**Title:** Building a Venture Firm from Scratch with Adam Besvinick | Interview with Harry Stebbings
**Description:**
In this interview with Adam Besvinick, Founder of Looking Glass Capital, we dive into the world of venture capital and discuss various topics including fund construction, document preparation for fundraising, finding LPs, lessons learned from the first fund, thinking about loss ratio, the benefits of thematic investments, and the biggest mistakes founders make.
0:00 – Introduction
6:29 – Fund Construction at Looking Glass
13:10 – Document Preparation for Fundraising
20:40 – How to Find Your LPs
29:05 – Lessons Learned from First Fund
40:20 – How to Think about Loss Ratio
42:35 – Benefits of Thematic Investments
45:38 – Biggest Mistakes Founders Make
54:40 – Quick-Fire Round
59:41 – Changes in Venture Capital
**Timestamps:**
0:00 How Adam Besvinick founded Looking Glass Capital
6:29 Fund Construction at Looking Glass
13:10 Document Preparation for Fundraising
20:40 How to Find Your LPs
29:05 Lessons Learned from First Fund
40:20 How to Think about Loss Ratio
42:35 Benefits of Thematic Investments
45:38 Biggest Mistakes Founders Make
54:40 Quick-Fire Round
59:41 What Has Changed in Venture Capital?
**Key Highlights:**
In this episode, Harry Stebbings interviews Adam Besvinick, Founder of Looking Glass Capital, to gain insights into the world of venture capital and learn from Adam’s experiences. Here are some key highlights from the interview:
1. How Twitter Led to Founding a Venture Firm: Adam shares his journey into the world of venture capital and how his fascination with Twitter played a crucial role. He discusses the valuable lessons he learned from working with Chris Sacca and emphasizes the importance of reputation for young VCs.
2. Raising Fund I: The Process: Adam provides insights into the process of raising his first fund. He talks about the number of LP meetings required, the documentation and materials needed for the fundraise, and the different expectations of various LP profiles. He also shares his advice for first-time fund managers on closing deals and creating a sense of urgency among LPs.
3. Looking Glass: The Very Disciplined Pre-Seed Strategy: Adam explains how he determined the optimal fund size for Looking Glass Capital and discusses the desired ownership and dilution levels across the lifecycle of a company. He also shares details about the average check size, average entry price, reserves, and follow-on checks. Adam also expresses his views on pre-seed micro-fund strategies.
4. The Market: Multi-Stage Firms Destroying Seed: Adam shares his thoughts on the impact of multi-stage firms on seed rounds and advises founders on navigating offers from different types of investors. He discusses the challenges of advising founders on fundraising rounds in today’s landscape.
For the full interview, subscribe to the [20VC Podcast on Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466) or [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465). Follow Harry Stebbings on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings) and Adam Besvinick on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/besnivick). For more updates, follow 20VC on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/20vc_reels) and [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok), visit the [20VC Website](https://www.20vc.com), and subscribe to their [Newsletter](https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact).
**Keywords/Tags:** AdamBesnivick, LookingGlassCapital, HarryStebbings
**Source:** [20VC Podcast](https://www.20vc.com)
Adam Besvinick is the Founder of Looking Glass Capital, a pre-seed-focused firm started in 2020. Before starting Looking Glass, Adam spent about 5 years at Deep Fork Capital and Anchorage Capital Group investing in pre-seed through Series C. Adam’s portfolio across funds includes the likes of BigID, Transfix, NomNom, and Hone Health, to name a few.
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Timestamps:
0:00 How Adam Besvinick founded Looking Glass Capital
6:29 Fund Construction at Looking Glass
13:10 Document Preparation for Fundraising
20:40 How to Find Your LPs
29:05 Lessons Learned from First Fund
40:20 How to Think about Loss Ratio
42:35 Benefits of Thematic Investments
45:38 Biggest Mistakes Founders Make
54:40 Quick-Fire Round
59:41 What Has Changed in Venture Capital?
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In Today’s Episode with Adam Besvinick We Discuss:
1. How Twitter Led to Founding a Venture Firm:
How did Adam make his way into the world of venture through Twitter?
What are 1-2 of his biggest lessons from working with the legend, Chris Sacca?
What does Adam know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning of his time in VC?
What do most young VCs misunderstand when it comes to reputation?
2. Raising Fund I: The Process:
How many LP meetings did Adam have to close Fund I?
What docs and materials did he have for the fundraise? How does he advise other managers on doing docs for fundraises?
How do different LP profiles want different things in the managers they work with?
How did Adam approach first vs final close? How does he advise others managers on closing?
How did Adam instil a sense of urgency in LPs to move and commit to the fund?
What are 1-2 of Adam’s biggest pieces of advice to managers raising a first-time fund?
3. Looking Glass: The Very Disciplined Pre-Seed Strategy:
How did Adam decide on the fund size? Why is it the optimal fund size?
What is the desired ownership for Adam? What level of dilution does he expect across the lifecycle of the company?
What is the average check size? What is the average entry price?
How does Adam approach reserves and follow-on checks?
How does Adam reflect on his own relationship to price?
Why does Adam not like the majority of pre-seed micro-fund strategies?
4. The Market: Multi-Stage Firms Destroying Seed
Does Adam agree that “multi-stage firms have destroyed seed rounds”?
How does Adam advise founders when they have multi-stage offers and seed firm offers?
Who will be the winners and losers in the next 10 years of venture?
Why is it harder than ever to advise founders on fundraising rounds today?
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#AdamBesnivick #LookingGlassCapital #HarryStebbings
Great pod! Followed you both on Twitter