When Keith Rabois announced he was leaving Founders Fund to return to Khosla Ventures in January, it came as a shock to many in the venture capital ecosystem, and not just because Rabois is a big name in the industry.
It was surprising because, unlike many other fields, venture capitalists traditionally don’t move around much, especially those who reach the partner or general partner level like Rabois did.
Venture capital funds have 10-year life cycles, and partners have good reason to stay that course. In some cases, they may be a “point man” in a company’s fund, meaning that if they leave, the fund’s LPs have the right to withdraw their capital if they wish. Many partners and GPs also have some of their own money invested in their companies’ funds, giving them more reasons to stay.
So while moves by big-name investors into venture capital aren’t common, they seem to have become that way in recent months. So far this year, there have been notable cases of investors returning to old companies, striking out on their own, or pausing investing altogether.
Fair todayVic Singh, one of the co-founders of Eniac Ventures, announced that he was leaving the company he helped launch in 2009 to launch his own.
Singh joins a growing list of venture capitalists who have recently exited companies.
April
- April 30, Ethan Kurzweil Announced He was leaving his position as partner at Bessemer Venture Partners after 16 years. Kurzweil to launch investment firm focused on early stages, according to reporting from Axios. Kurzweil will launch the company with Christina Shenwho left Andreessen Horowitz after four years on March 29, and Mark Goldberg, who left Index Ventures after eight years last fall.
- April 1, Christina Farr Announced that he would be leaving OMERS Ventures, where he has served as a lead investor and leader of the firm’s health technology practice since December 2020. Farr announced on X that he would be working on its health technology newsletter, writing a book focused about the power that storytelling can have in companies and consulting health technology founders.
March
- After six years as a partner at Accel, Ethan Choi announced that he was leaving the company to head to Khosla Ventures in March. Choi will focus on growth-stage investments in his new company and has backed companies such as Klaviyo, Pismo and 1Password.
- While many of the recent venture capital moves have been made by people looking to start something new or take advantage of a different opportunity, not all have been. On March 13, the capital stock of Chamath Palihapitiya Announced who fired his partners Jay Zaveri and Ravi Tanuku. Bloomberg reported that this was due to an issue related to raising money for artificial intelligence startup Groq.
- Rabois wasn’t the only person looking to return to an old haven in this recent surge in investor shakeup. March 5, Miles Grimshaw announced that he would return to Thrive Capital as a general partner after serving in the same role at Benchmark Capital for three years. Grimshaw originally started at Thrive Capital in 2013 and has backed companies such as Airtable, Lattice and Monzo, among others.
- While transitioning from operator to VC is a common career progression in the startup ecosystem, it’s not for everyone. On March 4, Sam Rubio announced that he had come to that conclusion and would be leaving Founders Fund, where he had been a partner for about 18 months. Blond said he would return to trading and has held positions at companies including Brex, Zenefits and EchoSign.
January
- After 12 years at Andreessen Horowitz, Connie Chan Announced He would leave the firm on January 23. Chan had served as one of the firm’s general partners for the past five years and has backed companies such as Cider, KoBold and Whatnot.
