Descriptions:
David Frankel is one of the great seed investors of our time. As the CoFounder of Founder Collective he has backed the likes of Uber, Coupang, Suno, PillPack, Airtable, Whoop, Shield Al and many more. In a world of expanding fund sizes, David and Founder Collective are one of the only successful franchises to truly stick to small, boutique funds.
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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:03 The $50-$100M Seed Fund Trap
06:14 Price Matters Less Than Ever
10:24 Has the Normalization of Startup Founding Killed What It Actually Takes?
11:12 CEO vs CTO: The Journey Diverges
12:55 Will David Invest If the CEO Is Great But the CTO Isn’t?
14:26 Has the Type of Founder David Wants Changed in the AI Era?
16:22 Is 1.5M to 5M ARR Still a Venture-Scale Path?
32:26 Why David Is a Contrarian on Large Platform Funds Returning Venture Economics
38:01 Physical AI Was the Unloved Theme 10 Years Ago
40:31 How Concentrated Are Founder Collective’s Returns?
44:15 Are Deeply Embedded SaaS Companies Being Oversold in the Correction?
45:08 The “I Love It Because…” Framework
47:16 Why David Hunts for “Nepo Babies”
01:14:15 China Rising: Two Superpowers, AI & Why Defense Matters More Than Ever
01:15:49 Photonic Computing — The Next Nvidia Disruptor Nobody Talks About
01:18:41 What Would Make David Raise a Bigger Fund?
01:21:49 Quick-Fire Round
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