Amplify Partners has quickly become one of the true breakouts from the early emerging manager movement. Led by Sunil Dhaliwal, who started Amplify nearly a decade ago after a 14 year tenure at Battery Ventures, the firm has over $750MM in AUM and has invested in companies such as Datadog and Fastly.
This was a fun wide ranging discussion about the current state of VC and where we think the industry is headed now that there are so many new emerging managers and potential LPS.
Prior to Amplify, Sunil invested in early-stage IT infrastructure companies at Battery and was named to the Forbes Midas List for 2011, which ranks the top 100 venture capitalists around the world. He was also named to the AlwaysOn Top 100 list of VCs and Business Insider’s 15 Most Powerful Venture Capitalists on the East Coast.
In this episode we discuss:
1:37 What he learned at Battery and why start a new firm
06:54 Decisions around Amplify’s fund one raise
10:59 How fund stages and sizes changes competition for deals
16:29 Moving between weight classes and the challenges around that
19:08 Competing at seed stage against large firms
21:26 How both Samir and Sunil underestimated the size of the venture market
22:19 Market forces disrupting early stage venture in 2021
24:24 Why certain things may never go back to the way they were
30:01 How fear will change the VC market
35:45 The luck of timing; downturns are difficult yet provide opportunities
37:19 How LPs look at emerging managers and how to differentiate
40:22 Institutions and retail players bringing new money into early stage funding
Mentioned In This Episode:
We’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Sunil! Follow @SamirKaji and give your insight and questions using the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop a direct message on Twitter.
Sunil Dhaliwal from Amplify Partners on finding overlooked investment opportunities, deal competition, and the future of venture capital