For one, there is a belief that because the world of startups is ambiguous and unpredictable, the path to thriving is diversification. 'Spray and pray', where due to the unpredictability and 'power law' nature of startups, making more investments is the rational road to take. But we think what this does is that it hides a confession: we don't trust our own judgment enough to concentrate.

The ramifications of building portfolios that optimize for coverage over conviction do not end with wiring funds; the bar drops, founders receive significantly less attention, and when things get rocky - which they will - investors have less reason to keep fighting for the company.

We draw the line here; we do not treat our founder partnerships akin to lottery tickets. We will invest in fifteen partnerships at Arpeggio, and fight for their success.

Second, to tame this unpredictability, it's believed that more data is the path to building conviction. Investing on the basis of product traction, unit economic feasibility, or market depth is a prerequisite to forging a partnership. We think otherwise. In our eyes, all of this unpredictability can be navigated by anchoring on the single constant at the early-stage: the founders. Everything else is transient, variable, and subject to churn: from the business model to the customer segment. And we are okay with that.

By anchoring our decision first and foremost on the entrepreneur, we will stomach volatility when it arrives - which it will - and be by their side during times of turbulence.

It's in our name: an arpeggio is a chord played one note at a time; we're willing to back the first note, before the chord resolves.

Last: it's known that venture capital is built as an individual sport. Incentives run deep, and 'partners' are encouraged to sharp elbow their way to great companies.

We will flip that on its head. Arpeggio is built from the ground up with zero silos, zero attribution, and each founder partnership is served by the firm in its entirety. Talk to one of us and you have talked to all of us. And every founder inherits everything we have - the portfolio, the LPs, the co-investors - from the day the partnership begins.