Superclusters is a podcast designed to help the emerging LP think like an established LP allocating to venture capital as an asset class. Our goal is to answer one question: How do the world's wealthiest institutions and individuals pick VC firms to invest in?
Superclusters - The Emerging LP Podcast
Claim This Podcastby Superclusters by David Zhou
4.8(21 reviews)
84 episodes
Updated Bi-weekly
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Podcast Overview
Superclusters is a podcast designed to help the emerging LP think like an established LP allocating to venture capital as an asset class. Our goal is to answer one question: How do the world's wealthiest institutions and individuals pick VC firms to invest in?
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Publishing Since
11/20/2023
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Recent Episodes
June 15, 2026
What is the density of your founder NPS? | El Pack w/ Charlotte Zhang
<p>“We’re going into a world where there will be an increase in inequality in terms of the have’s versus have-not’s. And so if you are invested in some of the have’s, I would actually bet on their acceleration of value aggregation in the later stages of scaling which is why I, personally, think a winning strategy is to hold onto them for as long as possible."</p><p><strong>Charlotte Zhang</strong> from Inatai Foundation is back! And if you've tuned into her first episode on Superclusters, you'll know exactly why. Charlotte has been one of my favorite guests on the podcast, marrying both her profound ability for deep analysis with strong framework-oriented assessments. You might remember her 4 P's to underwriting every manager from our prior episode.</p><p>Naturally I had to have her back for an El Pack episode to answer your questions on how to build a venture capital fund. We bring on 3 GPs at VC funds to ask 3 different questions.</p><p>99VC's <strong>Lisa Yu</strong> asks about what LPs look for in Fund I's beyond track record.</p><p>Escape Velocity's <strong>Mahesh Ramakrishnan</strong> asks about recycling and what happens when you have 30% of your fund size as distributions in the first few years of the fund.</p><p>Founder Embassy's <strong>Helena Gagern</strong> asks about investing in AI frontier labs where the first round of financing already puts the company at $400M+ in valuation. And also, how do you communicate to LPs that you have an "exceptionalism" bucket to invest out of?</p><p>As the director of investments at Inatai Foundation, <strong>Charlotte Zhang</strong> oversees the selection of external investment managers, conducts portfolio research, and helps to institutionalize processes, tools, and resources. She previously served as a senior associate at ICONIQ Capital and, before that, Medley Partners. When not working, you can find her globetrotting (18 countries and counting), writing a Yelp review about the best bite in town, or cuddling up with a book and her two adorable cats.</p><p>You can find Charlotte on her LinkedIn here:</p><p>LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotterzhang/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotterzhang/</a></p><p><strong>OUTLINE:</strong></p><p>(00:00) Intro</p><p>(01:04) What's new in Charlotte's life?</p><p>(04:06) LPs Charlotte would love to meet</p><p>(05:41) Who is Lisa and 99VC?</p><p>(09:31) What qualities does Charlotte look for beyond track record?</p><p>(14:55) How does a GP know if they have a differentiated strategy?</p><p>(15:49) Charlotte's pet peeve</p><p>(17:29) The bottoms up exercise of building a fund strategy</p><p>(18:00) Consistency of execution</p><p>(20:05) The highest level of signal you can get from a founder reference</p><p>(22:18) The ask</p><p>(22:51) Who is better at bowling: Mahesh or David?</p><p>(24:44) Who is Mahesh and Escape Velocity?</p><p>(25:20) Why is Escape Velocity spelled as EV^3?</p><p>(27:10) What happens when you have 30% DPI in the first 2 years of your fund?</p><p>(30:19) Does early DPI matter more in Fund I than Fund III?</p><p>(33:26) Should you sell secondaries at the Series B as a pre-seed/seed GP?</p><p>(37:34) Venture is under siege for no DPI</p><p>(38:18) Would Charlotte rather have 4X in 10 years or 7X in 15 years?</p><p>(39:42) Have's and have-not's</p><p>(40:35) Who is Helena and Founder Embassy?</p><p>(44:45) What is Charlotte's reaction when a pre-seed GP invests in a $400M post valuation?</p><p>(49:23) How do the best GPs communicate betting off-thesis?</p><p>(50:44) How many GPs have an "exceptionalism" bucket to invest out of?</p><p>(55:56) How much underwriting goes into a GP breaking the rules?</p><p>(58:10) "A-players are obvious" but what isn't?</p><p>(1:00:38) Charlotte's last piece of advice for LPs</p><p>(1:03:43) Charlotte's last piece of advice for GPs</p><p>(1:07:18) Why you should talk about the anti-portfolio</p><p>(1:09:33) David's favorite moment from Charlotte's previous episode</p><p>Follow David Zhou for more Superclusters content:</p><p>For podcast show notes: <a href="https://cupofzhou.com/superclusters" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://cupofzhou.com/superclusters</a></p><p>For Superclusters After Hours: <a href="https://superclusterslp.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://superclusterslp.substack.com/</a></p><p>Follow David Zhou's blog: <a href="https://cupofzhou.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://cupofzhou.com</a></p><p>Follow Superclusters on X: <a href="https://x.com/SuperclustersLP" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://x.com/SuperclustersLP</a></p>
June 8, 2026
"You don't have enough dopamine in your pitch!" | El Pack w/ Asher Siddiqui
<p>“How you modulate a good story is by inserting dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins at the right times to be able to deliver that story so that the person listening to that story can form an opinion.”</p><p><strong>Asher Siddiqui</strong> from the Song Family Office joins me on El Pack to answer your questions on how to build a venture capital fund. We bring on 3 GPs at VC funds to ask 3 different questions.</p><p>Inuka Capital's <strong>Gautam Shewakramani</strong> asks about what GPs typically overshare and under-share when they're pitching an LP. As well as how an LP identifies if a GP has great sourcing if they're a generalist fund.</p><p>Unshackled Venture's <strong>Manan Mehta</strong> asks if VC is still only one asset class. Is early stage now a combination of discovery and validation capital?</p><p>Keymaker VC's <strong>Tim Wang</strong> asks what do most LPs overvalue in GPs.</p><p><strong>Asher Siddiqui</strong> is a global tech investor, M&A dealmaker, and venture fund builder with over 25 years of hands-on experience across venture capital, entrepreneurship, and more than $15B in executed M&A transactions.</p><p>He began his career as a software engineer and entrepreneur in the US and UK before spending a decade leading M&A and corporate venture at Etisalat Group (now e& Group), one of the world’s largest listed TMT investment groups. There, he led acquisitions, exits, and strategic transactions across multiple continents.</p><p>In 2016, Asher joined the global leadership team at 500 Startups in San Francisco, helping scale the platform to $2B+ AUM, with a portfolio that includes 35+ unicorns and 160+ centaurs.</p><p>Since then, he has helped launch and scale several institutional VC firms—including Race Capital, Lumikai, Sukna Ventures, Zayn VC, and Humanrace Capital—and serves on the advisory boards of funds such as FootPrint Coalition Ventures, Merus Capital, and The Treasury.</p><p>To date, Asher has made 100+ venture investments (both direct and LP), raised hundreds of millions in LP commitments, mentored hundreds of emerging VC managers globally, and advised countless founders.</p><p>You can find Asher on his socials here:</p><p>LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashersiddiqui/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashersiddiqui/</a></p><p>X / Twitter: <a href="https://x.com/ashercdkey" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://x.com/ashercdkey</a></p><p><strong>OUTLINE:</strong></p><p>(00:00) Intro</p><p>(02:09) The DOSE framework for underwriting pitches</p><p>(04:19) Asher's new role</p><p>(05:38) Who is Gautam and Inuka Capital?</p><p>(09:19) What do most GPs overshare and undershare on?</p><p>(15:19) How does Asher differentiate sourcing ability in generalist funds?</p><p>(20:01) The first date analogy</p><p>(22:38) What emotions do each of DOSE represent?</p><p>(27:23) Too much dopamine, not enough endorphins</p><p>(30:02) Who is Manan and Unshackled Ventures?</p><p>(31:33) Unshackled's most recent big win</p><p>(32:46) Discovery capital vs validation capital</p><p>(33:31) Is venture still only one asset class?</p><p>(43:29) The Song Family Office portfolio construction</p><p>(51:41) Asher's stance on reserves</p><p>(55:00) Why it makes sense to go to zero AGMs</p><p>(56:23) The ask</p><p>(57:27) Who is Tim and Keymaker VC?</p><p>(58:45) What do most LPs overvalue in GPs?</p><p>(1:04:40) A new way to share the team's personality on the deck?</p><p>(1:08:09) Asher's last piece of advice</p><p>(1:14:57) David's favorite moment of Asher in S5</p><p>Follow David Zhou for more Superclusters content:</p><p>For podcast show notes: <a href="https://cupofzhou.com/superclusters" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://cupofzhou.com/superclusters</a></p><p>For Superclusters After Hours: <a href="https://superclusterslp.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://superclusterslp.substack.com/</a></p><p>Follow David Zhou's blog: <a href="https://cupofzhou.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://cupofzhou.com</a></p><p>Follow Superclusters on X: <a href="https://x.com/SuperclustersLP" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://x.com/SuperclustersLP</a></p>
June 1, 2026
The Hardest Fund I to Underwrite | Zach Ruchman
<p>“The question at Fund IV is, ‘Okay, you’ve proved that you’re a great firm builder. Congratulations, you’re raising Fund IV. Are you still a great investor?’”</p><p><strong>Zach Ruchman</strong> joined HB Wealth in 2025 as a Shareholder after working with WMS Partners since 2023. In his role as Managing Director, Private Markets, Zach leads the team responsible for research and due diligence of private market investment opportunities across a variety of asset classes, including private equity, growth equity, venture capital, private credit, infrastructure, and real assets.</p><p>Before joining HB Wealth, Zach was a Senior Vice President at RockCreek and a Vice President at BlackRock, where he led direct co-investment transactions as well as manager research for both primary and secondary commitments in the Americas, Europe, and Asia on behalf of both institutional and family office clients. He began his career as a consultant with Alvarez & Marsal. In this episode, we also talk about how he worked out of the National Democratic Institute's DC office writing grants and tracking political regimes in the Middle East, including the Arab Spring.</p><p>In the community, Zach serves as a member of the finance committee for the Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation.</p><p>You can find Zach on his socials here:</p><p>LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/zruchman/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://www.linkedin.com/in/zruchman/</a></p><p>X / Twitter: <a href="https://x.com/zmrphoto" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://x.com/zmrphoto</a></p><p><strong>OUTLINE:</strong></p><p>(00:00) Intro</p><p>(03:04) When 9/11 entered Zach's life</p><p>(12:20) Interest in the Middle East</p><p>(15:00) Returning to the US</p><p>(17:49) What's in the foreign service exam?</p><p>(22:29) From pursuing the state department to consulting</p><p>(25:39) Consulting to allocating</p><p>(32:20) Business school and mentors</p><p>(36:34) The ask</p><p>(37:07) How Zach makes re-up decisions?</p><p>(40:15) The difference between a Fund I and Fund IV</p><p>(43:26) Alignment between senior and mid-level investors</p><p>(45:33) Deal attribution at big VCs</p><p>(46:40) Questions to ask to references to find deal attribution</p><p>(49:12) Avoiding a reference's scripted answer</p><p>(52:14) Top 1% performers leaving organizations</p><p>(53:45) The hardest Fund I to underwrite</p><p>(1:00:57) Does radical transparency work?</p><p>(1:06:15) "Private assets work best when they're inefficient."</p><p>(1:09:20) Does AI change VC investing?</p><p>(1:11:33) Sourcing that AI cannot do</p><p>(1:14:26) Can AI write good memos?</p><p>(1:19:11) Pattern vs exception recognition</p><p>(1:25:03) An example of how a GP proved he worked hard</p><p>(1:28:00) Best advice for action photography</p><p>Follow David Zhou for more Superclusters content:</p><p>For podcast show notes: <a href="https://cupofzhou.com/superclusters" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://cupofzhou.com/superclusters</a></p><p>For Superclusters After Hours: <a href="https://superclusterslp.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://superclusterslp.substack.com/</a></p><p>Follow David Zhou's blog: <a href="https://cupofzhou.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://cupofzhou.com</a></p><p>Follow Superclusters on X: <a href="https://x.com/SuperclustersLP" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://x.com/SuperclustersLP</a></p>
84 total episodes available with 1 transcripts
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