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H2: Introduction to Miles Grimshaw’s Addition to Benchmark
At the end of 2020, Miles Grimshaw joined Benchmark, a venture firm that has staunchly maintained its traditional approach to early-stage investing, despite the changing dynamics in the venture world. With only five general partners and funds sized below $500 million, Benchmark chose to compete against rivals with much larger resources. However, their past investments in companies like Uber, Snap, WeWork, and Sorare seem to justify their approach.
H2: Miles Grimshaw’s Journey to Thrive Capital
Miles Grimshaw, a Yale graduate and the former general partner of Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital, talked about his journey to Thrive. A serendipitous encounter with a friend at Yale who introduced him to Josh led Miles to join Thrive officially in 2013. He was the fourth or fifth person in the team of eight. After his departure, Thrive grew in assets under management and expanded its support for founders.
H2: Differences in Operational Standpoint between Thrive and Benchmark
From an operational standpoint, Benchmark kept it simple and consistent by having only five partners and making consistent investments in early-stage companies. The partnership went beyond capital, emphasizing founders’ success by providing active support. Thrive grew their assets under management and built out various functions and support for founders.
H2: Miles Grimshaw’s Approach to Generative AI and LangChain
Thrive Capital invested in OpenAI, a leading company in generative AI, while Miles Grimshaw led a seed round of $10 million in LangChain, a company that helps developers build applications on top of large language models. LangChain’s business model involves serving the space between application experience and models in the development process.
H2: LangChain’s Word of Mouth Success
LangChain found success through word of mouth in the developer community, with no marketing and a handful of engineers. Its open-source community and Discord now have over 20,000 members, and the team participated in events with application engineers and developers to leverage their energy.
H2: Benchmark’s Investment Decision Making
Benchmark’s approach to investing focuses on partnering with founders and serving on their boards long-term rather than imposing a funding threshold. While they have partnered with Cerebrus, a GPU chip company, they haven’t invested in any foundational model companies like OpenAI.
H2: Obsolete Spending on GPT-2 and GPT-3
The diffusion of knowledge on generative AI is rapidly increasing, with more accessible costs for computing and lower barriers to entry for new players. For instance, OpenAI’s models have quickly become obsolete, which highlights the importance of strategic investment in this space.
H2: Conclusion
While companies like OpenAI remain valuable players in the generative AI space, Benchmark’s strategic approach to early-stage investing has proven to be successful with its track record of investments. Miles Grimshaw’s addition to the team broadens Benchmark’s perspective on the industry while retaining its standard of excellence.
H2: FAQ
H3: What is Benchmark’s investment philosophy?
Benchmark’s approach focuses on early-stage investing, with only five general partners. They strive to partner with founders and serve on their boards long-term, beyond just providing capital.
H3: What companies has Benchmark invested in?
Benchmark has invested in companies such as Uber, Snap, WeWork, and Sorare, among others.
H3: What is Miles Grimshaw’s background?
Miles Grimshaw is a Yale graduate and former general partner of Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital.
H3: What is LangChain?
LangChain is a company that helps developers build applications on top of large language models.
H3: Has Benchmark invested in generative AI companies?
Benchmark has partnered with Cerebrus, a GPU chip company, but not in any foundational model companies like OpenAI.
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