如何对加密VC做尽职调查?以a16z等9家基金为例进行解答

FPublished on 2022-10-10Last updated on 2022-10-10

Abstract

无论你是需要融资的创始人,还是将要为加密风投工作的专业人士,都需要审查相关公司的财务状况。

无论你是需要融资的创始人,还是将要为加密风投工作的专业人士,都需要审查相关公司的财务状况。

投资者经常需要仔细查看初创企业创始人的资金使用情况。他们在形势好的时候盲目自信,大喊「快点打破一切」,并在形势艰难时谨小慎微,对如何管理资金流动高谈阔论。尽管这可能很烦人,但上述态度是有道理的,因为风险投资公司的最终责任是为他们的有限合伙人创造回报。我们喜欢谈论风投为他们的投资组合公司增加价值,但现实是相当困难的。由于多重因素的影响,VC 没有完美的增值公式。例如因投资组合公司的阶段以及创始人的经验不同而产生价值的方式不同,年轻的创始人可能需要运营帮助,而经验丰富的创始人可能更喜欢独立运营。

在这篇文章中将试图介绍加密风险投资基金经济学。对于希望在加密投资领域工作的创始人或专业人士来说,了解这些基金背后的数学原理至关重要。

我们通常会想:如果没有业绩,基金能存活多久?

如果我们即将进入长久熊市,这一点尤其重要。我在 2019 年为一家加密基金工作,曾对加密市场低迷的严重程度感到措手不及。当然,我们可能再也看不到如此严重的情况了。从那时起,加密生态系统已经明显成熟,并且有大量资本在观望。但是这并不意味着我们不应该像审查初创公司那样审查资金健康情况。

私募市场也常常是不透明的。由于法规较少,很难找到有关最佳实践和风险投资公司会计标准的信息。这个问题在加密市场中更加明显:(1)代币和(2)全球性。代币创造了流动性,使私募市场投资者能够制定他们的退出策略,而加密货币的全球性意味着基金可以根据其管辖范围在世界各地遵守不同的标准。

此外,风险基金的职称也可能相当模糊。什么是研究合伙人?你是否获得了部分收益,或者你基本上是一名高级投资助理?这些我们将根据 Web3 薪酬调查结果展开分析。

本文要点:

私募市场通常不透明,因此很难清楚地了解基金的薪酬结构和财务状况。

投资 DAO 可以通过将所有内容存储在链上来提高基金透明度。

作为创始人或年轻的投资专业人士,将风险投资公司本身视为一项业务至关重要。

牛市催生了许多新的风险投资公司,它们本身也可以被视为初创公司,因此需要加倍努力。

风险投资是一项「头重脚轻」的业务,大部分价值都流向了创始人和普通合伙人。初创公司在融资要想找到适合自己的基金,了解这种价值分配至关重要。

背景

Clearblock 的 Web3 VC 数据库已经汇总了充足且准确的数据,这里只关注筹集资金数量容易识别的前 50 家公司,不包括公司衍生风险投资部门(Coinbase Ventures、Binance Labs)和较为老牌的基金。本文将重点分析以下 9 家 VC 公司。

假设与分析

管理费为 2%

管理费根据实际情况会有所不同。这与基金在推出后几年的资产净值(基于投资组合公司的未来融资)有关,也会受到不同类型 LP 的具体协议的影响。在某些司法管辖区,通常是新兴市场,费用往往略低(不超过 1%),与美国金融市场的成熟度不同,新兴行业的风险更高。

基金投资周期为 3 年

这些公司中的大多数很可能会在完全分配当前基金的回报之前筹集另一只基金。基金通常需要 3 年的时间来投资,另外需要 2 年的时间来收回资本和分配回报。大多数信誉良好的基金将能够在 5 年生命周期结束之前筹集新资金,获得更多管理费后,继续运营。

员工信息(取自基金网站)

GP、MP、创始人、总裁等基金高层。

最右边的一列跟踪担任高级管理职位的员工人数,包括 GP/MP 之外的「合伙人」,例如研究合伙人,以及负责人、董事和任何 C 级高管。

由于每个基金的薪酬结构不同,准确性必然会有所不同。

这些都是顶级加密基金,并且由于过去两年的牛市中为独角兽企业提供了资金,所以他们在熊市中生存下去应该不会有太大问题。我希望展示的是风险投资基金在市场低迷时期的表现。

一些发现

Electric Capital 的员工管理费最高

风险投资公司也可以被视为初创公司,在这些数字中也有所体现。例如 a16z 的每位员工管理费可能最高,但我们没有考虑到这笔费用中有多少会支付给可能不直接参与 a16z 加密基金运营的公司高管和创始人(Marc、Ben、Margit , 其他)。这些细节并没有公开,我们也无法得知。

除了 a16z,这里的其他基金都是加密原生的,因此更容易以准确的方式来判断资金用途。Electric Capital 的员工管理费最高,而 Fabric Ventures 的管理费最低。

Pantera Capital 管理层与员工数量的百分比最高

这个数字表明与员工总数相比,哪些公司拥有更多的领导职位,它可以被视为正面或负面。例如,Pantera Capital 以 58% 的比例处于领先。一方面,这可以被视为雇用足够的人员来完成投资组合公司的工作。另一方面,这也可能意味着这些领导角色会获得较少的管理费用。

另一方面,a16z 作为一家非加密原生公司,肯定会有更多的员工在资金运营方面工作,但这些员工可能不在 a16z 加密团队中。这就是为什么他们的比例最低,只有 10%。

a16z 和 Paradigm 核心高管层的管理费最高

同样的情况也适用于非加密原生基金 a16z。

根据公开信息和对个人头衔的主观判断,Paradigm 每个核心领导职位的管理费处于领先。

链上透明度

理想情况下,我们会从风险投资基金那里获得更详细的薪酬结构报告,这样创始人也能对投资他们的风险投资人的健康状况进行尽职调查。虽然上面评估的顶级风险投资公司可能永远不会有任何流动性问题,但由于市场低迷而可能倒闭的小公司将对创始人产生不利影响。创始人将很难获得投资人的支持,甚至可能需要进行清算基金的二次销售。

随着许多小型加密风险投资公司的兴起,如果你是需要从这些新实体筹集资金的创始人,或者你是想为这些基金工作的年轻专业人士,你需要确保通过上述基本模型审查公司的财务状况。

或许投资型 DAO 可以通过将其所有经济学都放在链上来提高透明度,使任何想要与 DAO 开展业务的各方都可以验证它,从而使其他人能够对实体进行尽职调查。

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