6. Median
Portfolio
Other
1%
VC / PE
27%
Real Estate
2%
Hedge Funds
18%
Global
26%
Fixed Income
12%
Equities
11%
Cash
3%
Source: Annual Financial Statements for Libra Foundation, Skoll Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Omidyar Network, Ford
Foundation and Schmidt Foundations
VC is a small part of
the overall portfolio
8. Top Quartile Venture Funds
outperform the industry as a whole
New fund managers must bump-off
the old fund managers (through a
unique investment thesis) to get
access to capital
13. Investment Thesis: The fund’s
positioning to LPs determines which
deals they focus on
Relationships: Prior relationships
with founders and advisors can
create affinity
Special Interests: Geography,
Ethnicity, and other interests play a
role
14. Active Role: Lead investors help with
strategy, perform due diligence, and
serve on the board and help invite
other investors into the round
Investment Strategy: Lead investors
have an intuition about how to make
the company grow.
Commitment: Lead investors make a
significant investment in time and
capital
16. Piggybacking: Co-investors do not
take board seats and do not
influence the company
FOMO: Co-investing can be window
dressing to be able to claim they
were in on the deal
Trust: Many co-investors don’t do
due diligence but rely on the work
of the lead
18. No inbound Interest: Some investors
may not take inbound deals due to
adverse selection
Thesis Fit: Investors will not invest
if the deal does not fall into their
pre-existing investment thesis
Size: Investors position along the
sector, stage continuum. The size
has to be right
19. Valuation: Valuation is based on the
the clearing price for the investor
who is the least willing to pay
Oversubscription: Oversubscription is
necessary to maintain a valuation
Validation: Investors are herd
animals