Venture capital is one of the world’s most networked industries. But with the Bay Area on lockdown, many
of tech’s biggest investors are now physically isolated and sheltering in place, or in more rural locales.
Isolation hasn’t kept them from Twitter, though, where VCs have been variously quite alarmed or
counterintuitively calm. Back when America was still wrapping its head around the coronavirus, angel
investor Balaji Srinivasan sounded the alarm on Twitter, criticizing the city of San Francisco for its plans to
host a Chinese New Year parade.
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Venture Capital Adapts to the Virus Lockdown
1. Technology
Investors are optimizing for their own survival and focusing on helping their companies stay afloat.
By Eric Newcomer
March 20, 2020, 11:40 PM GMT+8
Venture Capital Adapts to the Virus Lockdown
A pedestrian crosses California Street during rush hour in San Francisco on March 17. Photographer: David Paul
Morris/Bloomberg
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Venture capital is one of the world’s most networked industries. But with the Bay Area on lockdown, many
of tech’s biggest investors are now physically isolated and sheltering in place, or in more rural locales.
Isolation hasn’t kept them from Twitter, though, where VCs have been variously quite alarmed or
counterintuitively calm. Back when America was still wrapping its head around the coronavirus, angel
investor Balaji Srinivasan sounded the alarm on Twitter, criticizing the city of San Francisco for its plans to
host a Chinese New Year parade.
Srinivasan got some blowback for his stance then, as well as his bristling at a reporter’s straightforward
request for comment. But now, similarly minded investors feel a sense of vindication. Managing partner of
2. Bedrock Capital Geoff Lewis wrote that many people had come around to his decision to leave New York
City during the outbreak, tweeting the evolution of his conversations: “Yesterday: ‘Why did you leave New
York?’ Today: ‘Where did you go and is there room for me?’” Lewis, who has been in “prepper mode for
two months,” said that while he was out driving, he swerved to avoid a deer: “Life flashed before my eyes,
but no injuries. Life is fragile. Can’t prep for everything.”
On the other end of the spectrum, there are the some who think the nationwide lockdown is overkill. “Am
starting to worry as much damage is being done via social distancing destroying people’s livelihood as actual
virus impact,” tweeted investor Elad Gil. Similarly, David Sacks, an investor at Craft Ventures remarked that
“A panic is a fear bubble. We are in the middle of one.”
Twitter isn’t VCs' only platform though. A meet-up on Zoom with reporter Casey Newton and venture
capitalist Hunter Walk got trolled with obscene videos until they had to shut it down.
Besides optimizing for their survival, most investors say they’re focused on helping the companies they’ve
already invested in stay afloat. “Anyone who has a portfolio right now is spending time on calls with their
portfolio companies trying to figure out what this means for them,” said Nikhil Basu Trivedi, a managing
director at Shasta Ventures. “It makes it naturally hard to focus on new investing. Human reality is we're all
worried about our own health—our own families.”
Long-time venture capitalists are leaning into their experience with previous crashes. “For people who've
been through these cycles before, the financial crisis or the dot-bust, they're focused and excited,” said
Hemant Teneja, a long-time venture capitalist at General Catalyst. “For folks who haven’t experienced
cycles like this, there may be kinda a sense of underlying panic. Remember, many of the investors in our
industry have only experienced the bull markets of the past decade.”
Benchmark’s Bill Gurley wrote in a message: “This will be my third contraction as a VC. So I have seen it
before.”
His firm’s investment in WeWork has already faced trouble. SoftBank Group Corp. threatened to back out of
its commitment to buy early shares. Gurley tweeted cryptically, “Reputations are built in hard times, not the
easy times. If you shake a hand, sign your name—stand strong, or your word is no good. Otherwise you are a
transient that only wanted the easy take. And you should move on.”
Now, for better or worse, we'll get a sense for how a lot of investors and entrepreneurs handle crises.
Depending on who you listen to, there may be plenty of hard times to come.
If you read one thing
In a bleak sign of the times, Uber tried to reassure investors that it isn't at risk of running out of money.
The company says it should have at least $4 billion at the end of the year. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi also said
