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20VC: Bedrock's Geoff Lewis on Whether VCs Actually Provide Value or Not, Why Bedrock Does Not Have An Ownership Focus and The Difference Between Principles and Rules When Building a Firm or Company

20VC

Feb 13, 2022

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Geoff Lewis is the Founder and Managing Partner @ Bedrock, now with over $1BN in AUM, Bedrock invests in breakout technology companies that are incongruent with popular narratives. In the past, Geoff has backed some generational defining companies such as Wish, Lyft, Nubank, RigUp, Vercel, Anduril and many more. Prior to founding Bedrock, Geoff was a Partner @ Founders Fund.

In Today’s Episode with Geoff Lewis You Will Learn:

1.) How Geoff made his way into the world of venture with his joining Founders Fund? How his time with Founders Fund led to his co-founding Bedrock with Eric?

2.) Geoff Lewis: The Investor:

How does Geoff reflect on his own relationship to price? How does he determine when to pay up vs walk away?
How does Geoff approach the re-investment decision-making process? Where do most go wrong when it comes to allocating reserves?
What have been some of Geoff’s biggest misses? How did they impact his investing mindset?
Why does Geoff not believe that ownership is as crucial as other VCs suggest?

3.) Bedrock: The Firm

What have been some of the biggest challenges in building Bedrock?
Where does Geoff believe many firms make core mistakes in firm building?
What are the differences between principles and rules? Why does Geoff believe all firms need to have principles?
How does Geoff approach internal talent building? What are the signals of people that will succeed in venture? How do they approach learning?

4.) The Market:

How does Geoff analyse the current state of the venture market?
Does Geoff agree with the notion of “play the game on the field”?
Why does Geoff think markups are BS and just VCs looking for external validation?
How has Geoff learned to isolate from the VC community and retain that purity of mindset working with great entrepreneurs?