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Last Money In – 2023 Recap & our 10 Most Engaged Posts of 2023

2023 has been an incredible year. We launched Last Money In in Summer 2023 with no expectations of what it would become. Candidly, we felt there was a gap in the VC/investor content gap as it related to SPVs/syndicates and wanted to uncover this space given the many opportunities it provides accredited investors, fund managers, emerging investors, founders and the like.

Now half a year into starting this journey, let us tell you that we feel incredibly energized and excited about what Last Money In can become!

We have several exciting initiatives for 2024 on video, premium and in real life; we’ll announce these new platforms as they are ready, but expect two BIG announcements in Q1 24’. We’re planning to get readers even more involved in this ecosystem as well as provide deeper learnings on how to get up and running and involved.

Additionally, we want to sincerely thank you, our subscribers! 

We (and many others) have felt newsletter fatigue over the last years so the fact that you subscribe and read our content encourages us to continue to share and grow this brand. Believe it or not, but all of your thoughtful and positive feedback has been incredibly energizing and confirms that we’ve hit on a space that investors want to get involved in and understand better. 

Here are some of the comments we’ve received this year: 

• “Very useful and one of my favorite newsletters out there!” 

• “Huge fan of your content on Last Money In. I’m looking to transition into the VC world and looking forward to continuing learning from you!”

• “This is x; LP in your AL syndicates. Read your newly created newsletter…absolutely love the content you're both sharing!

• “your content is epic, thank you for supporting founders and investors”

• “Just subscribed to Last Money In. Am really super excited to see it; there are a ton of these but someone forwarded me an excerpt and quite easily one of the most valuable.”

• “Last Money In is great. I am looking to launch a syndicate soon actually so the last edition was useful AF.”

• “just wanted to drop a note and say that I’m loving the content you’re putting out”

And over 100 more like these. 

Instead of posting our standard weekly article, we wanted to reshare our top 10 most engaged with content heading into the new year. 

1. Playbook to Launching a Syndicate: An 8-step playbook for launching your own investment syndicate, drawing on our experience leading over 600 investment deals.

2. Economics of $200M AUM as a Venture Capital Syndicate GP: With now $200M+ in combined AUM under our belt into startups via SPVs, we uncover what the economics - both the good and the bad - for Syndicate Leads. 

3. How I grew our Syndicate to Over 6,000 Limited Partners: A playbook for how we were able to build our LP base to 6,000+ accredited investors quickly despite having ~0 LPs when we started.

4. Does the General Partner's Lead Commitment into an SPV Actually Signal Anything: There’s a lot of nuance around understanding skin in the game requirement from GPs - we uncover how to make sense of this from the LP POV - when it matters and when it doesn’t signal anything about a GP’s conviction. 

5. How do VC Syndicate Leads Source Deals? Part 1: How we source deals as Syndicate leads, highlighting the unique sourcing opportunities available to syndicate GPs (atypical from traditional venture funds).

6. Leveraging SPV’s to Get to Fund 1: Leveraging SPVs solve the cold start problem of becoming your own fund manager, allowing you to invest and build a track record immediately, and how this track record can be leveraged into a fund. 

7. The Power of Networking as an Early-Stage Investor: Your network is your net worth. We’ve all heard it. In many ways, this is quite true as it relates to VCs and our personal stories. 

8. How being an LP in VC Syndicates Landed me my First VC Position: Our personal story of how investing in syndicates on the LP side got me my first VC role, and how you can leverage SPVs to do the same. 

9. Best & Worst Sources of Deal Flow for Syndicate GPs: Deal flow is a critical component to operating a VC syndicate or venture capital in general. Discerning which sources are effective and which ones are relatively wasteful is paramount when navigating the diverse landscape of deal flow channels – we get into all of it. 

10. How Investing in Bridge Rounds Landed Us Multiple 10x+ Returns: A post uncovering how to evaluate bridge rounds and why these financings can be the absolute best times to invest (or the worst). 

Other Favorites:

1. Venture Scouts Explained

2. Buyer Beware: Navigating the Secondary Market

3. Why Revenue ≠ Revenue! How to See Past the Blanket Revenue Multiples Put on Companies

4. How We Invest in Over 100 Startups a Year as a Syndicate and Why Most Funds Can’t

As always, thank you for reading! All shares and referrals are appreciated and help us expand this ecosystem. Wishing everyone a happy new year and amazing 2024!

- Alex Pattis & Zach Ginsburg

Last Money In is Powered by Sydecar

Sydecar is a frictionless deal execution platform for emerging venture investors. We make it easy for anyone to launch SPVs and funds in minutes, with automated banking, compliance, contracts, tax, and reporting so that customers can focus on making deals and building relationships.

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✍️ Written by Zachary and Alex