cover of episode Special: Ho Nam from Altos Ventures — A Different Approach to VC

Special: Ho Nam from Altos Ventures — A Different Approach to VC

2021/6/21
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Ben Gilbert
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David Rosenthal
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Ho Nam
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Ho Nam详细阐述了Altos Ventures独特的风险投资策略，该策略结合了伯克希尔哈撒韦的价值投资理念和对早期科技公司的长期投资。他以Altos对Roblox的投资为例，说明了如何通过多次增持和特殊目的载体(SPV)来增加投资，以及如何在投资过程中权衡基金管理和投资决策。Altos偏好于那些具有长期愿景和专注精神的“刺猬型”企业家，并强调与创业者建立深厚关系的重要性。他们不追求短期回报和规模扩张，而是专注于发现和培养真正具有长期发展潜力的公司。 Ben Gilbert和David Rosenthal作为Acquired播客的主持人，引导Ho Nam讲述了Altos Ventures的投资历程和理念，并就价值投资、增长投资、估值方法等问题进行了深入探讨。他们对Altos Ventures的投资策略表示赞赏，并认为Altos的经验对其他风险投资机构具有借鉴意义。

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Altos Ventures' journey with Roblox began with a $1.5M Series C investment in 2008, focusing on the company's capital efficiency and impressive weekly growth in engagement hours. Despite opportunities to sell, Altos continued to invest in Roblox through secondary shares and SPVs, eventually becoming the largest shareholder at IPO.
  • Altos Ventures invested over $400 million in Roblox from an $86 million fund.
  • Altos increased their ownership in Roblox over time through primary and secondary investments.
  • The decision to invest was based on Roblox's capital efficiency, consistent growth, and engaged user community.
  • Altos chose to be buyers even when others wanted to sell, leading to substantial returns.

Shownotes Transcript

What do you get when you combine Berkshire Hathaway's approach with early-stage venture capital? Altos Ventures. We're joined by Altos's wonderful Ho Nam to discuss their highly unusual approach to VC, which has resulted in them becoming significant shareholders in great companies like Roblox, Coupang, Woowa Brothers and Krafton (makers of PUBG). This episode is an absolute must-listen for anyone in our industry — Ho is one of the best and most under-the-radar thinkers in Silicon Valley, and has many lessons to offer us all!

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Topics covered:

  • Altos's 13-year+ journey with Roblox, and how they deployed over $400m into the company out of an $86m fund
  • Altos's heritage in Jack McDonald's Investments class at Stanford GSB, and the influence of Jack, Phil Fisher and Warren & Charlie
  • How Altos successfully "value invests" in venture capital, and reconciling cashflow potential with growth
  • "Good fundraisers" vs. "bad fundraisers" and correlation with returns
  • Altos's unique fund structure and how they're architected to stay with companies longer than a typical venture capital firm
  • Ho's Twitter presence and how (and why) he went from de minimus followers to one of the top FinTwit accounts in a few months

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