The firm's founding thesis in 2011 was that companies would stay private longer, creating a need for employee and early investor liquidity. This prediction has been validated, with the secondary market growing by orders of magnitude to become a substantial portion of all venture capital activity.
SpaceX's success is analyzed through its multi-faceted disruption of the aerospace industry. This includes shifting the business model from "cost plus" to "firm fixed price," achieving unprecedented launch economics through reusable rockets, and leveraging its launch capabilities to build a transformative new business in Starlink.
137 Ventures employs a strategy of making multiple, concentrated follow-on investments in its highest-conviction companies, such as SpaceX and Hadrian. This approach prioritizes building a significant stake in proven winners over time, rather than taking a traditional VC approach of a single early-stage check and pro-rata rights.
The firm has deliberately avoided investing in foundational AI models due to uncertainty about which will be the long-term dominant player. Instead, they focus on the application layer, backing companies like Cognition, which they see as a strategic, independent provider that helps enterprises avoid vendor lock-in with any single model.
Keep pulling the thread on Justin Fishner-Wolfson.