Sahil Lavingia, founder and CEO at Gumroad, joins Immad Akhund, founder and CEO at Mercury, for a discussion on rolling funds and investing as full-time operators.

This conversation was filmed live on Zoom with questions from the audience:

0:01:00: What is a rolling fund?
0:02:00: Are rolling funds new? Is AngelList the first to do this?
0:03:30: From an LP perspective, are rolling funds a separate fund every quarter?
0:05:12: What changed Sahil's thought process about becoming a VC?
0:08:12: Should CEOs be running funds on the side?
0:09:35: For an entrepreneur, what’s the benefit of having other founders on their cap table?
0:11:40: Is raising money from a rolling fund different than raising from a solo angel investor?
0:13:30: What’s the difference between rolling funds and a normal fund from the LP perspective?
0:15:40: Is there a base level qualification you need before you’re ready to start a rolling fund?
0:19:23: How can you leverage a large Twitter following when launching a rolling fund?
0:21:34: How are you legally allowed to ask for funds on Twitter?
0:22:47: What does AngelList take care of, and what do you have to do yourself?
0:23:55: Is there pressure to deploy your capital before a quarter's finished or is there flexibility?
0:24:50: If someone invests for 3 years, do they have to do 12 K1s?
0:25:44: Do leads of funds have full discretion or does AngelList have to approve all deals?
0:26:47: Is there a limit on the number of LPs?
0:28:05: What is a syndicate? Do they work alongside rolling funds?
0:32:11: What’s the process for setting up a rolling fund?
0:33:27: What is Sahil's investment philosophy?
0:35:05: How does Sahil think about warm intros vs cold outreach?
0:43:02: Should LPs stick w funds for a minimum number of quarters?
0:44:27: Does a rolling fund lead have to be an accredited investor?
0:45:30: What are the fees from AngelList?
0:47:00: What do rolling funds mean for the future of Angel investing? Does AngelList have too much power here?
0:50:03: Tips for sending a cold pitch

About the speakers:
- Sahil Lavingia, Gumroad Founder and CEO: Sahil Lavingia is the founder & CEO at Gumroad, an online platform that enables creators to sell products directly to consumers. Prior to Gumroad, Sahil was the second employee at Pinterest. He recently launched a $5m rolling fund using Twitter and a Notion memo; his limited partners include Arlan Hamilton, Tim Ferris, and Naval Ravikant.

- Immad Akhund, Mercury Founder and CEO: Immad Akhund is the co-founder and CEO at Mercury, a tech company building banking for startups. Prior to founding Mercury, Immad was the CEO and co-founder at Heyzap, a mobile developer tools company, which sold for $45m in 2016, and CTO and co-founder at Clickpass, acquired by Yola in 2008. He is an active investor in Silicon Valley and has invested in 100+ seed-stage startups.

------------
Say hello:
https://mercury.com/
  / bankmercury