David Tisch: Why No Manager Wants to Stay Small & Why Competing with Mega Platforms is a Losing Game
BoxGroup's David Tisch joins Harry Stebbings to defend his low-ownership, high-volume seed model. He argues that competing head-to-head with top multi-stage firms for big seed stakes is a losing game, and Stebbings admits he was wrong to doubt it.
The gist
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Tisch says concentrated funds claiming 90% win rates are really near 20%, offering deals to 120 to 150 companies to land 30.
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BoxGroup runs a $275 million seed fund backing about 150 companies, plus a $275 million follow-on fund writing 20 to 30 checks of $5 to 30 million.
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Tisch calls the lean startup a total fake, arguing venture-backed winners need lots of money, and being well funded does not mean undisciplined.
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BoxGroup does not vote, and only partners who met the founders may argue against a deal, since explaining why startups fail is easy and irrelevant.
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Tisch avoids selling stakes early because the best companies compound most at the end, and he says pro rata rights are earned, not owed.
Also mentioned
14:05
Ramp
· "If you go back in history like Uber, Facebook, Airbnb, Ramp, which I think is one of the best modern..."
32:30
Cursor
· "We were fortunate enough to have met Cursor sort of before they were working on the business that scaled,..."
33:18
OpenRouter
· "Now we're seeing OpenRouter. Was OpenRouter one of yours?"
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