Nicholas Chirls: Why Big VCs Ruin Startups, VC is a Ponzi Scheme Today & Most VCs are Bankers

Nick Chirls is the Founder of Asylum Ventures, a new venture firm dedicated to the creative act of building companies; treating founders like artists, not assets. Asylum raised $55 million to invest $1-2 million in early-stage founders practising the art of making startups. Prior to Asylum, Nick co-founded Notation Capital, one of NYC’s most successful pre-seed firms.

In Today’s Episode with Nick Chirls We Discuss:

1. Why Venture Capital is Broken Today:

• Why are most VCs sheep and have lost all creativity?

• Why are most investors today incentivised to get dollars out of the door and not to make great investments?

• Why are services functions within VC firms total BS?

• Why do no VCs provide significant enough value to a company that it is needle-moving?

2. How to Make Money in VC in 2024:

• What are the two ways to make money at seed in 2024?

• Why do founders in unloved markets care more than those in hot markets?

• Why will large institutions lose a ton of money investing in the large firms of today?

• Why does Nick believe VCs should always sell when their founders sell shares?

3. Lessons from 3xing a Fund on One Check:

• Why does Nick think about not purchasing preferred shares and only buying common shares?

• Why does Nick believe that investing in competitive markets is stupid?

• What does Nick believe are the conditions you must accept if you are doing a $5M on $25M seed?