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Modest Proposals

Investing Directly in People Is the Future of VC. Here’s How to Do It.

After a year of experimenting, we've come up with two models that work.

Art by Mike Sullivan
By
Sam Lessin
[email protected]Profile and archive

Earlier this year I wrote about the idea of investing directly in people versus companies—something my venture capital firm, Slow Ventures, has started doing. For us, this is a form of real VC, as opposed to the plug-and-play, low-margin growth equity that is rapidly becoming as boring as it sounds.

Even a year ago people thought we were crazy. But in that year, as we’ve all come to terms with the fact that financial outcomes for creators are growing increasingly discontinuous and somewhat random, the rationality of VC going directly to people—as opposed to the more traditional approach of taking on debt—is becoming more and more apparent. And yet for most people, the question remains: How do you actually…do it?

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