The Death of the Venture Capital Lunch: How LettsGroup Just Made Half of Sand Hill Road Redundant
The future of venture capital arrived this week, and it's priced at £119 per month. Traditional VCs, you might want to sit down for this one.
There's something wonderfully poetic about LettsGroup - a company whose ancestors invented the diary in 1812 - now helping write the next journal entry for venture capital. The latest addition to their venture building platform, the AI VentureFactory "Investor" Dashboard, launched this week, represents more than just another clever SaaS tool. It's a fascinating glimpse into how the industry might evolve beyond the traditional world of handshakes, hunches, and those legendary expensive lunches (which, let's be honest, we'll probably miss a little).
The signs of change have been brewing for a while, though most VCs have been understandably busy perfecting their Patagonia vest collections. While the industry has spent the last decade mastering the art of "adding value beyond capital" at countless panel discussions, LettsGroup has quietly built something that actually does it - and some. Their new Investor Dashboard doesn't just promise to give investors a "pit view" into portfolio operations - it suggests the traditional GP/LP model might be ready for its most exciting upgrade since the invention of the term sheet.
"Using the Investor Dashboard could make any private company investor, small or big, individual or fund, pro or pro-am, look as red hot value added as Marc Andreessen."
Consider the delightful mathematics of modern venture capital: a typical VC partner might juggle 8-12 portfolio companies, dedicating perhaps 10-15 hours per month to each if they're particularly organised. That's roughly 120 hours spread across a dozen companies, or about 3% of their working time per investment. Meanwhile, LettsGroup's AI can analyse market dynamics, craft go-to-market strategies, and stress-test exit scenarios around the clock across unlimited portfolios. It's like comparing a horse-drawn carriage to a Tesla - both will get you there, but one makes you look a little foolish in 2025.
The traditional venture model has always been charmingly human in its approach. VCs raise substantial funds, collect their 2% management fees, and then divide their time between raising the next fund and graciously accepting credit for their founders' brilliant successes at industry gatherings. The actual "building" part - the messy, exciting bit that creates real value - has largely been the domain of entrepreneurs who receive capital, a business card, and then work their magic. It's rather like hiring a personal trainer who takes 20% of your gym membership but only shows up to watch you lift weights.
LettsGroup's dashboard offers an intriguing complement to this time-honoured approach. Instead of replacing those valuable quarterly board meetings, imagine enhancing them with real-time strategic insights. Rather than choosing between "value-add" and efficiency, picture accessing institutional-grade venture building tools for the price of a decent bottle of wine. The Innov@te™ Agent doesn't need business class flights or three-hour wagyu dinners to deliver its insights - though we suspect it might appreciate the occasional software update.
The implications go well beyond simple efficiency gains. Traditional VCs have built their reputations on pattern recognition - the invaluable ability to spot trends, identify promising founders, and navigate market cycles with style. But here's where it gets interesting: AI excels at pattern recognition too, minus some of those endearing human quirks like inexplicable fondness for twenty-something Stanford dropouts building "Uber for X" companies (though to be fair, some of those did work out rather well).
What's particularly exciting is that LettsGroup's approach suggests we're entering an era where capital becomes genuinely collaborative. Instead of passive investors hoping, perhaps somewhat naively, their chosen entrepreneurs can navigate the journey successfully, we're looking at active capital that can analyse, strategise, and optimise alongside human insight. It's the difference between owning a racehorse and owning a self-driving Formula 1 car that happens to print money.
The pricing strategy is elegantly disruptive in its simplicity. At £119 per month, LettsGroup has essentially democratised what traditional VCs charge significant sums to provide - mostly around 20% of your company. It's venture capital's streaming moment - why pay premium prices for individual access when you can tap into a comprehensive toolkit for the cost of a nice dinner out? Except in this case, that dinner usually comes with unsolicited advice about your choice of casual wear.
Naturally, traditional VCs will rightfully point out that relationships matter deeply, that human judgement remains irreplaceable, that founders need mentorship alongside algorithms. They're absolutely right - there's tremendous value in human insight, emotional intelligence, and the occasional well-timed golf course revelation. The exciting part is imagining how much more powerful that human value becomes when amplified by intelligent tools rather than competing with them.
The real opportunity isn't whether AI will transform venture capital - it's how quickly the industry will embrace this evolution to become even more valuable to entrepreneurs. LettsGroup has essentially built a sophisticated co-pilot for venture building, and the early adopters are already buckling up. Traditional VCs can evolve into something even more genuinely impactful, combining their irreplaceable human insights with powerful new capabilities.
The future, as LettsGroup's CEO Philip Letts suggests, belongs to those who transform "passive capital into a builder of strategic value." The rest will have some fascinating conversations with their LPs about how they're planning to stay ahead of the curve, armed with compelling stories about their evolving value proposition and increasingly sophisticated approaches to portfolio support.
The LettsGroup AI VentureFactory Investor Dashboard is available now at letts.group/pricing . Traditional venture capital remains available wherever thoughtful people gather to discuss synergies over artisanal salads just off Market Street - though some of them might have some exciting new tools in their toolkit.
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