Episode summary
A New Playbook for Deep Tech Fund Investing
Swimming With Allocators
· · Hosts: Alexa Binns, Earnest Sweat · Guests: Wes Panek, Chuck Daly
Summary
Wes Panek traces his path from consulting and international development into venture and then into LP work, arguing that the common thread has been trying to get closer to the people building things. He says his family background gave him both a market-oriented instinct and a belief that markets do not always work for everyone, which pushed him toward investing as a way to help capital reach more people and better ideas.
He explains that Screen Door taught him there is no single playbook for winning in venture, especially when evaluating emerging managers. At Astera Institute, he says that lesson now applies to a broader mandate: a multi-billion-dollar foundation backing deep tech and frontier science through grants, research, startup investing, and now fund investing. He describes the new program as an experiment built around flexibility, speed, and a willingness to back technical managers that traditional LPs may overlook.
Wes says the deepest opportunity is in specialized deep tech funds, especially AI infrastructure, energy, and neurotech, where talent is still coming out of places like Google DeepMind, SpaceX, and Palantir. He argues LPs do not need to be technical, but they do need to ask basic questions, take notes, and learn quickly. His ideal manager is rare: technically credible, charismatic, and able to translate complex science clearly.
Key takeaways
- Wes says Astera is using its foundation structure to back deep tech funds with the speed of venture and the flexibility of philanthropy.
- He believes there is no single venture playbook, and that emerging managers often need bespoke LP support rather than a one-size-fits-all process.
- Wes says the best-fit deep tech funds are usually smaller, typically fund one through three and generally $100 million or lower.
- He prefers specialized managers in AI infrastructure, energy, and neurotech, especially when they can explain technical work clearly.
- Wes says nontechnical LPs can still underwrite deep tech by asking shameless questions, taking careful notes, and using AI to learn faster.
Notable quotes
“I don't think you need to be technical, but I certainly think it helps”
How the episode opens
Welcome to Swinging with Alligators, — The VC podcast from the LP perspective — With your hosts Alexa Bins — And Ernest. You ready? Let's dive in. — Wes, it's so great to have you on. Thanks for being on. — You're welcome. It's nice to be here. Um, I always like to start with just hearing about people's journey. And I've known you for a little while, but if you could share with the audience kind of how you even got from the world of consulting and international development to becoming an allocator.
Absolutely. I feel like it's common in venture whether on the allocator side, the investor side, that everyone has a quirky um and maybe non-re repeatable path in. I think mine I have reflected on my family dynamics growing up a lot as a huge driver of my path in to venture and particularly the LPC.
Uh my father is from rural Utah. He grew up in sort of a conservative family that instilled in him like on a farm values of thrift, hard work, kind of a marketoriented mindset, think like Mitt Romney vibes.
Um my mom's family uh is very different. They are a family of immigrants from New Zealand. They're Maui.
Um, a strong connection to the land, an indigenous tradition. They instilled in me kind of more of a progressive, if you will, uh, orientation, view of the world, um, a sense and view that markets don't always work for everyone. So I always when I started my career had this deep interest in trying to make markets work for everyone and started my career in consulting as just like the first place where I could see a bunch of businesses, see a bunch of things in action, figure out where to go and how to find the places where I could maybe be part of trying to make them work more for everyone.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- deep tech fund investing
- foundation-led venture
- fund-of-funds strategy
- vc regulation and disclosures
- technical manager underwriting
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Astera Institute
- Screen Door
- Sidley Austin LLP
Watch the episode
Watch “A New Playbook for Deep Tech Fund Investing” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
More from Swimming With Allocators
Swimming With Allocators, this episode and its artwork belong to Earnest Sweat, Alexa Binns. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
