Track record is based on IRR mostly. See my other comment on the Lps below regarding the incentive structure and what they care about. This particular bet is almost a guaranteed markup, as Ilya will surely/likely raise another round. It’s also not a terrible bet to invest in a proven expert/founder. By the time these companies exit (if they ever) 15 years from now, the mega fund VC partner will probably be retired from all the cumulative fees and just playing golf and taking occasional board meetings. Cash on cash returns are very different to playing the IRR game. Of course they want to find real winners as well, but reality is there aren’t that many and they have so much money to allocate they will have to bet on marginal things that can at least show some paper gains.
It’s not that they don’t care, of course they want to find winners. It’s just that A) there is so much capital to allocate that they have to allocate to marginal ideas B) their priorities are to raise their next fund which means focusing on vanity metrics like IRR and paper markups C) The incentive structure in VC pushes them to invested based on motivated reasoning. Remember VC returns are cyclical, and many vintages underperform the public markets and particularly large funds do worse simply because they have too much capital to allocate and too few great ideas.
These LPs at mega funds are typically partners/associates at pension funds or endowments that can write the 8-9figure checks. They are not super sophisticated and they typically do not stay at their jobs long enough to see the cash on cash returns 15 years later. Nor are they incentivized to care either. These guys are salaried employees with MBAs and get annual bonuses based on IRR (paper gains). Hence the priority is generating IRR , which in this case is very likely as Ilya will raise a few more rounds. Of course, Lps are getting smarter and are increasingly making more demands. But there is just so much capital to allocate for these mega funds, inevitable that some ideas are half baked.
VCs at the big/mega funds make most of their money from fees, they don't actually care as much about the potential portfolio investment exits 10-15 years from now. What they care MOST about is the ability to raise another fund in 2-3 years, so they can milk more fees from LPs. i.e. 2% fee PER YEAR on a 5bn fund is a lot of guaranteed risk-free money.
To be able to achieve that is entirely dependent on two things:
1) deploying capital in the current fund on 'sexy' ideas so they can tell LPs they are doing their job
2) paper markups, which they will get, since Ilya will most definitely be able to raise another round or two at a higher valuation. even if it eventually goes bust or gets sold at cost.
With 1) and 2), they can go back to their existing fund LPs and raise more money for their next fund and milk more fees. Getting exits and carry is just the cherry on top for these megafund VCs.
I believe these types of trusts (without knowledge of the exact trust setup) are to limit the inheritance tax when he dies, by having the trust own the shares at an early stage (lower valuation, lower inheritance tax). It can appreciate within the trust without accumulating additional inheritance tax on the appreciation. The downside is the trust owns the shares and he can't liquidate it for his own use, which he doesn't need to cos he's already rich enough.
There is a lot of vested interest in this company - it will for sure never go down. Plenty of investors around the world who will buy in. Valuation is a different topic - but this company is here for the long haul.
Leading on-demand company (think UberEats, Postmates) in the Middle East looking to hire Senior Rails developer to tackle scale issues, architecture changes, and optimization challenges with our logistics platforms. Must have experience working with large apps/databases and high traffic settings. Experience with machine learning and hadoop a plus.
Leading on-demand company (think UberEats, Postmates) in the Middle East looking to hire Senior Rails developer to tackle scale issues, architecture changes, and optimization challenges with our logistics platforms. Must have experience working with large apps/databases and high traffic settings. Profitable company with hundreds of couriers and multiple software products.
For any non-static website - Heroku FOR SURE. It's not even a question - I have two companies that both run on Heroku - both startups are profitable and both will remain on Heroku for the next couple of years. (https://www.switchup.org and https://www.trycarriage.com) - I know massive scale billion dollar companies that are on Heroku (e.g. Deliveroo, Macy's)
The cost/benefit analysis is ALWAYS positive in favor of Heroku until you hit super massive scale (minimum 2-3 years out for most startups, if ever). It's super easy to use. Their feature set is increasing monthly and they can handle a lot of different types of setups.
I made https://www.switchup.org - all the revenue is from advertising. I spend around 10 hours a week on it and have another full-time job/startup. The website is run by two freelancers and a full-time hire.