RIP Venture Factory and The State of VC 2025 with Sam Lessin

Episode notes

Scott sits down with venture capitalist, essayist, and Slow Ventures GP Sam Lessin for a candid, high-signal conversation about the state of venture capital - and why the old playbook is officially dead. Sam unpacks the ideas behind his viral VC25 manifesto, including why the startup conveyor belt model is broken, how today’s founders are flying blind, and what it really takes to build something worth betting on in a post-factory era. Together, Scott and Sam dive deep into the evolving role of seed investors, the myth of the “10x engineer,” and why most unicorns are now zombified corpses soaking up capital and talent. They riff on founder delusion, LP dysfunction, the commoditization of software, and how a new generation of operators must be built for long-term reality - not short-term hype. It’s a provocative, honest, and sometimes brutal look at how we fund, build, and believe in companies today - and why SFD (Straight F*cking Down) might be the new north star for modern venture.

• Robinhood Drops a Nuke, Republic Reinvents The Forward Contract, and Rocket Dollar Founder Henry Yoshida On Self-Directed Private Investing68 / 100
• The Business of Buying Businesses with Acquire.com CEO Andrew Gazdecki
• Why Jeff Bezos, Coatue Launched a New Billion Dollar Private Fund For Individual Investors
• Surviving The Grift Economy with Pop Culture Journo John McDermott
• Craig Kilborn's Gorgeous Life, All-Time Sandwich Rankings, and Scott's Masters Weekend Recap