episode one

The equitable venture model at Kindred Capital Venturing into the highly competitive European tech ecosystem requires more than just a checkbook. Kindred Capital entered the market in 2016 with a radical premise: treat every founder in the portfolio as a co-owner of the fund. This "equitable venture" model is not merely a marketing slogan; it is a structural innovation where the firm shares 20% of its carried interest with the entrepreneurs it backs. This creates a powerful alignment of interests, turning a disparate group of startups into a unified community of stakeholders. By treating the carry pool as if there were a fifth equal partner—the founders—the firm incentivizes a culture of radical generosity and collective success. Leila Zegna and Chrys Chrysanthou, General Partners at the firm, argue that the industry has long suffered from a misalignment between those who deploy capital and those who build value. Most venture firms operate as a closed loop where the upside remains concentrated among a few partners. Kindred’s approach acknowledges the brutal reality of company building. By distributing the upside, they foster a "mafia" effect from day one, where founders are incentivized to help one another, share talent, and provide due diligence support, knowing that a win for one company directly benefits the carry pool for everyone else. Partner-only structure eliminates junior-level friction Efficiency in venture capital often dies in the layers of hierarchy. Kindred operates as a partner-only firm, intentionally eschewing the traditional model of associates and principals. This structure is a deliberate response to the "outsourced judgment" prevalent in larger firms. When a founder meets a member of the team, they are meeting a decision-maker. This model ensures a high velocity of decision-making, which is critical at the pre-seed and seed stages where speed is a competitive advantage. There is no risk of a junior staffer blocking a visionary idea because they lack the "surface area" or trust within the partnership to advocate for it. This operational choice also ensures a consistent founder experience. Traditional firms often suffer from a "bait and switch" where a senior partner wins the deal, only for the founder to be handed off to a junior associate for day-to-day support. By keeping the partnership lean and senior-led, the firm maintains full control over its "product"—the advice, empathy, and network provided to the founder. This high-touch, peer-to-peer relationship is designed to mirror the founder's own journey, providing a level of empathy that can only come from those who have built and scaled companies themselves before turning to investing. Beyond the check: relationships versus intellectual horsepower The debate between being a "thematic" investor versus a "relational" one is a false dichotomy in the world of high-stakes disruption. While intellectual curiosity and the ability to deconstruct business models are table stakes, the enduring value in venture often resides in the strength of the relationship. Modern venture capital has become a crowded, over-picked market. Information asymmetry has dwindled as tools for tracking companies have proliferated. In this environment, winning deals—and helping companies survive near-death experiences—depends on how a founder feels about their investor during a 10-year journey. Chrysanthou emphasizes that while market-moving products and deep technical insights are vital, the human element remains the most volatile and critical component of success. Founders do not need an investor to geek out on product specs; they need a partner who can help navigate the psychological toll of clinical depression, team collapses, and the sheer isolation of leadership. This "killer with a heart" mentality combines a drive for high-performance financial returns with a commitment to being the first call a founder makes when everything goes wrong. It is a transition from a transactional financial instrument to an enduring partnership. Sourcing through the founder-led network The competitive edge in finding the next generational business lies in the "edges" of the market—the places that are not yet obvious to the broader investment community. Kindred’s equitable model turns their portfolio into an army of scouts. Because these founders have a vested interest in the fund’s performance, they act as a high-signal filter, introducing the firm to entrepreneurs before they ever hit the formal roadshow circuit. The best talent often seeks advice from other successful founders before they seek capital from an investor. By being embedded in these founder networks, the firm gains access to deal flow that is effectively pre-vetted by some of the smartest operators in Europe. This network effect is evident in the firm's recent bets on companies like Scarlet and Cradle. Scarlet, which focuses on automated compliance for medical AI, was a non-obvious play that many investors dismissed as too niche before the AI explosion. Cradle, a design tool for protein engineering using generative AI, was identified through a mix of cold outreach and operator pings. These investments demonstrate the firm’s thesis at the intersection of computation and biology, leveraging a community that spans from Zurich to London to find founders who are pushing the boundaries of what is technically possible. The necessity of humility in a high-octane industry Venture capital is often characterized by hubris, yet the most successful practitioners recognize the role of luck and externalities. The last four years—defined by pandemics, wars, and sudden market inversions—have served as a reminder that no investor has a crystal ball. Humility is not just a personality trait; it is a strategic requirement. Investors who believe they are the smartest person in the room often stop learning and start missing the shifts on the fringe of the market. This humility extends to the rejection process. One of the industry’s greatest failings is the disrespect of founder time, with many VCs leaving entrepreneurs in a state of perpetual "maybe" to hedge their own bets. Kindred champions a high-conviction approach: get to a "yes" or a "no" quickly. A fast rejection is a service to the ecosystem, allowing the founder to focus their limited energy on finding the right partner. In an industry where everyone claims to be "founder-friendly," the ultimate proof of that claim is how an investor behaves when they aren't writing a check. Building the venture fund of the future As the asset class continues to mature, the "cottage industry" of venture capital is evolving into two distinct paths: massive platform funds or highly focused, specialized firms. Kindred has chosen the latter, betting that a smaller, hyper-focused team can outperform by being closer to the zero-to-one phase of company creation. This is not about building a financial conglomerate; it is about creating a value-creation engine that is as missionary as the startups it funds. The future of venture belongs to those who can prove that collaborative models are not just more ethical—they are more profitable. When the upside is shared, the pie grows larger for everyone. By tilting the industry toward generosity and structural alignment, the goal is to create a 100x fund that serves as a proof of concept for a more equitable form of capitalism. The ambition is to build an enduring institution that survives beyond its founders, fueled by the collective intelligence and success of the community it serves.