20VC: Benchmark's Newest General Partner Ev Randle on Why Margins Matter Less in AI | Why Mega Funds Will Not Produce Good Returns | OpenAI vs Anthropic: What Happens and Who Wins Coding | Investing Lessons from Peter Thiel and Mamoon Hamid artwork

20VC: Benchmark's Newest General Partner Ev Randle on Why Margins Matter Less in AI | Why Mega Funds Will Not Produce Good Returns | OpenAI vs Anthropic: What Happens and Who Wins Coding | Investing Lessons from Peter Thiel and Mamoon Hamid

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

November 10, 2025

Ev Randle is a General Partner @ Benchmark, one of the best funds in venture capital. In their latest fund, they have Mercor ($10BN valuation), Sierra ($10BN valuation), Firework ($4BN valuation), Legora ($2Bn valuation) and Langchain ($1.4Bn valuation).
Speakers: Everett Randle, Harry Stebbings
**Everett Randle** (0:00)
I think we should not be placing that much emphasis on margins today. We need a new taxonomy for AI companies. Like Tiger died and we got six or seven more Tigers. I don't think Ravi or Hamant or even Ben and Mark at this point, I don't think that they can go to LPs and say, we're going to get you 5x net on that. When you're writing billion dollar checks, that is your main product. Go talk to the principals, the junior partners, and the associates at those firms. And you tell me that Capital Velocity is not the North Star of those firms. I think Tiger is going to end up much better than anyone thought they were going to end up.

**Harry Stebbings** (0:34)
This is 20VC with me, Harry Stebbings. And this is one of the best shows I've done in a long time, I think. So fun fact, I've never met this guest before. When you hear it feels and it sounds like two friends shooting the shit, catching up over a dinner. I have to say, I think he's just like my long lost brother, but it was so much fun. So I'm thrilled to welcome General Partner at Benchmark, Benchmark's newest partner, Everett Randle. Benchmark are one of the best firms in venture. In their latest fund, they have Mercor, $10 billion valuation, Sierra, $10 billion valuation, Firework, $4 billion valuation, Legora, $2 billion valuation, Langchain, $1.4 billion valuation. In multiples, that's a 60X, 230Xs and 220Xs. Now, before Benchmark, Everett was a partner at Kleiner Perkins and before KP, he was an investor at Founders Fund and Bond. But before we dive into the show today, are you drowning in AI tools? Chat GPT for writing, Notion for docs, Gmail for email, Slack for comms and you're constantly copy pasting between them all, losing context and losing time. This is the AI productivity tax and it's killing your output. At 20VC, we're all about speed of execution and Superhuman is the AI productivity suite that gives you superpowers everywhere you work. With the intelligence of Grammarly, Mail and Coda built in, you can get things done faster and collaborate seamlessly. Finally, AI that works where you work, however you work. Superhuman gets you from day one with zero learning curve and it's personalized to sound like you at your best, not like everyone else using generic AI. Get AI that works where you work, unlock your superhuman potential. Learn more at superhuman.com/podcast.
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