The Twenty Minute VC

Rob Go: The Ultimate Guide to Raising a Venture Fund | E1029

Rob Go is a co-founder and Partner at NextView, one of the leading seed firms of the last decade with a portfolio including Attentive, Devoted Health, Whoop, and Grove Collaborative. Prior to co-founding NextView, Rob was an investor at Spark Capital and held product and product marketing roles at Ebay. He began his career as a consultant at The Parthenon Group. -------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Rob Go We Discuss: 1. Entry into the World of Venture: How a cold call from a VC firm led to Rob entering the world of venture? Why does Rob believe venture is a young person’s game? What does Rob know now that he wishes he had known when started in venture? 2. Preparing Docs for a Fundraise: What docs should fund managers have ready before they start the raise? How should they structure their data room? Where do the majority of LPs spend their time, document-wise? What are the single biggest mistakes emerging managers make preparing docs for a raise? 3. Meeting Your First LPs: What is the best way for emerging managers to meet LPs for the first time? Should they send the deck before or after the meeting? What questions should emerging managers ask to qualify LPs in or out of a meeting? What are some clear early signs that a first meeting went well? 4. Closing LPs: The Tips and Tricks: How important is it for a fund to have an anchor? How much of a fund should the anchor be? Are there different qualities of anchor LPs? Should managers ever sell part of their GP or give an LP part of the carry? What can managers do to enforce a sense of urgency to get LPs over the line? What are signs that an LP will not invest in the fund without rejecting you yet? Should emerging managers impose a minimum check size on new LPs? -------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Rob Go on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobGo Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vc_reels Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ------------------------------------ #RobGo #NextViewVentures #HarryStebbings #20vc #venturecapital

Harry StebbingshostRob Goguest

Jun 22, 20231h 7mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Rob Go Reveals Candid Playbook For Raising And Scaling Venture Funds

Rob Go, co-founder of NextView Ventures, breaks down the full journey of raising a venture fund—from Fund I to Fund V—including strategy on fund size, portfolio construction, reserves, and opportunity vehicles.
He explains how they evolved from a $21M seed fund to a multi-fund platform, the importance of equal partnerships, and why he believes venture is fundamentally a young person’s game.
The conversation dives deeply into LP fundraising: anchors, concentration, concessions, timing, data rooms, process management, and how to build long-term LP relationships across cycles.
Rob also shares lessons from big hits and misses, his changing views on AI and market sizing, and his vision for NextView as a Benchmark-meets-YPO-style seed platform.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Design fund size from portfolio construction backwards, not from vanity or market norms.

NextView targets ~30 core investments, reserves ~50% for follow-on, and backs into fund size based on desired check sizes and ownership, which led them from a $21M first fund to a $135M seed fund plus a $65M opportunity fund.

Prioritize buying ownership upfront and treat reserves as support, not a timing bet.

Rob avoids a ‘spray and pray, then pile in later’ model; NextView seeks to secure most of its target ownership in the first check and uses reserves mainly to bridge strong early companies to Series A, guided by a rigorous quarterly portfolio ranking for follow-ons.

Avoid giving special economics or GP stakes to anchors; strength is saying no.

While anchors can de-risk a first close, Rob argues that giving away carry, GP equity, or governance rights creates long-term structural issues and makes later LPs uneasy; a clean, equal structure is easier to sell and preserves independence.

Treat LP fundraising as a long game of relationships and timing, not just sales.

The main determinant of an LP ‘yes’ is often whether they are expanding that strategy at that moment; Rob has LPs who passed for multiple funds then became major investors years later, just because their internal timing and mandate changed.

Qualify LPs early to avoid wasting cycles on structurally unlikely partners.

Questions around check size norms, geography, current portfolio, program growth/shrinkage, and how many managers like you they want help quickly reveal if there’s a realistic path—especially crucial for small or first-time funds.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Venture is a young person’s game. The energy and hustle you have early on is a real competitive advantage.

— Rob Go

We passed on DraftKings not because of regulation, but because we misunderstood the market size.

— Rob Go

The best portfolio construction in the world is to invest in one company, put all your money into the first round, and be right. Everything else is a derivative that allows for uncertainty and risk.

— Rob Go, recounting advice from Horsley Bridge

If you take an anchor that wants part of your GP or special economics, you’re basically choosing to be an employee again.

— Rob Go

I was skeptical of AI. I am all-in on it now. I want every team we back to be AI-native, even if they’re not ‘an AI company.’

— Rob Go

Founding NextView Ventures and evolution of fund sizes and strategyPortfolio construction, reserves strategy, and opportunity fundsHow to raise from LPs: anchors, timing, and process managementPartnership structure, equal economics, and long-term firm designLP qualification, data rooms, follow-ups, and creating urgencyTypes of LPs, conversion dynamics, and building an antifragile LP baseCurrent seed market dynamics, pricing, AI-native teams, and non-consensus opportunities

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