously great for your portfolio. As an investor, can this company become the next unicorn because you have to ask yourself?” In an interview with TechCrunch, the founder and managing partner said.
“If the answer is yes, it's often okay to invest even if it's a slightly higher rating. Maybe it's a $20 million species or $30 million, or $40 million.
Raise AI waves and content as a moat
Lobster Capital, like most early-stage investors, is riding on the recent surge in AI first startups dominating the YC batch. Jarrosson notes that three cohorts have broken revenue growth records within accelerators in a row, with companies reaching millions within months.
Some of that traction has been inflated by pilot and churn-rich annual contracts, and reports have made it appear vulnerable worldwide. Jarrosson acknowledges the risk, but he argues that early income remains the most difficult hurdle, and that retention can be corrected for most of these startups.
But more broadly speaking, the biggest issue with Jarrosson's paper is access, as YC demonstration day withdraws hundreds of funds chasing the same companies.
Jarrosson believes in YC's reputation within the network, visibility from content, and his advantage over his own founder background. The YC founder rates investors on Bookface, Accelerator's internal platform, and Bookface, where Jarrosson claims strong reviews.
Similarly, in his podcast featuring YC founders and over 40,000 LinkedIn followers, he shares his investment journey and YC nuggets, and also serves as an ongoing marketing.
“I'm trying to do well by founders. People also hear about social media companies and as a former founder, I know that I can help them because a lot of money is built by people who were not previously operators,” said Jarrosson, who has started several startups in the past and has several exits according to his LinkedIn profile.
Jarrosson is part of an increasing list of investors building money behind the scenes of personal brands. He quoted Harry Stevings, a 20VC podcaster who raised $400 million this year, and cited Garry Tan as inspiration, who co-founded Initial Capital and grew to $3 billion at AUM before becoming CEO of YC.
Like both investors, Jarrosson treats social media, YouTube, and podcasting as community tools and deal engines. That content strategy also helps attract limited partners who often discover him through videos and podcasts before watching fund decks, he adds.
The Managing Partner has invested more than 100 through Syndicate and Lobster Capital's first fund launched in 2023, supporting nearly 30 startups with B2B Saas, Fintech infrastructure and AI tools.
He counts two unicorns and several “snicorns” across syndicates and funds, including Jeeve, Baubapp, Flutterflow, Metriport, Arinea, and Ziga.
“YC has a proven track record. It's been around for over 20 years. We know we support the best founders and create the best founders,” says Jarrosson. “Undoubtedly, the outcome of YC in the future will probably be even better. But no matter what they're doing, we know it's a very good bet.”
Investing solely in businesses through YC is not a whole new concept. Other VC companies, including initialized Pioneer Funds, Rincapital and Rebel Funds, also began with the same strategy.