Origins - Inside Venture Capital, Hosted by a GP and an LP

Origins host Beezer Clarkson,  LP at Sapphire Partners and co-founder of OpenLP, and Nick Chirls, GP at Asylum Ventures, dig into their recent conversation with Micah Rosenbloom, Managing Partner at Founder Collective. They discuss the EQ and self-awareness required to switch from operator to investor, how to separate signal from noise in venture cycles, and how the speed of iteration is now such that a window of one or two days can change the entire calculus of an investment.Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partnersLearn more about OpenLP: openlp.vcLearn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vcLearn more about Founder Collective: foundercollective.comFor a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter – delivered straight to your inbox: subscribe.openlp.vcCHAPTERS:0:00 Welcome to Origins0:34 How Involved Should Operators Be With Their CEOs?2:16 VCs and Trends Are Seven Years Too Late3:19 Repeat Portfolio Companies: Courageous Or Insane?5:42 How Do VCs Handle the Speed of Iteration?

Micah Rosenbloom is a Managing Partner at Founder Collective, a firm dedicated to seed investing and, crucially, to keeping their fund sizes below $100 million. Micah talks with Beezer Clarkson, Partner at Sapphire Partners, and Nick Chirls, Partner at Asylum Ventures, to discuss Founder Collective’s philosophy of keeping their fund size small to avoid the “billions or bust” mentality, how most investors have a bad track record of spotting trends at seed, and how consumer goods are still worthwhile investments even against the backdrop of AI. They also debate a recent post from Nick to get to the fundamental question of whether investors taking big risks are courageous or lucky.Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partnersLearn more about OpenLP: openlp.vcLearn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vcLearn more about Founder Collective: foundercollective.comFor a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter – delivered straight to your inbox: subscribe.openlp.vcCHAPTERS:0:00 Welcome to Origins2:16 What Can Small Do For You?8:57-A Whole Team of Ex Operators14:52 How Micah’s View of the Market Has Changed18:48-Why the Market’s Tough Right Now21:49 Early Stage VCs Are Usually Seven Years Too Late30:14 Investing: Courage or Luck?42:59-Predictions for 2026

Origins host Beezer Clarkson,  LP at Sapphire Partners and co-founder of OpenLP, and Nick Chirls, GP at Asylum Ventures, dive into their recent conversation with Kyle Samani, Founder and Managing Partner of Multicoin Capital. They discuss their learnings on crypto, including why Nick is more bullish on bitcoin than Kyle, and how LPs conceptualize investing in firms like Multicoin. They also break down why people who came up as Crypto traders and investors are uniquely positioned to excel in early stage venture.Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partnersLearn more about OpenLP: openlp.vcLearn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vcLearn more about Multicoin: multicoin.capitalFor a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter – delivered straight to your inbox: subscribe.openlp.vcCHAPTERS:0:00 Welcome to Origins1:02 Is Bitcoin an Unproductive Asset?1:56 The Problem With Web3.03:49 Assessing Crypto Managers As an LP6:21 The Hard Part Isn’t Buying Bitcoin, It’s Holding It8:21 Trained In Crypto, Excelling In Traditional Markets

Kyle Samani is the Founder and Managing Partner of Multicoin Capital, a thesis-driven investment firm that invests in cryptocurrencies, tokens, and blockchain companies reshaping trillion-dollar markets. He joins Beezer Clarkson, Partner at Sapphire Partners, and Nick Chirls, Partner at Asylum Ventures, to discuss the philosophies that underpin Multicoin’s investment strategies. He also unpacks how blockchain technologies are already reshaping global finance away from legacy systems and towards embedded trading platforms that will sit within traditional messaging and media platforms.Learn more about Sapphire Partners: https://sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partnersLearn more about OpenLP: https://openlp.vcLearn more about Asylum Ventures: https://asylum.vcLearn more about Multicoin: https://multicoin.capitalJerry Neumann’s post on markets v. innovation: https://reactionwheel.net/2025/07/a-look-at-growthFor a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter – delivered straight to your inbox: subscribe.openlp.vcCHAPTERS:0:00 Welcome to Origins2:43 The Origin Story of Multicoin7:07 Financially Long & Intellectually Short Bitcoin8:53 What Is an Internet Capital Market?19:18 What Happens to Banks?21:14 What Did You See In Solana?30:22 The Rise of DATs36:40 Did Web3.0 Live Up To Its Promise?

Origins host Beezer Clarkson,  LP at Sapphire Partners and co-founder of OpenLP, and Nick Chirls, GP at Asylum Ventures, unpack their recent conversation with Sarah Tavel, Partner at Benchmark. Together they discuss their takeaways from Sarah’s recent decision to take a step back at Benchmark to fully focus on AI, getting into the lessons they can learn from that approach and what that means for the future of artificial intelligence. They also discuss the current state of venture in light of this decade’s AI boom, and theorize where this will put the ecosystem in the future.This episode of Origins is supported by Sydecar. Visit https://sydecar.io/origins-podcast to learn more.Learn more about Sapphire Partners: https://sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partnersLearn more about OpenLP: https://openlp.vcLearn more about Asylum Ventures: https://asylum.vcLearn more about Benchmark: https://benchmark.comRead Sarah’s Substack Posts: https://sarahtavel.comFor a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter – delivered straight to your inbox: https://subscribe.openlp.vcSydecar, Inc. (“Sydecar”) has acted as a financial sponsor within this Origins podcast. Sapphire Ventures, LLC (“Sapphire”) is not affiliated with or invested in Sydecar.CHAPTERS:0:00 Welcome to Origins0:48 How Do We Carve Out More Time For Thinking?3:02 How Are LPs Handling AI Risk?6:02 Can You Achieve AI Diversity as an LP?