a very bad podcast about broken unicorns & busted carry

in this ep of [trading places],

dave mcclure & aman verjee sit down with upfront ventures’ mark suster to talk:

* why he sold $600m+ in secondaries before the crash

* why vcs are emotionally bad at selling (spoiler: regret math)

* how funds fake “long-term conviction” while quietly cashing out

* the trillion-dollar tiktok problem & klarna’s rollercoaster ipo

* and why dpi is greater than tvpi (but most g(p)s don’t get it)

was that canva secondary a win or a loss? are vcs cowards for not taking chips off the table? is anthropic worth $170b or just another bubble?

tune in for regret, rage, and bad lp math.

subscribe for more pod pain.

timestamps:00:00 — cold open: the 137th best vc podcast00:52 — tech + news bytedance @ $330b — still cheap or still risky?03:38 — klarna ipo hangover: softbank’s fantasy, sequoia’s deal07:09 — is vertical saas dead? bessemer says nope10:16 — anthropic at $170b — bubble or rocket fuel?14:29 — the ipo bar is now $831m revenue15:09 — guest intro: mark suster of upfront ventures15:53 — founder → salesforce → vc: the suster origin story20:30 — how la became the new space-tech hub 🚀24:38 — “lines not dots” still haunting seed decks28:24 — why founder liquidity isn’t a sin (“feed the family money”)31:23 — selling discipline: house money vs regret math35:17 — lp reality check: they want dpi, not vibes43:09 — top quartile vc = 2.5x net (sorry, not 10x)45:40 — selling in 2021, buying in 2023 — suster’s playbook47:48 — who actually sells in secondaries (hint: not just losers)54:27 — valuation corner: canva vs figma — who’s cheap?01:07:28 — opp spotlight: humanrace capital

find us at:

www.linktr.ee/tradingplacespod

[mark suster = https://www.linkedin.com/in/marksuster/ | https://x.com/msuster ]

[aman verjee = https://www.linkedin.com/in/aman-verjee | https://x.com/amanverjee ]

[dave mcclure = https://www.linkedin.com/in/davemcclure | https://x.com/davemcclure ]