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.

A core part of a16z's growth fund strategy is to invest in companies the firm's early-stage team passed on. This acts as an internal "fix the mistake fund," providing a structured way to correct errors of omission and get a second chance at breakout companies.

Seed-focused funds have a powerful, non-obvious advantage over multi-stage giants: incentive alignment. A seed fund's goal is to maximize the next round's valuation for the founder. A multi-stage firm, hoping to lead the next round themselves, is implicitly motivated to keep that valuation lower, creating a conflict of interest.

While multi-stage funds offer deep pockets, securing a new lead investor for later rounds is often strategically better. It provides external validation of the company's valuation, brings fresh perspectives to the board, and adds another powerful, committed firm to the cap table, mitigating signaling risk from the inside investor.

A successful seed fund model is to first build a diversified 'farm team' of 20-25 companies with meaningful initial ownership. Then, after identifying the breakout performers, concentrate heavily by deploying up to 75% of the fund's capital into just 3-5 of them.

A primary function of Andreessen Horowitz's growth fund is to correct errors of omission from its early-stage team. Joking referred to as the "fix the mistake fund," it provides a second chance to invest in companies the firm initially passed on. This internal synergy is a core part of their multi-stage strategy.

The independent sponsor model allows for longer hold periods, focusing on maximizing a single asset's value. This avoids the fund-driven temptation to sell successful companies prematurely to show a high IRR to LPs for the next fundraising round, capturing more value in the later years of an investment.

Industry specialists can become trapped in an "echo chamber," making them resistant to paradigm shifts. WCM found their generalist team structure was an advantage, as a lack of "scar tissue" and a broader perspective allowed them to identify changes that entrenched specialists dismissed as temporary noise.