GGV's Jeff Richards on making sense of the market today, growing a $9B+ firm, and whether geo-political tensions may affect international venture investing

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape. We have a great conversation on top this week with Jeff Richards, Managing Partner at GGV Capital. Founded in 2000, GGV manages nearly $10B in AUM and invests across stages in both the US and Asia, and has invested in companies such as AirBnB, Wish, Opendoor, and Grab.  This was a great conversation as Jeff has been both on the founder and investor side, and has spent the last 14 years at GGV where he’s had a front-row seat to the incredible evolution of the firm to what it is today. He provided us with some great thoughts on the markets today, the challenges of growing a firm, and how the current geopolitical tensions may affect international investing.  About Jeff Richards:Jeff focuses on enterprise/cloud and marketplace investments, and led GGV’s investments in Appirio (acq by Wipro), Belong, BigCommerce (NASDAQ: BIGC), BlueKai (acq by Oracle), Boxed, Brightwheel, Buddy Media (acq by Salesforce), Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), Electric.ai, Evolv OnDemand (acq by Cornerstone), Gladly, Handshake, HotelTonight (acq by Airbnb), Lambda School, Mindee, Namely, People.ai, PlushCare/Accolade (NASDAQ: ACCD), Slice, Tala, Tile, Vic.ai, Workboard, and Zylo. Prior to joining GGV, Jeff founded two software companies: R4, a supply chain SaaS business acquired by VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), and QuantumShift, a telecom software business backed by Texas Pacific Group (TPG). Earlier in his career, Jeff worked in Asia and Latin America with PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He graduated from Dartmouth College. Our sponsor: At Brex, we build financial software and services to help startups scale faster. We understand that founders need to focus on building, not banking. So we’ve reimagined traditional financial systems to enable greater speed and productivity — no matter where founders and their teams are working. We offer a smart corporate card, business account, and mobile app that are easy to use from day one. No manuals needed here. Within minutes, you can deposit funds, send free wires and ACH worldwide, separate investor funds from operating expenses, earn great rewards, automate expenses, and more.  Everything we do at Brex is to help founders spend less time managing expenses and reporting on your runway — and more time building your business. Get started at brex.com/venture In this episode we discuss: 02:06 Jeff’s journey into venture capital08:30 What it took to scale GGV to what it is today14:32 How they had to shift internal mindset as they scaled fund sizes20:55 How the current market compares to previous cycles27:33 The health of the current venture market and areas where Jeff sees growth potential33:46 Advice to investors looking to create a venture portfolio39:30 How the geopolitical climate is affecting investing both in the US and globally46:26 Why emerging markets are still a strong place to look for alpha in the current market48:11 The best piece of career advice he’s received I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Jeff. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter. Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com