The Fortune of Reinvention: Aydin Senkut on Building Felicis and Betting on the Next Generation

Aydin Senkut is the Founder and Managing Partner of Felicis Ventures and shares the story behind building it into one of the most admired firms in venture, with 19 IPOs, 27 unicorn exits, 31 active unicorns, and 245 portfolio companies. He explains how Felicis operates in founder mode, moves with conviction and speed, and builds deep alignment with the founders it backs. Aydin reflects on why reinvention beats pattern recognition, how his Google roots shaped his approach to investing & firm building, and what drove the decision to bring on Peter Deng, former VP of Product at OpenAI and CPO at Airtable. We also touch on recent AI bets like Supabase and Mercor, and close with how Felicis is approaching hiring and Aydin’s advice to emerging managers getting started today.

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Timestamps:

0:00 - Welcome Aydin Senkut to The Rise

2:13 - Felicis Ventures: Philosophy and Success Stories

07:39 - The Founder Development Pledge

10:47 - The Importance of Founder-Led Firms

13:49 - Aydin’s Early Days at Google

22:58 - Reinvention and Strategy at Felicis

29:47 - Building a Winning Team Culture

30:18 - Overcoming Adversity and Celebrating Wins

31:54 - The Importance of People in Business

32:32 - Identifying and Supporting Outliers

35:11 - Felicis’ Team and Growth Strategy

37:02 - The Role of AI and New York Expansion

50:43 - Advice for Aspiring Venture Capitalists

56:06 - The Future of Venture Capital and Emerging Managers

58:28 - Rapid Fire and Closing Thoughts

59:30 - Thanks Aydin For Joining! Like & Subscribe

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