Billion Dollar Moves™ with Sarah Chen-Spellings | Global Venture Capital · Sarah Chen-Spellings

The Rise of the Solo Capitalist: How One-Person Funds Are Winning Big w/ Itamar Novick, Recursive Ventures

May 29, 2025·48 min·5 clips

Sarah opens by framing Itamar Novik as a founder-friendly investor with 25 years on all sides of the startup table. He is introduced as the founding partner of Recursive Ventures, a quiet force at the pre-seed stage. The conversation quickly turns to why he chose to build outside the biggest venture firms. Itamar argues that many large VCs are stuck in an AUM game. He says bigger funds keep pushing to grow, and performance usually gets worse as funds get larger. He also says those firms are not built to support the earliest entrepreneurs taking first steps. That point sets the tone for the interview. From there, he explains why intuition still matters in venture. He is skeptical that AI can replace GPs in private markets. He believes humans will still need to manage the AI because the work depends on judgment, context, and filling in gaps. He also says LPs are not ready to place a big chunk of capital into AI alone. The episode then broadens into the state of venture capital itself. Itamar says the industry is changing at an unusual pace. He points to the rise of mega funds as well as the rise of solo capitalists and pre-seed funds. He argues the middle of the market, especially many Series A firms, is getting squeezed. He then connects that shift to AI-driven company building. Founders are talking more about bootstrapping and seat-strapping. He suggests many startups no longer need the same level of headcount they once did. Fewer engineers and fewer salespeople can now get a company much farther. The discussion treats that as a structural change, not a passing trend. The episode also casts venture as an asset class that is splitting apart. Itamar describes pre-seed and seed as one lane, early-stage investing as another, and a broader shift in how capital is organized. Sarah keeps the exchange moving with direct questions that link personal history to market structure. The result is a conversation that moves between biography, capital allocation, and the future of venture without losing its practical edge. Itamar's experience at Life360 gives the episode a real-world anchor. His perspective is not theoretical. It is built from company building, public markets, and years of advising founders when things get hard.

As heard by us

A compact case for smaller funds, founder trust, and venture's shifting economics.

The episode makes a clear case that smaller, tightly focused funds can still matter as larger firms chase bigger AUM. Itamar Novik, drawing on 25 years across engineering, operations, and VC, frames Recursive Ventures as the kind of backer a young founder can actually reach when…

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