Episode summary
Where’s the Alpha In Venture Capital in 2026?
How I Invest With David Weisburd
· · 32 min · Hosts: David Weisburd · Guests: Ryan Moore
Summary
Ryan Moore explains why he shifted from primary venture investing to secondaries after more than two decades: seed liquidity can now take 15 to 20 years, and he sees secondary buying as a faster way to create returns while serving founders and LPs. His model is not centered on deep discounts. Instead, he tries to buy near an inflection point, often paying at par or even above par when he has strong information, access, and conviction about the business.
He argues that the real competition in secondaries is not other secondary firms but insiders on the cap table, because they have the best governance, knowledge, and relationship leverage. That is also why he values continuity on the cap table and likes situations where an insider is doubling down, which he treats as a major signal. He says his best opportunities come from relationships built over decades, especially first-investor ties and GP relationships that provide access to deals and information.
Moore also makes the case for small, focused funds with co-invest capacity. He says Revenant VC was built around a $100 million fund size, a strategic LP base, and family offices that can move quickly on co-invests. He is skeptical of groupthink, overly large platforms, and the idea that venture success is purely a power-law game; instead, he emphasizes great teams, market tailwinds, and organizational metabolism.
Key takeaways
- Ryan Moore says he moved into secondaries because seed liquidity can take 15 to 20 years and secondaries offer a faster payback loop.
- He views insiders, not other secondary buyers, as the main competition because they have the strongest governance, knowledge, and relationship position.
- Moore says the best secondary deals are often bought at par or above par when he has strong information and can underwrite an inflection point.
- He built Revenant VC around a $100 million fund and co-invests because small funds and fast LPs fit his strategy better than mega-platforms.
- Moore says groupthink is his biggest pet peeve in venture and believes great teams plus market tailwinds matter more than power-law chasing.
Notable quotes
“I mean, as I got older, I started to recognize more and more the time to liquidity for seed investing was just stretched to 15, in some case even 20 years”
“I try to do is quote unquote inflection point invest in advance of a P&L inflection point, a value inflection point”
“I view the real competitor, the incumbent cap table member, like I think that's insiders”
“My career has been made on underwriting really good people and underwriting some semblance of information”
How the episode opens
Brian, you've been a VC for over 25 years, prolific career, including being on the Midas list, the list of the top 100 VCs. A couple years ago, you made a structural pivot to go from primary investing to secondary investing. Why did you do that?
I mean, as I got older, I started to recognize more and more the time to liquidity for seed investing was just stretched to 15, in some case even 20 years. And I felt it was a much more interesting place to play and a much more rapid payback. And I was starting to see some of the LPs start to question the asset class in in the payback period.
And I felt secondary was a more interesting way to tighten that loop
In a secondary and asset class. Is it a way to access opportunities? I felt the secondary market was ripe and I felt there was an opportunity to frankly create a new aspirational brand because there's some good secondary pure secondary firms out there.
But I felt I could bring a venture capital kind of mentality, service level approach to entrepreneurs and cap tables and and access really good assets via the secondary market and create frankly a new brand in in in in the asset class.
Give me a sense of what stage you're investing in when it comes to secondary. — What I try to do is quote unquote inflection point invest in advance of a P&L inflection point, a value inflection point where I'm trying to buy shares a couple of months, couple of quarters before that inflection point. So the key for me is not just access but real detailed information and frankly leverage relationships so I can get that access and that information.
I've had this thesis and maybe it's more of a thought experiment that some of the best opportunities via secondary is not buying some asset for 30 40%.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- venture capital secondaries
- liquidity timelines
- information asymmetry
- founder-insider alignment
- small focused funds
Companies and tickers mentioned
- DKNG
- AMZN
- Revenant VC
- Accomplice VC
- DraftKings
- AngelList
- PillPack
- Skillz
Watch the episode
Watch “Where’s the Alpha In Venture Capital in 2026?” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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How I Invest With David Weisburd, this episode and its artwork belong to David Weisburd. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
