Dempsey's Satirical Essay Tells VCs to Give Up: Only a Handful of Companies Matter
ditzikow · x · 2026-08-18
VC Michael Dempsey published the satirical essay "Dear VCs, Just Give Up": multistage funds with $5B AUM are pushing into seed, fighting for 10-15% of two-person companies and always winning — founders pick the known brand over boutiques that may not exist in ten years.
The core argument: as accessible intelligence explodes, fewer and fewer companies will matter, and big funds will grab all 8 that do each year (the OpenAI/Anthropic/Anduril tier). Small VCs should just push their zombie portfolios to get acquired by those winners and shovel money in via SPVs, or move up to growth. It's satire — but as the poster notes, plenty of investors at big firms won't read it that way.
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