Episode summary
"I Write-Off Every Sourcing Slide" | Alex Felman
Superclusters The Emerging Lp Podcast
· · Hosts: David Zhou · Guests: Alex Felman, Dave Chappelle
Summary
Alex Felman argues that venture and family-office investing are shaped less by prestige than by incentives, and that LPs should stop treating brand-name institutions as a proxy for skill. He says reputation matters most while it is being built, when managers are still hungry and may create more value, and he is skeptical of “no one gets fired for hiring IBM” behavior in allocators.
A large part of the conversation focuses on how he screens managers. Felman says he writes off most sourcing slides because they usually repeat the same claims about access to universities, accelerators, or YC, which he views as effectively a checkbox rather than a differentiator. He wants to see a fund’s true edge early in the deck: a genuine insight, hyper-specialization, or an “end of one” strategy that only that manager can credibly pursue.
He also makes a blunt case that venture’s economics are often misunderstood. He says a 3x return is the minimum for venture to beat the S&P 500 over time, that only about 5% of funds clear that bar, and that many managers are better viewed as capital entrepreneurs than asset gatherers. The episode closes on a more expansive note: Felman is optimistic about technological abundance, atoms-based innovation, and the need for new economic models in a post-digital world.
Key takeaways
- Felman says reputation is most valuable while it is still being built, because managers are then more likely to be undercompensated and hungry.
- He treats generic sourcing slides as nearly worthless because university and accelerator logos usually signal access that many funds can claim.
- He argues a 3x return is the minimum bar for venture to outperform the S&P 500 over a 10-year horizon.
- Felman says only about 5% of venture funds clear that benchmark, which is why he wants a clearly differentiated thesis.
- He believes many family offices should think like producers, not just consumers, and stay entrepreneurial to preserve wealth across generations.
- He expects deep tech, biotech, robotics, and food tech to drive the next major wave of innovation as digital tools push creation costs toward zero.
Notable quotes
“I write off every single sourcing slide on the pitch deck”
“I tend to find from an LP's perspective when you're building reputation, that's actually when you deliver the most value”
“I honestly think it's almost a little dirty secret with venture is Once you get above a certain size, you're making enough on an annual basis”
How the episode opens
Like no one's going to say this out loud, but you're saying it out loud. — I'm saying it out loud. I I get potentially in trouble for this that that I think I I honestly think it's almost a little dirty secret within venture is that Superclusters is where we demystify the secrets, stories, and tactics behind the money that moves the venture capital world.
Today's guest once told me, "Every great conversation dances on the line of your understanding. You dance between both sides of the line trying to find out where what you know and what they know intersect and end. Good conversation is like play.
This episode is power play. And since we get deep into his background in his life prior to being an LP, I'll keep my preamble intentionally short. Alex Felman is the general partner of the family and family office as well as podcaster, foodie, entrepreneur, including being the founder of Exponential U, where he dedicates his time educating next generation of family offices like himself on the venture asset class.
from the toughest years of his life to how power laws affect venture firms even more than startups to sharing things he might get in trouble for. Wink wink. So, this episode houses it all.
So, without further ado, Alex Felman. Alex, I've been really looking forward to this because we met under a very interesting context over a fund we were both involved in in San Francisco. And since then I was like okay I've during that short interaction and then like the pre like the the calls after I realized I enjoyed so much of our conversations because it is not the I agree with you I agree with you.
It's actually I think for the most part where we dance along the lines of agreement and disagreement and it's a really fun salsa dance in which we play.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- family office investing
- lp reputation and value
- venture capital sourcing
- emerging gps as service
- writing off sourcing slides
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Felman Family Office
- MSF Capital Advisors
- Exponential U
- Y Combinator
Watch the episode
Watch “"I Write-Off Every Sourcing Slide" | Alex Felman” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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Superclusters The Emerging Lp Podcast, this episode and its artwork belong to Superclusters by David Zhou. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
