Kindred Ventures Kanyi Maqubela on large firms entering seed, the challenges of rising valuations, and the nuances of portfolio construction

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.This week’s guest is Kanyi Maqubela, managing partner of seed-stage firm Kindred Ventures. Kindred has $156 AUM, and the team has previously invested in companies such as Coinbase, Blue Bottle Coffee, and Postmates. Prior to Kindred, Kanyi served as a Partner at Collaborative Fund, where he was an early advisor to Tala and Walker & Co., and a board member at Buffer, Camino Financial, Spruce, and True Link. Kanyi was also a co-founder at Heartbeat Health, and previously ran growth at One Block Off the Grid (acquired by $NRG). Kanyi has also served as a Lecturer and Adjunct at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, a curriculum adapted from his time as a student at Stanford University.A word from our sponsor:Invest in innovation. Allocate allows investors to access top-tier private funds and co-investment opportunities within the technology sector.Despite the enormous growth of the private markets and the rapid increase of retail demand for private alternatives, investing in the highest quality private assets within the innovation sector still remains limited to institutions and ultra-connected high net worth individuals.With Allocate, wealth advisors, banks, family offices, and other qualified investors can have a streamlined way to responsibly invest with confidence.Go to allocate.co to find out more and please sign up to the waitlist to learn more and get early access to the platform.In this episode we discuss:01:54 Kanyi’s view to later stage mega-firms like Sequoia, Andreesen, and Greylock getting into seed financing05:20 Vulnerabilities and issues new players should think about when entering the seed marketplace09:13 Who needs to adapt most to today’s seed environment15:55 How they underwriting ownership and target exit outcomes19:15 How Kindred mitigates risk pre-investment 23:56 The mental model for picking successful founders at seed 29:09 How Kindred is able to maintain diligence integrity with the speed of market.33:58 What exactly is value-add? 36:06 How Kanyi looks at winning in competitive situations44:52 The model of Kindred’s future growth and how they will remain competitive48:48 Non-obvious investing as key differentiator in early stage investing50:27 The most impactful advice he’s received as an investorMentioned in this episode:Kindred VenturesI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Kanyi. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com