Instead of building a platform team of specialists, Eclipse operates like a small special forces unit. A lean team of senior partners, all ex-operators, handles everything from thesis creation to scaling companies. This ensures founders get direct support from proven builders, not junior staff.

A16Z's transformation from a small, generalist partnership to a large, specialized firm was a deliberate answer to a fundamental industry problem: the traditional partner model doesn't scale for deploying capital and making decisions in today's massive, professionalized venture market.

To maintain agility and deep expertise at scale, Andreessen Horowitz restructured into independent, specialized teams for sectors like bio, crypto, and AI. Each sub-team operates like the original firm, preventing large, unproductive group decisions and enabling focused expertise.

By strictly limiting team size, a company is forced to hire only the “best in the world” for each role. This avoids the dilution of talent and communication overhead that plagues growing organizations, aiming to perpetually maintain the high-productivity “mind meld” of a founding team.

Unlike committees, where partners might "sell" each other on a deal, a single decision-maker model tests true conviction. If a General Partner proceeds with an investment despite negative feedback from the partnership, it demonstrates their unwavering belief, leading to more intellectually honest decisions.

Horowitz's steelman argument for small VC firms is that most firm structures are incompatible with scale. Partnerships with shared control can't make the hard decisions needed to reorganize. Furthermore, a single investment committee with 20 people destroys the candid, truth-seeking conversation essential for good investing.

A16z's growth fund avoids traditional investment committees, which can lead to politicization and slow decisions. Instead, it uses a venture-style "single trigger" model where one partner can champion a deal, encouraging intellectual honesty and speed.

To avoid bureaucratic bloat, organize the company into small, self-sufficient "pods" of no more than 10 people. Each pod owns a specific problem and includes all necessary roles. Performance is judged solely on the pod's impact, mimicking an early-stage startup's focus.

To combat communication breakdown at scale, Capital Group deliberately disaggregated its equity team into three distinct, firewalled units of about 100 professionals each. This ensures investment discussions remain intimate and effective despite massive firm-wide AUM, forcing them to "stay small."