The end of Venture Capital? (VC Roundtable) | E2285

The end of Venture Capital? (VC Roundtable) | E2285

From This Week in Startups by Jason Calacanis

May 6, 2026 · 1h 24m · Episode 2285

About this episode

The episode discusses the potential end of venture capital as a craft business and the implications for the future of innovation.

This Week In Startups is made possible by: Grasshopper Bank - https:// grasshopper.bank/twist PaperOS - https:// paperos.com/twist LinkedIn Jobs - https:// linkedIn.com/twist Plaud - https://Plaud.ai/twist The top 5 U.S. venture firms captured 73% of all LP commits in Q1, and three veteran VCs say the math may have officially broken. Aleph's Michael Eisenberg argues we may be witnessing the end of a 60-year run for venture capital as a craft business. Maniv's Mike Granoff and Oxcart's Larry Covert push back, arguing it's merely splitting into two asset classes: "Consensus VC" and traditional VC. Either way, the implications for founders, LPs, and the next decade of innovation are enormous. TWiST is back on the beat with a venture round table discussing investment concentration, the IPO drought, "bullshit ARR" in the AI era, AI gross margins, the U.S.-China chip war, the Iran conflict's impact on defense tech, the death of NATO and the rise of allied supply chains, why Tel Aviv's stock exchange could become the next NASDAQ, and a lightning round on each VC's favorite portfolio company. Let’s go! Timestamps: 0:00 Intro + sponsor reads (Grasshopper Bank, PaperOS…

People in this episode

Host: Jason Calacanis

Guests: Michael Eisenberg, Mike Granoff, Larry Covert

Topics covered

  • venture capital
  • investment concentration
  • IPO drought
  • AI
  • U.S.-China relations
  • defense technology
  • innovation

Keywords

  • venture capital
  • LP commits
  • AI gross margins
  • chip war
  • defense tech
  • NATO
  • Tel Aviv stock exchange

Sponsors

Grasshopper Bank, PaperOS, LinkedIn Jobs, Plaud

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Aleph, Maniv, Oxcart

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