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The VC Playbook Is Getting Rewritten, So Here's What's Next The biggest names in Silicon Valley—Lightspeed Ventures, a16z, Sequoia, and Thrive—are no longer mere veil of ventures. They are morphing into tech-powered private equity titans with seismic repercussions for startups, investors, and market dynamics. The Great Pivot: From VC to an RIA Lightspeed's view of affiliating himself in becoming a Registered Investment Advisor is no mere formality. This permits him now to: ✅ Purchase stocks publicly ✅ Pick up secondary shares ✅ Roll-up PE-style ✅ Acquire controlling stakes It means less IPO waiting time. Less passive betting. VCs just became operators. Why the Old Model Died The classic VC model—spray 25 bets, pray for 2 unicorns—is dying. Constraints like: 🔸 20% Rule: Only 20% of capital could go to non-startup assets 🔸 Liquidity Traps: Locked capital for 10+ years 🔸 Passive Governance: Limited influence over portfolio companies Forced firms to reinvent or fade away. The New Power Players a16z: In 2019, became an RIA Set up crypto/wealth arms | Led the Twitter take-private Sequoia: Abandoned 10-year funds for an evergreen pool Thrive: Launched the $1B+ Thrive Holdings to build/buy AI-driven companies General Catalyst: Bought a hospital system | Reincarnated as a Transformation Company The RIA PLAYBOOK vs. Old School VC Traditional VC New RIA Strategy Bet early, wait 10 years Buy, build, reboot Pray for unicorns Engineer exits via roll-ups Passive board seats Active ownership & control IPO/M&A exits Secondaries, public stakes The Secondaries Explosion Startups are turning private for longer, trapping a cool hundred billion dollars in unrealized value (up from 25B in 2012). Firms such as Lightspeed are grabbing the opportunity with arms wide open while hiring ex-Goldman MDs to lead secondary strategies. The Operator's Edge: AI + Roll-Ups The new game? → Build AI-native companies in-house → Buy legacy firms (hospitals, retailers) → Reboot them with AI as the core engine General Catalyst is now trialing healthcare AI across its hospital system. And then: • AI-Driven Roll-Ups: Vertical domination in fintech, healthtech, infra • Secondary Platforms: Dedicated liquidity engines for private stakes • Public Market Plays: Ownership from pre-IPO into post-IPO • Extinction of Mid-Tier VCs: Only scaled RIAs survive The Bottom Line This is no VC version 2.0 per se: it is a new asset class that combines the risk appetite traditionally associated with venture with PE-scale control. So that means for founders, ✔️ new exit options (secondaries, roll-ups) ✔️ cut-throat competition, from rivals whose own investors built ✔️ longer-term capital, tighter oversight #VentureCapital #PrivateEquity #TechInnovation #FutureOfFinance (Inspired by industry shifts | Not an investment advice)