Join José as he hosts another episode of the Emerging Manager series on the Delphi Podcast, sitting down with Michael Dempsey, managing partner of Compound. Michael makes the case that most venture funds being raised today are playing momentum games that won't survive contact with a real cycle, and explains why Compound has become known as one of the slowest-deploying seed funds in the US. They dive into the fallacy of founder legibility, why paying up at seed doesn't improve outcomes, and how the firm's research edge decayed the moment anyone could drop an academic paper into ChatGPT. Michael shares Compound's portfolio construction math, the thesis behind their public markets fund and the coming decade of market cap destruction, where he's investing across bio, materials, and robotics, and why the humanoid narrative is far more fragile than the market believes.

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:24 Why Momentum Investing Fails in Venture
05:05 Price, Legibility, and the Myth of the Obvious Founder
15:10 Research as Edge and the Problem With Obviousness
32:31 Portfolio Construction and Shots on Goal
39:04 Bio, Materials, and the Commoditization of Intelligence
43:44 Public Markets, Software Margins, and the Short Side
56:58 Meta, Google, and the Mag 7
1:06:45 Crypto, Robotics, and Drone Warfare
1:21:38 Therapy, Psychedelics, and Writing

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Watch on
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Yy99ZlQIX9-PdG_xHj43Q

Disclaimer

This podcast is strictly informational and educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any tokens or securities or to make any financial decisions. Do not trade or invest in any project, tokens, or securities based upon this podcast episode. The host and members at Delphi Ventures may personally own tokens or art that are mentioned on the podcast. Our current show features paid sponsorships which may be featured at the start, middle, and/or the end of the episode. These sponsorships are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to use any product, service or token.

Most Venture Funds Will End Badly | Michael Dempsey

The Delphi Podcast

Most Venture Funds Will End Badly | Michael Dempsey