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Larry Cheng shared thisSome thoughts on fundraising given the announcement of our new fund...
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Larry Cheng shared thisTrue story: 18 years ago when Roger Hurwitz, Sean Cantwell, and I got in a room and discussed whether we wanted to start Volition Capital, I thought about it for maybe 30 seconds before saying "I'm in". To me, it was one of the easiest decisions I've ever made. That was in in 2008, and we ultimately launched Volition in 2010. It turned out to be a tough time to start Volition to say the least. In 2009, the S&P 500 had dropped 50% in the Great Financial Crisis. “Emerging manager” became a bad word in the LP community as there was a flight to established managers. Volition was a complete unknown and our respective track records were early. We traversed the globe meeting with any and every LP who would take a meeting, and over 200 said no or ghosted us before finally one said yes. But that one got the ball rolling. Some combination of luck and skill thereafter led to strong early returns which set the stage for more funds to come. What I didn't fully appreciate at the time that we started Volition was how different Roger, Sean, and I are - and how that would be an essential ingredient to the success of the firm. We are very different thinkers and personalities who have mind-melded over the years. Capitalizing on this strength, we have adopted a culture that celebrates differences of opinion and style. Hence one of our core values being: embrace opposites. What I also didn't appreciate when we started Volition was how our focus 16 years ago would be the same focus we have today - investing in high growth, capital efficient, tech companies. One LP in this fundraise brought out our pitch deck from Fund I and compared it to our pitch deck in Fund VI - when they did that, I knew exactly what they'd see. They'd see a core focus and a set of principles that haven't changed. That also has been a key to our success. For all of our differences, though, there is decidedly one important area in which we are very much the same: our values. I don't think there's been a single time in 16 years where there's been a clash of values between us. In all the best ways, we have battled on ideas, perspectives, thinking, investments, etc. But, clash on values? I can't think of a single time. Nothing is more important for the longevity of a partnership than shared values. Therein lies our secret sauce: very different perspectives + very tight focus + shared values. As we launch Volition Fund VI, I am certainly grateful to all of our founders, portfolio companies, LPs, and Volition team members. But, on this day, I'd like to give a special thanks to Roger and Sean - without you two, Volition wouldn't be where we are today. It's been a blast and a privilege to partner together. Onwards! Fund Release: https://lnkd.in/gZqAftcb
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Larry Cheng shared thisI’m very excited to announce that we have raised Volition Fund VI with $950M in capital. With this new fund, we will continue to do what we’ve always done at Volition which is to invest in high growth, capital efficient technology companies that have aspirations for greatness. I’m very grateful to our LPs, portfolio companies, and Volition team members for all of their dedication. We would not be here without everyone’s support. More thoughts to come next week on the fundraise, but for now, congratulations to the Volition Capital team! Article: https://lnkd.in/gwG_jBuw
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Larry Cheng shared thisI’ve heard many companies explain to me the value they bring to customers. I then talk to those customers and hear them explain the value they are receiving. The language is often not the same. That’s why I ask companies, “Tell me - in your customer’s words - what value they are receiving.” I’m less focused on what a company is selling and more on what a customer is receiving because the latter is key to everything. Sometimes when the language around value diverges it’s because a marketing message has obfuscated the real value customers are receiving rather than clearly elevating it which is arguably the central purpose of marketing.
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Larry Cheng posted thisThis is the path to profitable growth: 1. Get your cost structure right. 2. Get your unit economics right. 3. Get your working capital right. 4. Get your capital structure right. 5. Invest wisely to grow. Miss any one of the first four steps, and you might not get to the last step. For those companies that can get to step 5 of profitable growth - all of the hard work will have been worth it. You'll find that your market is still there. Whatever market you're going after today will still be there tomorrow. You'll find that it will be less competitive. Many of your competitors will have fallen away, unable to run the gauntlet on getting their business right. You'll find your market will stay uncompetitive because investors will have less capital and will have scar tissue on all of the companies that failed -therefore they won't invest as readily. You'll find incredible freedom in running a business that generates cash, no lenders breathing down your neck, no need to pitch investors every year for survival. You'll wonder how you possibly financed the business any other way. You'll revel in the capacity to focus most of your time once again on the on the most rewarding aspect of the journey which is delighting customers. You'll have a lot of fun growing again but even more fun turning the dials on profitability, seeing little improvements here or there, drop straight to bottom line cash flow. And, you'll have arrived with a fundamentally sound business that can create a lot of value for employees and shareholders alike.
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Larry Cheng shared thisTimes have changed. It feels like three generations ago when the go-to-market model for Internet companies was to buy Facebook and Google ads. Hire people who can learn, take risks and adapt. Experience isn’t always helpful when operating models change quickly.
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Larry Cheng shared thisU.S. Mobile is much more than a mobile carrier, it’s a control plane for global, terrestrial and celestial connectivity. “Today, that control plane brings together all three major terrestrial networks in the US. Our partnership with Starlink adds the celestial layer. Next year, we plan to bring US Mobile to a few dozen countries while adding additional celestial partners into the same architecture. So yes, US Mobile is coming to your country too.”Larry Cheng shared thisSomething pretty remarkable is happening at US Mobile. In August, our annualized revenue run rate reached approximately $285 million, up from $114 million at the end of 2024. We are now serving over 1.1 million customers. We have raised just $32 million in total capital, and today have more than 2x that amount in the bank. Our sights are now firmly set on the next short term milestone: $1 billion in annualized revenue. And the outside world is starting to notice. Consumer Reports has ranked US Mobile #1 for the second year in a row. Wirecutter recently named US Mobile its new favorite cellular carrier. The Wall Street Journal has been writing about what we are building. But the part that excites me most is what sits underneath all of this. For more than a decade, we have been building one control plane for connectivity. Today, that control plane brings together all three major terrestrial networks in the US. Our partnership with Starlink adds the celestial layer. Next year, we plan to bring US Mobile to a few dozen countries while adding additional celestial partners into the same architecture. So yes, US Mobile is coming to your country too. Terrestrial and celestial connectivity. More networks. More countries. One control plane. The idea has always been that the underlying carrier, technology or geography should disappear into the software. Customers should simply get the best connectivity available, wherever they are. It took us a decade to build the control plane. Now the scale is starting to catch up with the ambition. And we are still very early. There are moments in a company's life when the technology, market, ambition and momentum all start converging at once. I think we are in one of those moments. If you are exceptional at what you do, please consider joining our mission. I am personally hiring for product, engineering and design roles, including CTO. https://lnkd.in/gH8eyEAh A few things worth reading: Starlink / US Mobile: https://lnkd.in/eEQ9wzBz Consumer Reports: https://lnkd.in/eCR5wG3U Wirecutter: https://lnkd.in/egRZgHzG Wall Street Journal: https://lnkd.in/eXgi-wBSSpaceX IPO Could Hit $2 Trillion as Starlink Deal Boosts Growth - MarketWiseSpaceX IPO Could Hit $2 Trillion as Starlink Deal Boosts Growth - MarketWise
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Larry Cheng shared thisThe success of an investment isn't based on what the company is at the time of the investment. It's based on what the company becomes in the future. Overweighting present realities in investment decisions can miss the fact that investments succeed/fail based on future realities.
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Larry Cheng shared thisDoubling down: Volition led Levanta’s $20M Series A in Nov 2024. We are now excited to lead Levanta’s $22M Series B. The market is speaking clearly through Levanta’s performance that a single scalable affiliate platform enabling creators and brands to collaborate across platforms (Amazon, Wal-Mart, Shopify, etc) and across different geographies is solving a big problem space in the world of e-commerce. We are excited to expand the partnership with the Levanta team! Link to the full article in the comments.
Larry Cheng replied to a comment
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Jules Pieri I wonder what I said?! Thanks for the encouragement!
Larry Cheng replied to a comment
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Rachael Foo fills me with pride to see you doing so well! We always wanted you back at Volition!!
Larry Cheng replied to a comment
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Scott Tobin thanks Scott - when anyone asks me who has mentored me in my career - you’re the first person I think of every time.
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Larry Cheng liked thisLarry Cheng liked thisNextView backed WHOOP in its seed round a dozen years ago, and it's unexpectedly led me to a test for how AI-native a VC firm really is. I've worn the fitness band every day since, which turned me into a health and longevity obsessive, relentlessly listening to the podcasts and reading the bestselling books of the genre. Here's the connection. Every longevity expert has a favorite number. Grip strength, VO2 max, gait speed, resting heart rate. In one study of 140,000 people, grip strength predicted death better than blood pressure did. None of those numbers actually causes a long life. The dead hang isn't why the strong survive. Each one is a proxy for whole-system health, the thing you actually care about and can't read directly. You track the number because it moves with the hidden variable underneath. AI-nativeness is a venture firm's version of that whole-system health, and it's just as invisible. So venture needs a proxy too. Instead nearly every firm just calls itself AI-native, and since nobody measures it, everyone gets to say it. Here's mine. VC Grip Strength: the share of a firm's senior partners who personally opened an agentic coding tool like Claude Code or Codex on three or more separate days last week. The partners themselves, with their own hands. Not the associate who runs the AI initiative, not the consultant who demoed at the offsite. A partner in the tool that often has almost certainly reorganized part of how she works. The partner who only hears about it secondhand is running a paint job, admired from across the room. The tool is the tell. Six months ago I hadn't opened one of these tools once. Now I clear my own bar nearly every week. How many others are promising themselves they'll start next Monday, after the partner meeting? Full Carried Away blog post link in the first comment. Tell me which number you'd pick instead.
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Larry Cheng liked thisLarry Cheng liked thisVolition Capital was back in Las Vegas this week for Blueprint: The Future of Real Estate 2026, where we hosted an evening of cocktails and conversation with proptech founders and operators. The event brought together 50+ attendees for an evening of meaningful conversations, new connections, and shared perspectives across the proptech community, while giving founders and operators the opportunity to learn more about Volition’s investment approach and how we partner with companies to support their growth. Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make it such a great evening!
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Larry Cheng liked thisLarry Cheng liked thisExcited to announce Levanta’s $22M Series B! Volition Capital doubled down on us after leading our Series A. Levanta has been profitable or break-even since we launched. Runway has never been a concern for us. But we know a good opportunity when we see one, and speed and scale of execution is what we are after here. Today Levanta spans Amazon, Shopify, Walmart, and another retail marketplace we’re announcing soon. We have 90,000+ vetted creators on our platform, with access to millions more through social discovery features, and we're increasingly building creator infrastructure not just for brands, but for the marketplaces themselves. We're calling it Creator Commerce Media. In short: most retail marketplaces have not yet enabled their sellers to get involved in creator/affiliate marketing. These sellers want to attract more exposure to their products through creators. And there are millions of creators who want to partner with them. Levanta has created the infrastructure connecting those two sides, enabling the partnerships, economics, attribution, payments, reporting, and everything in between. This round gives us the ability to push harder on that vision, with the aim to bring on a dozen additional marketplaces and thousands of new brands – while continuing to accelerate traffic to our existing Amazon, Shopify, and Walmart sellers. One part of this round I'm especially proud of: we were able to provide meaningful cash liquidity to Levanta team members. Startups take a lot of work, and the people building them create a ton of value along the way. I’m excited our team can actually realize some of that value without having to wait for an exit/IPO. There are a lot of people who got us here. Our team, customers, creators, partners, and investors – thank you all so much. So much gratitude to Larry Cheng and Tiger Henderson at Volition for continuing to believe in this company. And of course, shoutout to my co-founders, Rob and Spencer, wouldn't be anywhere without these two! Cheers to Levanta!
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Larry Cheng liked thisLarry Cheng liked thisGreat to be back in Lahore after 22 yrs!
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Larry Cheng liked thisLarry Cheng liked thisRe/Done Opens First SoHo Store, Blending AI With Old-World New YorkRe/Done Opens First SoHo Store, Blending AI With Old-World New York
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Larry Cheng liked thisLarry Cheng liked thisI’ve always believed the best opportunities come from connecting people, ideas and capabilities that others may not immediately see together. This season, through N4XT and NYFW Collections , I brought together two existing relationships, our friends at SAP and RE/DONE, to create something beyond a traditional Fashion Week partnership: a new retail experience in the heart of SoHo. The idea grew out of the Retail Innovation Lab we launched with SAP and PUBLIC SCHOOL last season. We saw an opportunity to build on that platform by pairing SAP’s technology and retail expertise with RE/DONE’s product, cultural relevance and point of view. In making that connection, we then established the platform to shape it into an experience that felt authentic to both brands. Thank you to Jan Gilg Andre Bechtold Vishal Sonawane Murali Reddygari Helen Schwaerzler and the entire SAP team for believing in this partnership and creating such an incredible experience, thank you to Phillip Prado, Jamie Mazur and the RE/DONE team, for trusting us to bring the idea to life. BIG THANK YOU as well to Isabelle Raphael & Sloane Kapit from my team, who worked around the clock with me on making everything possible. The runway will always be the cultural heartbeat of New York Fashion Week. But Fashion Week should also be a place to build, test and experience the future of the industry. That is the role N4XT and NYFW Collections are committed to be pioneering. At the Retail Innovation Lab, we paired SAP technology with something that matters more than ever: the emotion and humanity of the shopping experience. Inspired by RE/DONE’s latest campaign with Kaia Gerber, which captures the spirit of the ’60s and ’90s, we reinterpreted that sense of discovery, culture and self-expression for the way people shop today. Launching on the opening day of Fashion Week made the moment even more meaningful. The store will carry Kaia’s capsule collection exclusively through September, available to shop only at the SoHo location. This is what we are building at N4XT and NYFW Collections: connecting fashion, technology, commerce and culture in ways that move the industry forward. Proud of what we built together this season, and we’re just getting started. Make sure to visit the store on 475 Broome street.
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Larry Cheng liked thisSome thoughts on fundraising given the announcement of our new fund...
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Larry Cheng liked thisLarry Cheng liked thisVolition Capital, a Boston-based growth equity firm, has closed its sixth fund, Volition Capital Fund VI, at its $950 million hard cap, bringing the firm’s total assets under management to more than $2.6 billion. The oversubscribed fund will back founder-owned technology companies across B2B software, internet and consumer sectors, with a focus on capital-efficient businesses navigating AI-driven growth. Managing Partners Roger Hurwitz, Larry Cheng and Sean Cantwell lead the firm, which has invested in more than 60 companies since its 2010 founding. FOUNDERS: Larry Cheng, Roger Hurwitz & Sean Cantwell. FUND NAME: Volition Capital Fund VI AMOUNT: $950,000,000 HQ: Boston, Massachusetts #VentureCapital #VolitionCapital #LarryCheng #TradedVC
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The Winsor School - Board of Trustees, Vice Chair
The Winsor School
- Present 8 years 2 months
Education
The Winsor School is a 5–12 private, college-preparatory day school for girls in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1886. Along with serving as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees, served as Co-Chair of the Head of School Search Committee, and served as a member of the Executive Committee, Finance Committee, and Advancement Committee.
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Wycliffe Bible Translators - Board of Directors, Chair
Wycliffe Bible Translators USA
- 9 years
Wycliffe Bible Translators USA is an interdenominational nonprofit organization with a stated goal to "see a Bible translation program in progress in every language still needing one by 2025."
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Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center - Board of Overseers
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
- 5 years 1 month
Health
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School.
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Harvard Alumni Association - Board of Directors
Harvard University
- 7 years
Education
Harvard College is the undergraduate liberal arts college of Harvard University
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Harvard Student Agencies - Board of Directors
Harvard Student Agencies
- Present 4 years 5 months
Education
Founded in 1957, Harvard Student Agencies the largest student-run company in the world. It is a non-profit with 10 businesses across various industries that provides educational and business opportunities to students. With more than 800 employees, HSA strives to defray the costs of education with student wages and inspire the next generation of business leaders.
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Harvard Club of Boston - Audit Committee
Harvard Club of Boston
- Present 14 years 10 months
Arts and Culture
The Harvard Club of Boston is a Platinum Club of the World private alumni club in Boston, Massachusetts.
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The Harvard Shop - Board of Directors
The Harvard Shop
- 3 years 6 months
Education
The Harvard Shop (est. 2001) offers Harvard merchandise and apparel for students, affiliates, and visitors alike at its three Harvard Square locations and an online store.
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Harvard College - Alumni Admissions Interviewer
Harvard University
- Present 15 years 10 months
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Jake (JH) P.
Excited to finally share what we’ve been building over the past year. Today we’re announcing the first investment from ARKITEKT EQUITY. Over the past year, we have been closely observing the structural shifts occurring within semiconductor ecosystems. As manufacturing systems become more complex, the infrastructure enabling those systems becomes increasingly strategic. These environments demand operational clarity, coordination, and long-term alignment. ARKITEKT was built around a simple idea: durable value is created where frontier technology meets pragmatic execution. Our investment in BBTech reflects this conviction. This is just the beginning of what we aim to build at ARKITEKT EQUITY. Stay tuned! https://lnkd.in/g_pQiBZY
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