Why Being a Generalist VC Is a Competitive Advantage (Aydin Senkut, Founder & Managing Partner at Felicis Ventures)

Aydin Senkut of Felicis Ventures shares his journey from Istanbul to Silicon Valley, detailing Felicis's evolution from a solo operation to a $900 million fund. Senkut emphasizes the importance of international perspective and a generalist investment approach, contrasting it with the specialist model. He recounts lessons from Google's early days, particularly Larry Page's focus on 10x improvements and Sergey Brin's business instinct. Senkut also discusses Felicis's investment strategy, highlighting the need to identify companies with hockey stick revenue growth, even at high valuations, using AI investments like Skild as examples. He admits underestimating companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, while stressing the importance of learning and adapting rapidly to avoid stagnation.