From Keith Rabois to Matt Miller, many VCs have switched firms or left established VC institutions this year. These hiring changes are surprising because unlike in many other fields, venture capitalists traditionally don't move around much—especially those who reach the partner or general partner level.
VC funds have 10-year life cycles, and partners have good reason to stay the course. In some cases, there may be a “key man” in a firm's fund, meaning that if they leave, the fund's LPs have the right to withdraw their capital if they choose. Many partners and GPs also have some of their money invested in their firm's funds, which gives them further reason to stick around.
So while moves by big-name venture capital investors aren't common, they look set to become so in 2024. So far this year, there have been notable cases of investors returning to legacy firms, out on their own or have taken a break from full investment. There have also been some key hires to mention.
Here's who we know about so far:
December
- Michelle Volz is stepping down from her role as an investment partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Volz, who announced her departure on Dec. 21, joined more than two years ago, where she built the firm's dynamic U.S. vertical. Prior to a16z, Volz was an operator at multiple defense technology startups, including Palantir.
- Long-time partner of Sequoia Matt Miller announced Dec. 18 that he was leaving the firm to create his own firm focused on European founders. Miller joined Sequoia in 2012 and has backed companies including DBT Labs, Confluent and Grafana, among others.
- After more than a decade at Lux Capital, Bilal Zuberi announced on December 11 that he would be leaving the firm. Zuberi was a general partner at Lux and backed companies including Desktop Metal, Tendo Health and Evolv Technology, among many others. Zuber's next move will be to “partner” with early-stage founders.
- On December 3, Alex Taussig announced that he would be leaving his role as a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, where he had been a partner since 2016 and served as one of the co-heads of the firm's consumer practice. Taussig plans to focus his efforts on his board positions.
- Nicole Quinn also announced on Dec. 3 that she will move into a partner role on the board of Lightspeed Venture Partners. Quinn was also a co-leader of Lightspeed's consumer practice. Quinn joined the firm in 2015 and was most recently a general partner.
November
- Sriram Krishnan announced Nov. 27 that he would leave Andreessen Horowitz after four years as a general partner. Krishnan, who was focused on AI and crypto investments at a16z, will join the incoming Trump administration as a senior policy adviser on artificial intelligence.
- On November 5, Andreessen Horowitz announced this Brian Roberts is joining the firm as a general partner and will work on the firm's American Dynamism and AI Apps funds. Roberts previously worked as CFO at numerous well-known companies, including Splunk, OpenSea and Lyft.
- Andreessen Horowitz also announced on November 5 that Andy McCall is joining the firm as a general partner to work on the firm's American Dynamism and AI Apps funds. McCall most recently held multiple roles at cloud company Samsara.
October
- Paris Heymann left his role as a partner at Index Ventures to join JP Morgan as a co-managing partner within the asset manager's venture and capital growth practice. The move was announced on October 15. Heymann helped Index open its New York office in 2022 and was a partner at Arena Holdings before that.
- On October 9, Julian Eison announced on LinkedIn that he was stepping down from his role as managing partner at Next Ventures. Eison said in his post that he's taking some time to figure out what's next. He has backed companies such as Pair Team, Juno Medical and Vital Biosciences.
- After four years as a partner at Khosla Ventures, Sandhya Venkatachalam has exited the firm and launched Axiom Partners, a new VC firm targeting $50 million for its debut fund to back artificial intelligence and machine learning startups. The news of Venkatachalam's departure was confirmed on 8 October.
September
- James da Costa announced Sept. 17 that it was joining Andreessen Horowitz as a partner focused on B2B software and financial services. This marks da Costa's first foray into venture investing; he was previously co-founder of Fingo, an African neobank.
- On September 11, Jacob Westphal announced that he was leaving Andreessen Horowitz. Westphal was a partner at a16z for three and a half years. He left to become the portfolio manager at Will Ventures.
August
- Freestyle VC announced on August 15 that Maria Palma had joined the firm as a general partner based in San Francisco. Palma was most recently a general partner at London-based Kindred Capital. Palma has backed companies such as Moov, Novo and Lottie.
July
- After nearly seven years, Alex Cook is getting ready to leave Tiger Global, sources familiar with the matter tell TechCrunch. While at Tiger Global, Cook led deals including TradingView, Scalapay and TrueLayer, among others. Prior to Tiger Global, Cook worked at Apollo.
- Bessemer Venture Partners announced that it added Laurie Moore as a partner on July 22. Moore was previously a partner at Foundation Capital for two years and an operator at LinkedIn before that. Moore will focus on early-stage investments in sectors including data, AI and developer tools.
- On July 17, DCVC announced that it had begun Milo Werner as a general partner to lead the firm's climate investment practice. The firm is currently raising its first dedicated climate fund. Werner was most recently a general partner at Engine Ventures for two and a half years. Werner was a partner at Ajax Strategies before that.
- Anne Lee Skates announced on July 11 that she was leaving Andreessen Horowitz, where she had been a partner in the consumer team since 2019. She added that she will be doing her “life's work” and will post more about her future plans soon. At Andreessen, she supported companies including Whatnot, Kindred and Prisms, among others.
JUNE
- On June 17, Spencer Peterson announced that he would be leaving Bedrock, where he served as a partner for five years, to become a general partner at Coatue. Peterson is an investor in companies including OpenAI and Rippling, among others.
- Amanda “Robby” Robson announced her departure from Cowboy Ventures in a LinkedIn post in early June. Robson had been at Cowboy Ventures since October 2019 and at Norwest Venture Partners for three years before that. Robson plans to start a fund of her own.
May
- Founding partner of Serena Ventures Alison Stillman announced that he would retire from the firm on May 14 after nearly six years working with tennis star Serena Williams. Stillman did not announce her next step.
- Terry Burns announced on May 13 that she was launching a new venture firm called Type Capital. Burns was previously the first black woman partner at GV and left the firm in 2022. Her new fund will focus on pre-seed and seed-stage startups.
- Last week TechCrunch revealed he co-founded Fika Ventures Eva Ho would leave the firm after Fika finished deploying the current fund. Ho is stepping down for personal reasons. The move was confirmed by the firm in a blog post on May 9.
- On May 9, Alison Lange Engel announced that he would be taking on the role of CEO at Ceros, an AI-powered design company. Lange Engel left Greycroft in December, where she had been a partner since 2019, to take up the role.
- After 15 years, Vic Singh DESIGNATED to X that he was leaving Eniac Ventures on May 1st. Singh helped launch the firm in 2009 and is planning to start a new firm of his own.
APRIL
- On April 30, Ethan Kurzweil DESIGNATED he was leaving his role as a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners after 16 years. Kurzweil will launch an investment firm focused on early stages, according to reports from Axios. Kurzweil will launch the firm with Christina Shenwho left Andreessen Horowitz after four years on March 29 and Mark Goldberg, who left Index Ventures after eight years last fall.
- On April 1st, Christina Farr DESIGNATED that she would be leaving OMERS Ventures, where she has served as lead investor and head of the firm's health technology practice since December 2020. Farr announced at X that she would be working on its health technology newsletter, writing a book of focused on the power storytelling can have on businesses and consulting with health tech founders.
March
- After six years as a partner at Accel, Ethan Choi announced that he would be leaving the firm to join Khosla Ventures in March. Choi will focus on growth-stage investing in his new firm and has backed companies such as Klaviyo, Pismo and 1Password.
- While many of the recent VC moves have been by people looking to start something new, or take on a different opportunity, not all have been. On March 13, Social Capital of Chamath Palihapitiya DESIGNATED that he dismissed the partners Jay Zaveri AND Ravi Tanuku. Bloomberg reported that this was due to an issue involving fundraising for AI startup Groq.
- Rabois was not the only person looking to boomerang back into an old haunt in this latest surge of investor reshuffle. On March 5, Miles Grimshaw announced that he would be returning to Thrive Capital as a general partner after serving in the same position at Benchmark Capital for three years. Grimshaw originally started at Thrive Capital in 2013 and has backed companies such as Airtable, Lattice and Monzo, among others.
- While the transition from operator to VC is a common career progression in the startup ecosystem, it's not for everyone. On March 4, Sam Blond announced that he had come to that conclusion and would be leaving Founders Fund, where he had been a partner for about 18 months. Blond said he would return to operations and has held roles at companies such as Brex, Zenefits and EchoSign.
January
- After 12 years at Andreessen Horowitz, Connie Chan announced that he would be leaving the firm on January 23. Chan had served as one of the firm's general partners for the past five years and has backed companies such as Cider, KoBold and Whatnot.
- Famous entrepreneurial investor Keith Rabois announced on January 9 that he was leaving Founders Fund to return to Khosla Ventures. Rabois had been a general partner at Founders Fund for nearly five years; he returned to Khosla as managing director, his previous role.
TechCrunch is monitoring the latest venture moves and will continue to update this article as they happen. If you have any tips or calls to bring to our attention, contact me here: rebecca.szkutak@techcrunch.com.
This post was originally published on May 1st. It has since been updated on May 13, July 12, August 15, September 23, November 18, and December 23, 2024, to include additional moves within the venture.
This post has been updated to better reflect Anne Lee Skates' investment in Andreessen Horowitz.
