Are SPACs and DAOs Redefining Venture Capital?

Once the go-to model for Venture Capital firms, the existing LP-GP structure is battered by new entrants. SPACs and DAOs, but also rolling funds, evergreens, and other open-end vehicles flourish. What are the limitations of the current closed-end structures? Are the new vehicles answering the problem? How are Venture Capital firms tackling the challenge?

In this webinar, I analyze the pros and cons of each fund structure, focusing on the following points:

• Why the traditional structure is under pressure from VC markets’ constituents (LPs, Founders, and solo GPs)
• What are SPACs and DAOs, and who promotes them
• How do they compare to traditional VC funds models on governance, financial model, and incentives

The bottom line: SPACs and DAOs have interesting features but depend on external market dynamics that are fluctuating—as the current downturn clearly demonstrates.

I’ve worked as an Investor since 2008, and have been teaching Venture Capital at top institutions for years. The content of this webinar is based on my experience, interviews with Venture Capitalists worldwide, and ongoing research. I also warmly thank the webinar’s participants who shared their knowledge with us.

Main Take-Aways

Here are the main points I tackle in the video (you can skip to each part by clicking on the white dots in the player):

• Venture Capital funds 101
• Pros and cons of VC funds’ governance, financial model, and incentives
• Why are traditional VC funds challenged?
• SPACs: what they are, who’s behind them and why, how they compare with VC funds
• DAOs: what they are, who’s behind them and why, how they compare with VC funds

Sources & Additional Content

As you know if you are familiar with my training style, I like to bring in external confirmation on what I tell you. Here are the sources mentioned in the webinar.

Apply to our VC Career Accelerator for an 8-week deep dive into Venture Capital. You can also watch more webinars on VC in our dedicated section, including the videos mentioned in this webinar

All the sources mentioned on the Evolutions page are included in our weekly Venture Capital newsletter

WeWork to make belated arrival on stock market after Spac merger, on the Financial Times (Oct. 2021)

SPAC That Merged With WeWork A Lot More Like WeWork Than Previously Thought, on Dealbreaker (Dec. 2021)

What is a SPAC? | CNBC Explains, on YouTube

Why companies are joining the SPAC boom, by PwC (Sept. 2020)

What is a SPAC?, by CBInsights (Apr. 2022)

SEC Proposes Significant Changes to Rules Affecting SPACs, by Skadden (Mar. 2022)

The SPAC market starts 2022 with abysmal losses, abandoned deals, on CNBC (Feb. 2022)

The IPOX SPAC Index

SPACs: What You Need To Know, on the Harvard Business Review (Jul.-Aug. 2021)

How The ‘SPAC King’ Forever Changed The IPO, by Bloomberg BusinessWeek on YouTube (Aug. 2021)

What Are DAOs? (And How One DAO Turned $10M into $1B), by Forbes on YouTube (Feb. 2022)

Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), by Ethereum

Let me introduce you to Stacker Ventures – a DAO, venture capital protocol and accelerator, by Crypto Daily UK on Youtube (Mar. 2021)

Hundreds of Y Combinator alumni join crypto collective to back web3 startups, on TechCrunch (Jan. 2022)

I hope you enjoy this webinar. 

Let me know in the Comments section below about other sources I should include, and what you thought about this video.

Aram Founder

Aram is a veteran investment professional with 20 years of experience. He’s realized over 45 transactions across Project Finance, LBO Financings, Growth Equity, Venture Capital, and M&A in half a dozen countries on three continents.

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