May 26, 2020

Seed Fund Portfolio Construction for Dummies

By Hadley Harris, Founding General Partner at Eniac Ventures


TLDR

  • Make sure your portfolio construction aligns with power law shaped distribution returns
  • Your initial strategy is just a starting point. It must be measured and adjusted over the life of the fund.
  • Getting recycling right at seed is challenging. Use a holistic model that pulls in everything to optimize your chances.      🔥We’ve included a downloadable version of ours below🔥

I called this seed stage portfolio construction for dummies because when I look back at our strategy over the years I’m amazed at how many dumb mistakes we made. I’m not saying we’ve totally figured it out but we have learned a ton since we started investing in seed rounds back in 2010. Portfolio construction is one of those areas of venture that is difficult to fully understand until you’ve been through an entire fund cycle so hopefully this helps some people avoid making some of the same mistakes we did.