The Twenty Minute VC

Logan Bartlett: WTF is Happening at Growth Stage Investing? | 20VC #920

Logan Bartlett is a Managing Director @ Redpoint, a firm with a portfolio including the likes of Stripe, Nubank, Twilio, Netflix, Snowflake and many more incredible names. As for Logan, at Redpoint he has led investments in the likes of Ramp, Monte Carlo, Cribl, Crossbeam and Acuity MD to name a few. Before joining Redpoint, Logan spent over 5 years with the team at Battery where he made investments in Pendo, Amplitude, Dataiku, Braze and Kustomer. -------------------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 0:00 Logan’s background 2:45 Takeaways from working at Battery Capital 4:20 Is is true that now is the best time to be investing? 6:40 Are prices recalibrating? 9:00 Should founders be raising money right now? 11:51 Is now the time to be aggressive in concentrating capital? 15:44 VCs have gotten lazy 18:00 Where is Redpoint being challenged today? 21:15 Branding: Personal vs. Company 23:40 Should VCs be marking down their books today? 27:28 Did you lose price sensitivity after 2021? 29:45 Why do Outcome Scenario Planning? 33:25 Do you have an ownership requirement? 34:48 Logan's Biggest Miss 37:18 Have you ever lost faith in a founder? 42:10 How many boards are you on? 43:13 What is the single best board you’re on? 46:08 Logan’s favourite book 46:38 What is going to happen to crypto? 47:20 Why do B2B marketers suck? 48:48 Why you shouldn’t pay for PR firms 50:51 Hardest element of Logan’s role at Redpoint 51:48 Most impressive crossover fund 52:57 Which crossover fund is most in trouble? 54:18 Most underrated angel investor 55:59 Have you ever had a company go bust? 57:34 Logan’s most recent publicly announced investment? -------------------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Logan Bartlett We Discuss: 1.) Entry into Venture: How Logan made his way into the world of venture joining Battery Ventures? What are 1-2 of Logan’s biggest takeaways from his time with Battery? What does Logan know now that he wishes he had known when he started in venture? 2.) The Venture Landscape Today: Is now really the best time to be investing? How does Logan compare today to prior vintages? How does this differ when comparing consumer to B2B? How does Logan analyze the state of the growth market? Is anyone really doing deals today? If so, what is the discount on price vs last year? How do the public markets impact the later-stage financings which have disappeared in the last 3 months? How do the later stage financings impact the early stage? Does Logan agree that “venture has never been less collaborative as it is today”? 3.) The Role of the Venture Investor: Why does Logan believe that VCs have gotten lazy over the last 2 years? Does Logan believe we will see even more GPs at the top retire in the downturn? How does Logan analyze his role as a board member today? How has his style changed over time? What is the single best board Logan is on? Why that one? Who is the best board member Logan works with? What makes this board member so good? How does Logan assess the importance of personal brand in venture today? Why does Logan believe no company should hire PR firms from the early days? 4.) Investing Style and Lessons: What has been Logan’s single biggest hit as an investor? How did seeing that impact his mindset? What has been Logan’s biggest miss? How did not doing the investment change how he thinks about making new investments today? How does Logan assess his own relationship to price? How has it changed over time? As a growth investor today, how important is ownership? How does this change with stage? -------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe to the Podcast: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/logan-bartlett/ Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Logan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/loganbartlett -------------------------------------------------------- #LoganBartlett #Redpoint #HarryStebbings #20vc #venturecapital #angelinvestor

Harry StebbingshostLogan Bartlettguest

Aug 29, 202259mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Logan Bartlett Dissects Growth-Stage Venture, Valuations, and Boardcraft Realities

Logan Bartlett, a growth-stage partner at Redpoint, reflects on his path into venture capital, lessons from Battery, and how those experiences shaped his investment discipline. He argues that today is a very attractive time to invest at growth stage due to rationalized pricing and strong tech tailwinds, while acknowledging ongoing distortions at seed and Series B–D. The conversation dives into portfolio construction, doubling down on winners, competitive dynamics among multi-stage and crossover funds, and the tension between partner-led vs firm-led brands. Bartlett also unpacks how good boards actually work, the ethics and mechanics of replacing founders, marking down portfolios, and why PR, marketing, and relationship-building must be core competencies for serious companies.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Today’s growth-stage market is attractive, but distorted by stage.

Public market compression and late-stage structure have cooled large growth rounds, while Series B–D are sparse and seed/pre-seed remain inflated due to growth funds moving earlier. Founders should recognize this unevenness when timing rounds and setting expectations.

Use this period to thoughtfully double down on true winners.

If a company is clearly working and absolute valuation is reasonable, adding capital—even at slightly higher prices—can materially improve fund outcomes, as long as blended cost, stage, and concentration are managed against likely public-market exit values.

You cannot rely on “call options” and still be a passive investor.

Multi-stage funds that treat small early checks as out-of-the-money options but don’t fully support companies often damage founder trust; those who behave like full partners from day one are more likely to win the right to build ownership over time.

VCs must actively earn their spot in a hyper-personalized market.

With specialized funds, massive platforms, and solo GPs all competing, each partner must stand for something distinct while the firm brand also compounding in value; founders now choose investors as carefully as investors choose founders.

Boards work best through trust and “soft diplomacy,” not raw power.

Bartlett believes using formal board votes to fire CEOs usually signals a relationship failure; the better pattern is to earn the right to be a confidant, surface data, and guide founders toward decisions—including leadership changes— they can own.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

I think right now is a fantastic time to invest, particularly compared to the last two years.

— Logan Bartlett

If you feel like something is inevitable, get on board and let the details get figured out along the way.

— Logan Bartlett

Our only constrained resource is time. If you’re going to treat a small investment like a big one, you can get really upside down if it doesn’t work.

— Logan Bartlett

I don’t view regularly replacing founders as something I want to be a core part of my job.

— Logan Bartlett

You can’t be a prudent manager and look LPs in the eye today and say all these companies are still worth what they were six months ago.

— Logan Bartlett

Current venture and growth-stage investing environment, pricing, and round dynamicsPortfolio construction, concentration, and doubling down on winnersCompetitive landscape: multi-stage, crossover funds, specialist funds, and personal brandsBoard roles, founder relationships, and CEO replacement ethicsValuation marks, LP communication, and fund reporting disciplineFounder evaluation, outcome modeling, and learning from hits and missesMarketing, PR, and go-to-market realities in B2B vs consumer

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