SPC GP @evantana on the -1 philosophy behind their newly announced $575 million Fund IV:
"South Park Commons is about 10 years now, and the core premise has always been the same. Let's get a talent-dense community of really technical, ambitious, and talented folks who are exploring what we describe as the -1."
"It can be, I'm trying to figure out what company I want to start. It could be, I'm trying to figure out if I want to start a company. And if I do want to start a company, which hill should I climb?"
"It was born out of this insight that our founder Ruchi had, where she found herself at the -1, having done a bunch of really interesting stuff earlier in her career, but she still had a lot left in the tank."
"The ways many of us would've done it before South Park is sit around in an office, go to a coffee shop. But it's a lonely existence. You end up at the right place to start if you're around other really talented folks."
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Aditya Agarwal (@adityaag)
Today we’re announcing SPC Fund IV: $575M to help founders find their life’s work.
A decade of guiding founders through -1 to 0 brings @SPC to $2B in AUM and, more importantly, a 1200 member community of the world’s most talented technologists. We strongly believe that:
→ The person comes before the idea. At -1, generational founders are often busy reading, prototyping, discarding, and earning the right to their own conviction.
→ Ambition is social. The people you surround yourself with in the early days play a big part in inflecting your ambition.
→ Patience compounds. It is better to work on something you have deep conviction in rather than simply sprint at the first idea.
The quiet months we protect at the beginning have produced three funds in the top 10% of their vintages, and companies like @baseten, @GammaApp, @render, @GoodfireAI, @LumaLabsAI, and @tryprofound. We are proud to have worked with all these founders in their -1 phase and beyond.
While we defined -1 to 0, we're no longer bound by it. Fund IV allows us to partner with companies well beyond launch.
We're doing this now because we've never seen a wider gap between what's possible and what's being attempted. Intelligence is abundant. The cost of trying ideas keeps falling, and problems that seemed insurmountable a few years ago are quickly becoming solvable.
To our members, to the founders who trusted us before anyone else did, and to the LPs who had conviction in our own -1 journey: thank you. This milestone belongs to you as much as to us.
To the builders looking to find your life’s work: let’s get started.
— https://nitter.net/adityaag/status/2085034980866998632#m