VC10X - What if it goes right? - Morgan Flager, Managing Partner, Silverton Partners

when times get uncertain venture investors and investors in general they kind of behave like lemmings it's like what feels safe

when a portfolio company is struggling to raise their next round on favorable terms how do you navigate that board conversation

the best thing you can possibly do is like realize your circumstances as early as possible if you don't realize this like you know, nine, 12 plus months out, like they don't become options. If you realize them three months out, like, oh, we need to sell this company. We're four months out. Okay, well, like that's going to be a fire sale process.

Reflecting on your 25 plus years in venture capital, what is one core investing philosophy you held tightly in the early days that you've had to completely unlearn to succeed today?

The most important attribute that you can maintain as a venture investor is like, but what if it goes right?

Hey everyone, this is Prashant and I'll be host for the VC10X podcast and today we have Morgan Flagger with us. Morgan is the managing partner at Silver10 Partners. He spent 20 years at the firm and sits on 13 boards today. Silver10 closed fund 7 at $248 million, still largest ever, and they're in the process of raising fund 8. And Morgan is at least doubling the firm's allocation to hard tech to roughly 30-40% of the fund. We get into why software's defensibility is being repriced. why he prefers to take more shots on the goal versus deepening reserves for follow-on capital and what he had to unlearn to be good at this. So without wasting any time, let's dive straight in. This episode is brought to you by Podcast Enix, my podcasting agency for VCs. We help VCs start and run branded podcasts that can serve as their entire content engine. Turn the conversations you're already having into a machine. One recording becomes your presence on LinkedIn, Spotify, YouTube, and email. Don't just build another VC firm, build a firm that can stand out to LPs and one that founders can brag about having you on their cap table. Check out our services at podcastnx.com. I'll put the link in the description below. Now, enjoy the episode. Hey Morgan, so good to have you back on VC Today. How are you doing?

I'm doing great. I really appreciate you having me back. Enjoyed the first conversation and yeah, really looking forward to this.

Absolutely, likewise. And when we last spoke, the VC world was waking up to a sustainable unit economics after a period of overvaluation. Today, Silverton recently closed Fund 7 at $248 million, your largest to date. Many congratulations on that. How has your deployment strategy evolved from that 2022 correction to navigating the 2026 landscape?

Yeah, I mean, it's amazing how much has changed in that period of time. I mean, I think we all have a front row seat to kind of some of the massive shifts that are happening. I mean, I think particularly for us, I think the biggest change is just the categories they were investing in and those being quite a bit broader than what they were, you know, certainly back in 2020 or 2021 or really the entire history of the firm, which goes back 20 years, you know, and... To be more particular about that, I think the biggest