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Phin Barnes
Co-Founder of The General Partnership in the San Francisco Bay Area
Phin Barnes is a prominent figure in the venture capital industry and the co-founder of The General Partnership, a venture capital firm. Here are some key details about his background and career:
Professional Experience
Current Role:
- Co-Founder at The General Partnership since August 20212
Previous Positions:
- Partner at First Round Capital (2012-2021)2
- Principal at First Round Capital (2009-2012)2
- Creative Director at AND 1 (1997-2003)2
Education
Investment Philosophy and Approach
Phin Barnes views investing as a craft composed of two parts: interviewing and coaching. He focuses on maximizing one-on-one time with founders, both before and after investment, to help them move closer to their goals.4
At The General Partnership, Barnes and his team take a unique approach:
- They invest both capital and "sweat equity" into their portfolio companies3
- Their model involves embedding experienced builders into companies for extended periods (typically around nine months)3
- They focus on "formation" (pre-seed and seed stage) and "breakout" companies3
Notable Achievements
During his time at First Round Capital, Barnes was responsible for over 60 investments, including successful companies like Blue Apron, Notion, Clover Health, Gauntlet, and Persona.1
Barnes is known for his perspective on venture capital as a product that founders buy with their equity, an idea he turned into a cultural mandate during his tenure at First Round Capital.4
Recent Developments
As of June 2024, Barnes announced The General Partnership's second fund of $300 million, expressing gratitude to Reid Hoffman for supporting their business.5
Highlights
Honored that @RattrayAlex and the team at Stainless chose to partner with @thegp to build this company. It's been awesome working with you all and can't wait to see where you take @StainlessAPI with @JenniferHli @a16z and @felicis on board!
I love working @thegp because folks who have built systems to clean up transactions at scale (billions and billions of transactions) and built AI systems in production put stuff like this in slack:
"Using LLM to clean up transactions. IMO, a sensible, scalable, and fairly safe use of AI: https://t.co/DzsFOBt5Le"
