David Hornik is the Founding Partner of Lobby Capital, an early-stage venture firm built on concentrated, conviction-driven investing. Before founding Lobby, he spent 20 years as a General Partner at August Capital, where he was the earliest investor in Splunk and backed companies like WePay, Bill.com, and Fastly.
⭐ Sponsored by Podcast10x - Podcasting agency for VCs - https://podcast10x.com
In this episode we cover:
→ Why three out of four VC firms couldn't raise a fund last year — and why Lobby Capital did
→ 2000 vs. today: the one structural difference that makes this AI cycle harder to navigate
→ Dancing among giants — what it takes for startups to survive next to Google, Meta, and Microsoft
→ The two deals that got away: LinkedIn, Uber, and the lessons that came out of missing them
→ Why Lobby Capital passed on Airbnb's Series A — and has never used a formal voting system since
→ Splunk and big data — betting on a problem nobody else was talking about in 2004
→ The exit landscape: mega IPOs, a record M&A market, and why liquidity may not reach everyone
Links:
Lobby Capital: https://lobby.vc
Connect with David on X: davidhornik
Connect with Prashant: https://linkedin.com/in/choubeysahab
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Timestamps:(00:00) - Preview
(00:48) - Guest Introduction: David Hornik, Founding Partner at Lobby Capital
(02:32) - Fundraising for Lobby Fund Two in a Tough LP Market
(03:57) - Key Learnings from Fundraising: Fund One vs. Fund Two
(05:45) - Comparing the Current Market to the 2000 Dot-Com Bubble
(09:15) - The Current Sentiment-Driven Correction in AI Markets
(10:27) - On Irrational Valuations and the "SaaS-pocalypse"
(13:05) - Strategies for Startups: Finding a Proprietary Position
(15:17) - Why Lobby Capital Avoids Late-Stage Special Opportunity Funds
(16:45) - Learning from Passing on LinkedIn and Uber
(21:23) - The Importance of Being Valuation Sensitive
(24:15) - Backing Unconventional Founders and the Airbnb Miss
(27:41) - The Splunk Investment: Solving a Real, Unseen Problem
(30:16) - Lobby Capital's Conviction-Driven Model Without Formal Voting
(32:45) - Building Psychological Safety with Founders Remotely
(35:30) - The Current Exit Landscape: A Tale of Two Cities
(39:03) - The Playbook for Supporting an Overwhelmed Founder
(42:02) - Contrarian Take: The Real Opportunity is in Empowering Humans
(43:45) - Rapid Fire Round Begins
(43:58) - Investment Focus: Great People Solving Problems with Software
(44:28) - Typical Investment Stage: First Professional Money In
(44:45) - Why Lobby Capital Always Leads Rounds
(45:42) - Typical Initial Check Size
(46:08) - How Founders Can Get in Touch
(46:32) - Where to Follow David and a Tribute to Om Malik
