Logan Bartlett: WTF is Happening at Growth Stage Investing? | 20VC #920
Harry Stebbings (host), Logan Bartlett (guest)
In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Harry Stebbings and Logan Bartlett, Logan Bartlett: WTF is Happening at Growth Stage Investing? | 20VC #920 explores 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.
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.
Key Takeaways
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. ...
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Transparent valuation marks are crucial to long-term LP trust.
Holding late-stage marks at last-round prices in a very different public-market environment is unrealistic; GPs need a clear, consistent framework for adjusting marks and must communicate openly, even when LPs’ short-term incentives differ.
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Founders should in-source storytelling and PR early.
Outsourcing press and narrative too soon yields weak results and no learning loop; internally building relationships with reporters and refining your own messaging is a core competence, akin to product building, that compounds over time.
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Notable 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
Questions Answered in This Episode
How should founders at the tricky Series B/C stages practically navigate today’s thin market and valuation ambiguity?
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. ...
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What concrete signals does Bartlett look for when deciding to aggressively double down versus lightly support a portfolio company?
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How can a new VC or emerging manager balance building a personal brand with contributing to and not eclipsing their firm’s brand?
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In what situations does Bartlett believe a board member is morally obligated to push for a CEO change despite a strong founder relationship?
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Given the mispricing and hype cycles in recent years, how should LPs recalibrate their diligence on venture managers and mark discipline going forward?
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Transcript Preview
(reversing beeps) Three, two, one, zero. You have now arrived at your destination. Logan, this is such a joy to do. I remember years and years ago, and you don't even remember this, I remember everyone saying to me at a drinks party, "There's this young associate. He's amazing. He's amazing. You've gotta meet him, Harry." And they pointed to you. And this was way back in the day when I think you were at Battery. Um, and we met years and years ago. You came on the show then. I'm so pleased that you're back. So thank you so much for joining me again.
Of course. I'm glad to be here. I actually do remember that. We were at the, uh, I think Mattermark was hosting a party at Saster, uh, and this would have been probably 2015 or something. So way back when, but coming full circle. I want you to know that you were the only podcast I did, uh, from 2015 until, whenever we did that, 2015 to 2022, the beginning of 2022. And now I do a podcast all the time, every week. So I want you to know that for a long time, you were my first, you were my only.
I mean, I was your podcasting muse. I'm so thrilled. Um, so-
That's right.
... tell me-
(laughs)
... for those that didn't listen to that show where I was like a BBC newsreader, um, how did you make your way into the world of venture and how did you come to be a partner at Redpoint, obviously, today?
Yeah. Totally. So, so, uh, I kind of found it accidentally, which, um, I, you, you hear people today talk about, uh, when I talk to young kids in college or whatever, they're, they're so purposeful about what they wanna do and they wanna go after venture and get into tech and they're very specific about the firms they wanna work with. I didn't even know what venture was until I was 23, 24, or something, and I, I actually... It sounds silly and this, this couldn't happen today, but I did investment banking out of undergrad, uh, ended up at a small boutique investment bank doing software advisory, and, uh, I worked alongside, um, the, the Vista Equities of the world and the TA Associates, the JMIs, uh, and actually got some exposure to folks like Battery, Xcel, Bessemer, uh, Redpoint. So, uh, I actually raised my hand and said I wanted to go over to one of those (laughs) places. Uh, most of them said, "No," or, or, "Who are you?" But, uh, I actually had a handful of interviews, one of which was Redpoint, one of which was Battery. Uh, Battery gave me an offer. Redpoint did not. Uh, I, (laughs) I went over to Battery. I was there for six years and, uh, the Redpoint folks kind of stay on, stayed on top of me, and, uh, they wanted to correct the error of their ways in not making me an offer when I was associate. And so I went over, uh, to Redpoint, I guess it was December 2019, and joined, uh, at the beginning of 2020, and I've been here ever since.
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