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No agenda, no rush, no leaving San Francisco: Benchmark’s partners on investing in a frenzied market

The players sometimes change. I sat down with four of Benchmark’s partners three years ago, and three of those individuals are no longer with the firm. The capital commitments have changed, too. This summer, Benchmark announced $2 billion across two funds, marking only the second time in its 31-year history that it has veered from raising a far smaller vehicle.

参与者有时会发生变化。三年前，我曾与 Benchmark 的四位合伙人坐下来交谈，其中三位如今已不在该公司。资本承诺也发生了变化。今年夏天，Benchmark 宣布了两支总额 20 亿美元的基金，这是其 31 年历史上第二次偏离以往仅募集小型基金的做法。

But at this week’s TechCrunch Disrupt, the venture firm’s five partners convincingly portrayed a close-knit team that’s not about to put the pedal to the metal, even as many of their rivals do exactly that. The world may be speeding up, but they’re investing at the pace Benchmark always has: just two or three new bets per year per partner.

但在本周的 TechCrunch Disrupt 大会上，这家风投公司的五位合伙人令人信服地展现了一个紧密团结的团队形象，尽管许多竞争对手都在全速前进，但他们并不打算加速。世界可能正在加速，但他们仍保持着 Benchmark 一贯的投资节奏：每位合伙人每年仅进行两到三次新投资。

The world is drowning in information, yet their Monday partner meetings still have no agenda. And while economic indicators point to trouble ahead, they don’t seem too bothered, seeing many of the warning signs as products of X-fueled hysteria. Here’s what Benchmark’s five general partners — gathered together on our stage — had to say at the show.

世界正淹没在信息中，但他们的周一合伙人会议仍然没有议程。尽管经济指标预示着前方有麻烦，但他们似乎并不太在意，认为许多警告信号只是社交媒体炒作的产物。以下是 Benchmark 的五位普通合伙人在我们的舞台上所分享的内容。

Benchmark has evolved in some ways, including a bigger core fund and a new growth fund. How do you think about adapting without losing what makes you Benchmark? Peter Fenton: The craft that hasn’t changed is the core fund: working closely with founders at the beginning. It’s usually a 10-to-15-year commitment, [working] shoulder to shoulder, and that doesn’t scale.

Benchmark 在某些方面已经进化，包括更大的核心基金和新的成长基金。你们如何考虑在不失去 Benchmark 特色的前提下进行调整？Peter Fenton：没有改变的工艺是核心基金：在初期与创始人密切合作。这通常是一项 10 到 15 年的承诺，并肩作战，这是无法规模化的。

There’s also been inflation. We held the core fund at $500 million for 20 years, and it has just inflated to be consistent with the existing economy, which we hadn’t done and that was probably a tactical error on our part. [As for the growth fund] it’s an expansion of our mandate. In some ways, we get permission from the ecosystem to do more than just the core early-stage business.

此外还有通货膨胀的问题。我们将核心基金维持在 5 亿美元长达 20 年，它刚刚膨胀到与现有经济相适应的水平，我们之前没有这样做，这可能是我们战术上的失误。（至于成长基金）这是我们使命的扩展。在某种程度上，我们从生态系统中获得了许可，可以做不仅仅是核心早期业务的事情。

[Not having this previously] was a fork in our eye. A number of opportunities that came to Benchmark would have returned somewhere between 10 and 1,000x to Benchmark, and we were constricted by our early-stage focus. Are you thinking to make handful of bets with that $1.25 billion growth fund?

（之前没有这样做）就像眼中钉一样。许多来到 Benchmark 的机会本可以为 Benchmark 带来 10 到 1000 倍的回报，但我们受限于早期投资的重点。你们打算用那 12.5 亿美元的成长基金进行少量投资吗？

Fenton: We all have different answers, which is the beauty of a partnership. I’d love for us to have, as that great J.P. Morgan paper puts it, the agony and ecstasy of a concentrated portfolio. If the fund is successful, one or two investments will generate 90% of the returns. So I think it’s four to six, maybe seven to eight.

Fenton：我们都有不同的答案，这就是合伙关系的魅力所在。正如那篇伟大的摩根大通论文所言，我希望我们能拥有集中投资组合的痛苦与狂喜。如果基金成功，一两项投资将产生 90% 的回报。所以我认为大概是四到六个，也许七到八个。

Ev, you joined Benchmark late last year. You’ve worked at Founders Fund, Bond, and Kleiner Perkins. How does Benchmark differ? Ev Randall: Every firm is ultimately a collection of the people within the firm and how they work together. Some are very hierarchical, with a 50- or 60-person investment team and investment processes that are federated into product groups.

Ev，你去年年底加入了 Benchmark。你曾在 Founders Fund、Bond 和 Kleiner Perkins 工作过。Benchmark 有什么不同？Ev Randall：每家公司最终都是公司内部人员及其协作方式的集合。有些公司等级森严，拥有 50 或 60 人的投资团队，投资流程被细分到各个产品组中。

And then you have small partnerships. Very early in my career, I was drawn to small partnerships because they allow a higher level of throughput and fidelity in your conversations, where you don’t feel like you’re making decisions through some Byzantine corporate structure. You’re going out on the field together, like a sports team.

而你也有小型合伙制公司。在我职业生涯的早期，我就被小型合伙制所吸引，因为它们允许更高水平的吞吐量和对话保真度，你不会觉得是在通过某种复杂的企业结构做决策。你们像运动队一样一起上场。

And then the other piece is: You have to find your people, You have to find people who you not only like but admire. With Benchmark, with the current crop of GPs, it was obvious that everyone liked each other and got along, but it went deeper than that. It’s a group that admires each other and learns from each other.

另一部分是：你必须找到志同道合的人，你必须找到不仅喜欢而且钦佩的人。在 Benchmark，对于目前的普通合伙人来说，很明显每个人都互相喜欢并相处融洽，但这比这更深一层。这是一个互相钦佩并互相学习的群体。

That mix of attributes is very rare, and when I saw it, I immediately wanted to join, and I think Jack felt the same way also as a newcomer. Jack, you joined in February, but it was just a year ago that you raised a second, $275 million fund for your own firm in what you told the Wall Street Journal took one week. You have a hugely popular podcast. Why join Benchmark?

这种特质的组合非常罕见，当我看到它时，我立刻想加入，我想 Jack 作为新人也有同样的感觉。Jack，你二月份加入，但就在一年前，你为自己的公司募集了第二支 2.75 亿美元的基金，你告诉《华尔街日报》这只花了一周时间。你有一个非常受欢迎的播客。为什么要加入 Benchmark？

Jack Altman: It’s funny. I did the podcast with these guys at the start of this year, and during that podcast, obviously we talked about the commitment to being a small fund, but more than that, what I heard was that they want to be the first people who founders call, they want to be concentrated, and they just care.

Jack Altman：这很有趣。今年年初我和这些人做了播客，在播客中，我们显然谈到了对保持小型基金的承诺，但更重要的是，我听到的是他们想成为创始人第一个打电话的人，他们想保持专注，而且他们真的很关心。

So much in this industry gets tied up in money and status, and what I felt from the Benchmark team then, and ten times more as I’ve gotten to know them so well, is it’s a group that really cares about founders and helping companies. And I did enjoy being an individual investor. . .but in a market this crazy, I don’t know how I’d feel, figuring it out on my own.

这个行业里太多的东西与金钱和地位挂钩，我当时从 Benchmark 团队感受到的，以及在我深入了解他们之后感受到的十倍于此的，是这是一个真正关心创始人并帮助公司的群体。我确实喜欢做个人投资者……但在如此疯狂的市场中，我不知道如果独自摸索会是什么感觉。

Having a group of people who are so smart and focused and driven to learn it with and from has been awesome. There’s no better place to learn. I’m told you meet on Mondays with no agenda. Chethan Puttagunta: Jack tried to make an agenda. [Laughs.] Altman: I’ve got an agenda for next Monday.

拥有一群如此聪明、专注且有动力一起学习的人真是太棒了。没有比这更好的学习地方了。我听说你们周一开会没有议程。Chethan Puttagunta：Jack 试图制定议程。[笑。] Altman：我下周一有个议程。

Eric Vishria: It’s weirdly arbitrary, honestly. It’s an ongoing conversation. In a time of rapid change, you’re trying to figure out what’s becoming possible that wasn’t possible six months ago, and who’s bending light. We talk about what companies we’re meeting, what piqued our interest and why, what we’re seeing in board meetings.

Eric Vishria：老实说，这很随意。这是一场持续的对话。在快速变化的时代，你试图弄清楚六个月前不可能的事情现在变得可能了，以及谁在引领潮流。我们谈论我们正在见面的公司，什么引起了我们的兴趣以及原因，我们在董事会会议上看到了什么。

You can try to systematize it, but one of the beauties of five people is you don’t have to. It’s a decades-long conversation that only works if you’re small and actually enjoy spending time together. After this session, we’re having dinner with one of the very few entrepreneurs who has built a multi-hundred-billion-dollar company, someone we’re not invested in, just to stretch our thinking.

你可以尝试系统化它，但五个人合作的好处之一就是你不需要这样做。这是一场长达数十年的对话，只有在规模小且真正享受在一起的时光时才有效。会议结束后，我们将与一位极少数建立了几千亿美元公司的企业家共进晚餐，我们没有投资他，只是为了拓展我们的思维。

Puttagunta: Part of not having an agenda is you need space to be reactive. If a founder needs help landing an executive or a strategic partnership, the five of us can be at their disposal. You’re an equal partnership. Can one person put the kibosh on a deal? Puttagunta: Nobody knows. We don’t have rules around it. Altman: I actually don’t k

Puttagunta：没有议程的部分原因是你需要空间来做出反应。如果创始人需要帮助来聘请高管或建立战略合作伙伴关系，我们五个人都可以随时听候调遣。你们是平等的合伙关系。一个人可以否决一笔交易吗？Puttagunta：没人知道。我们没有关于此的规则。Altman：我其实不知道……