Leo Polovets

Except Sequoia and Benchmark are incredible and least willing to compromise on series a ownership.

That's true, but somewhat tangential to what I said. I'm not saying being inflexible doesn't work -- it obviously does, esp if you're amazing at what you do. I'm saying being flexible when others aren't can unlock excellent opportunities.

Yes but often the inflexibility is the correct principle. So defying it is a mistake.

Why do you think it's often the correct principle? E.g. in VC there are many examples of funds missing out b/c they were stuck on price, or ownership, or having a board seat, or geo, or etc. And from the outside, FF looks great because it appears flexible across many dimensions.

For example, having reviewed 1000+ cap tables, the most stringent on ownership of series A are Sequoia, Benchmark, KV, USV and Lightspeed.

Sure, but deviating from the strategies of those funds can also work well. AFAIK Felicis often invests in geos that others won't look at, Bullpen invests in rounds that are too big for seed, too small for A, etc. They end up doing well b/c they're flexible where others aren't.

Bullpen has a focus. I have been an LP in several of their funds.

I agree, but going back to the very original tweet in this thread, the claim was not "you can do well without focus," it was "you can do well if you focus in areas where others exclude themselves out of rigidity." Bullpen exemplifies that IMO.

There’s clearly a point where the math breaks this down. You could win by inflating valuation (and reducing your ownership) 10x. You’d win the deal, but unlikely your portfolio would perform. Maybe going up by some smaller number still works. Where’s the crossover point?

I was thinking of something different in mind. For a company worth $100m, most A firms would say "I need 20%, so I'll give you $20m." If you have the flexibility to say "10% is fine, and I'll give you $10m," you'll be the only game in town for founders that don't need/want $20m.

College Prof was founder of Kinko's. Said they were open 24 hours not bc there was a lot of late-night demand, but so that people knew the answer to "is Kinko's open" was always "yes".

Good point, but a monopoly in a crappy market is not that great rather. Eg there could be a reason no lunch shops are open in the financial district on Saturday at noon.