AVC by Fred Wilson
Fred Wilson, co-founder of Union Square Ventures, has written every day since September 2003, producing one of the most intellectually foundational archives in the history of venture capital. Writing in a thinking-out-loud narrative format, Wilson processes real-time market shifts through a lens built across multiple economic cycles — from the post-dot-com recovery and the 2008 financial crisis through the rise of Web3 and modern automation. The archive includes his early backing of Twitter, Etsy, and Coinbase, documenting in real time the fund sizing discipline, reserve allocation patience, and market cycle awareness that turned those investments into defining outcomes.
Why is relevant?
For LPs auditing fund manager philosophies and emerging managers designing their first portfolio construction models, AVC is a master blueprint built from two decades of live decision-making rather than retrospective advice. Wilson's Seven to Ten Years framework — demonstrating why losses surface early while generation-defining winners require a decade to reach real liquidity — is particularly valuable for anyone calibrating expectations in early-stage portfolios. The daily consistency of the archive means you can trace how his thinking evolved through multiple market cycles, which is a form of investment education that no conference panel or prepared talk can replicate.

Author
Fred Wilson
Publication date
Daily
Difficulty
Intermediate
Keywords
- Early Stage Investing
- Founder Advice
- Market Cycles
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