Fred Wilson is a prominent venture capitalist who co-founded Union Square Ventures with notable investments, including Twitter, Etsy, and Zynga. Wilson's approach to investing is "thesis-driven," focusing on companies challenging the status quo and broadening access to knowledge, capital, and well-being.
He is also known as a writer and thought leader, using his blog, AVC, to share his thoughts on technology, investing, and market trends. His writings have been instrumental to me personally, as well as to the underlying thesis on why we started Gridline. I want to share a few posts from Fred that closely align with what we’ve built and what we solve for our members:
- Efficiency: “I remain confounded by the fact that we complete the exact same form time and time again, answering the exact same questions. One would expect that there would be registries/registrars that would onboard an entity (a person, an investment fund, etc.), and then when that entity planned to subscribe to an investment, it would just authenticate with the registry and that would be that.”
- Multi-Manager Strategy: “Half of all venture funds outperform the stock market which is the benchmark most institutions measure VC funds against... An interesting data point from this study is the VC “fund of funds” mostly outperform the stock market so a portfolio of VC funds will generally give you enough diversification that you can meet your performance objectives.”
- Portfolio Construction: “I like to have a mix of assets, ideally uncorrelated, in our portfolio. An asset class that I really like as a hedge against early-stage tech sector risk is real estate. The Gotham Gal and I own a lot of income producing real estate and it feels very uncorrelated to early stage tech.”
- Accessible Information: “I believe frequency, regularity, and transparency are the key factors to focus on with investors.”
- A Superior Experience: “Butter means end-user experiences that are frictionless and joyful... We look for buttery products and services to invest in because customers look for buttery products and services to use."
We share a common belief that technology can fundamentally transform industries, create better products, and benefit more people. That was our goal with launching Gridline, and we believe we have and will continue to change how people discover, deploy and manage a better portfolio of alternative investments. But we’re not done and would love to hear your feedback on what we can do to improve your experience.
-Logan Henderson, Founder and CEO
Worth a Read
The Power of Persistence in VC
If you're looking to invest in VC, it's important to consider persistence. The best funds have a strong track record of delivering superior returns and are more likely to do so in the future.
The Tax Advantage of Investment Funds
Investment funds offer meaningful tax advantages, alongside attractive risk-adjusted returns. Investors are able to benefit from long-term capital gains tax rates far lower than ordinary income tax rates.
Member Webinar
Join the Gridline Investment Team on Thursday, April 27th, at 11 am ET as they discuss how investing in Gridline Thematic Portfolios can help you optimize your asset allocations in the most efficient manner possible. During the session you'll hear about:
- The value Gridline Portfolio funds bring to you
- Details on the underlying fund pipeline for our current vintages
- How recent market dynamics create a compelling environment for these funds to potentially generate superior returns
This webinar is open to Gridline Members. If you would like to join us, please complete the process to sign up for access and we will send you your personal link to join the webinar.