Matt Powell

Every #VentureStudio GP knows some portfolio bets won’t hit. That's expected - and it's one of the reasons studios are such a powerful vehicle for innovation. And while a venture's failure might be what's visible to the outsider, what keeps them up at night isn’t failure at the venture level — it’s failure at the systemic level within the studio. One bad entity design. One IP misstep. One governance gap. That’s how studio operations fall apart. We break down how to spot (and fix) these cracks before they turn into fault lines in our latest paper, "The GP Dilemma" - DM me and I'll send you a copy!

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We were recording a podcast episode last week and the question came up: why do studios actually fail? I expected the conversation to land on bad venture selection. That's what most people point to. But three quieter patterns kept surfacing — and they're the ones that actually kill studios. Sequencing failure. Doing the right things in the wrong order. Raising before you have a track record. Hiring a full team before validating a single venture. Everything looks productive — you're shipping, hiring, raising. But the order is wrong, and the compounding works against you instead of for you. Incentive misalignment. The studio operator wants equity upside. The institutional sponsor wants de-risked innovation. The founder wants autonomy. None of those are wrong. They're just different objective functions in the same room. The misalignment doesn't surface in year one. It surfaces the first time someone has to make a hard call — and the people in the room realize they want different outcomes. The governance gap. Studios start lean, which is smart. Then they stay lean on governance, which is fatal. No kill criteria. No stage gates. No framework for when to double down or shut down. Death by accumulated decisions that nobody had the structure to stop. What stuck with me after that conversation: all three of these are invisible from the inside. Bad company selection is loud. These are silent. And by the time you feel them, they've been compounding for months.

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The Headline family is experiencing incredible momentum, and today our portfolio company DeepIP is announcing a $25M Series B, bringing total funding to $40M.  This is the kind of company that doesn’t just add AI to a workflow, but it sets the standard for an entire category. The momentum speaks for itself: 1️⃣ 10x ARR growth in < 18 months 2️⃣ Trusted by 400+ law firms and leading corporate IP teams globally 3️⃣ 2M+ chats on the DeepIP platform We’ve had the chance to back FX (Francois-Xavier) L. and Edouard D., leading their Seed round with Headline. Watching them take on a problem as complex and high-stakes as patent work has been genuinely impressive. And working with them has been an absolute pleasure: these 2 are coupling very high ambition and humility. Tech built in Europe, but opening the US office very early and FX starting a life in NYC with his family with 0 hesitation in order to build a global category leader in the IP industry. What convinced me early is still what stands out today: patent teams don’t need another standalone AI tool. They need something that fits the way the work actually happens: documents, long-running matters, multiple stakeholders, and zero room for sloppy context handoffs. Big congrats to the whole DeepIP team + Korelya Capital, Balderton & Serena Proud that we’re doubling down at Headline and continuing the support for what’s next!

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Unpopular opinion: Investor deck design is inversely proportional to business performance. I used to spend a lot of time making pretty investor decks because I thought it'd help. Now it's just title, subtitle, and bullet points in 48pt font because I have the numbers to back it up.

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A lot of studios are popping up to focus on “unsexy businesses.” For example, Dan Magnuszewski is building Radial Ventures in Buffalo, and one of the smartest things they’re doing is leaning into overlooked industries most tech hubs ignore. Think logistics, compliance, insurance ops, field labor workflows. “How many people still do this this way?” is often the billion-dollar question. Dan’s team looks for companies where growth is constrained by labor, training, or process, and asks: Can AI fix that? It’s a tactical lens more studios should be applying, especially in cities where local advantage = legacy industry.

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The purpose of Bonterms is to massively accelerate the throughput of your MSAs, PSAs, DPAs, BAAs and NDAs. At the core is a best-practice, market-vetted Standard Agreement—which means that in addition to strikingly fast speed, you also get quality, consistency and collaboration. When you send from the Bonterms Platform, your invitations will be opened 90% of the time and the total negotiation time of a commercial agreement will be around twenty minutes (with NDAs around five). We accomplish that with a recipient-friendly flow and collaborative tools like Auto Accept Alternatives and Standard Playbooks. But there are lots of ways to start using Bonterms, including sending (or receiving) one yourself, buying or selling in the Atlassian Marketplace or through pre-built workflows in Docusign IAM. The only wrong way to use Bonterms is not at all. We are always happy to hear from you and help you along the way, no matter how you choose to deploy our Standards. #contracts #salesacceleration #legaltech

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Most people think spotting an AI unicorn is about timing the market - they're wrong. It’s about seeing what others can’t yet see—and having the conviction to move before it’s obvious. For our 100th episode (one-hour special) of the LeaderbookAI Podcast, I sat down with Marina Davidova, Managing Partner at DVC, who has backed 4 AI unicorns in just 4 years. What struck me wasn’t just the outcomes. It was how she thinks. While everyone else is chasing signals—traction, metrics, hype—Marina is looking at something deeper: Has this founder already been through failure and come back sharper? Do they think like an engineer—able to deconstruct and rebuild systems? Do they have the energy to keep going when the market turns against them? Because at the earliest stage, there’s almost nothing else. No perfect data. No certainty. No guarantees. Just people. And in a world now flooded with AI tools, faster diligence, and more capital than ever before… The edge isn’t more information. It’s better judgment. We also got into something most people aren’t talking about: How venture firms themselves are using AI— not just to invest in companies, but to screen deals, surface signals, and make decisions faster than ever. And yet, even with all of that… The final decision still comes down to one thing: 👉 Who do you believe can build through uncertainty? This conversation is for anyone: building in AI investing in AI or trying to understand where real value will be created next 🎧 Episode 100: How do you spot AI unicorns before everyone else does? Link in the comments below. If you’ve been following the journey—thank you. This one is special.

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