From Laurie Moore to Vic Singh, venture capitalists continue to play musical chairs

From Keith Rabois to Matt Miller, many VCs have switched firms or left storied VC institutions this year. These employment changes are surprising because, unlike in many other fields, venture capitalists traditionally don’t move around much—especially those who reach the partner or general partner level.

VC funds have 10-year life cycles, and partners have good reasons to stay the course. In some cases, a firm’s fund may have a “principal person,” meaning that if they split, the fund’s LPs have the right to withdraw their capital if they wish. Many partners and doctors have also invested some of their money in their firm’s funds, which gives them an additional reason to stay.

So, although the actions of large investors in venture capital are not common, this is what happened in 2024. So far this year, there have been notable cases of investors returning to old firms, going out on their own, or returning to companies. a break from the investment altogether. There are also some key hires to note.

Who we know so far:

December

• Michelle Volz Andreessen is leaving his role as an investment partner at Horowitz. Volz, who announced He left on Dec. 21, joining more than two years ago, where he established the firm’s American Dynamism vertical. Prior to a16z, Volz was an operator at numerous defense technology startups, including Palantir.
• Long time Sequoia partner Matt Miller announced on Dec. 18, he said he was leaving the firm to start his own firm focused on European founders. Miller joined Sequoia in 2012 and has backed companies including DBT Labs, Confluent and Grafana, among others.
• After more than ten years at Lux Capital, Bilal Zuberi announced on December 11, he said that he will leave the company. Zuberi was a senior partner at Lux and has backed companies including DesktopMetal, Tendo Health, and Evolv Technology, among many others. Zuberi’s next step will be to “partner” with early-stage founders.
• On December 3 Alex Taussig announced he will be leaving his partner role at Lightspeed Venture Partners, where he has been a partner since 2016 and serves as co-head of the firm’s consumer experience practice. Taussig plans to focus his efforts on his council duties.
• Nicole Quinn also announced on December 3, he will move into the role of managing partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Quinn was also co-head of Lightspeed’s consumer experience. Quinn joined the firm in 2015 and was most recently a senior partner.

november

• Shriram Krishnan announced On Nov. 27, he said he would leave Andreessen Horowitz as a senior partner after four years. Krishnan, who focused on AI and cryptocurrency investments at A16z, will join the incoming Trump administration as a senior AI policy advisor.

• Andreessen Horowitz on November 5 announced that Brian Roberts joins the firm as a general partner and will work on the firm’s American Dynamism and AI Apps funds. Roberts has previously served as CFO at many well-known companies, including Splunk, OpenSea and Lyft.
• Andreessen Horowitz too announced on November 5 Andy McCall joins the firm as a general partner to work on the firm’s American Dynamism and AI Apps funds. McCall most recently worked in multiple roles at cloud company Samsara.

October

• Paris Heymann left his partner role at Index Ventures to join JP Morgan as co-managing partner in the asset manager’s venture and growth capital practice. It was a movement announced on October 15. Heymann helped Index open its New York office in 2022 and was previously a partner at Arena Holdings.
• On October 9 Julian Eison Posted on LinkedIn He said he is stepping down from his role as managing partner at Next Ventūres. Eison said in his post that he’s taking some time to figure out what’s next. It supports companies such as Pair Team, Juno Medical and Vital Biosciences.
• After four years as a partner at Khosla Ventures, Sandhya Venkatachalam left the firm and launched a new VC firm, Axiom Partners, which is targeting $50 million for its debut fund to back AI and machine learning startups. News of Venkatachalam’s departure confirmed on October 8.

September

• James da Costa announced On September 17, Andreessen announced that it had joined Horowitz as a partner focused on B2B software and financial services. This marks da Costa’s first foray into venture investing; he previously co-founded Fingo, an African neobank.
• On September 11 Jacob Westphal announced Andreessen said he was leaving Horowitz. Westphal was a partner at a16z for three and a half years. Left to become portfolio head at Will Ventures.

August

• Free VC announced on August 15 Maria Palma He joined the San Francisco-based firm as a senior partner. Palma was most recently a general partner at London-based Kindred Capital. Palma has backed companies such as Moov, Novo and Lottie.

july

• After about seven years, Alex Cook Tiger is set to exit Global, sources say is familiar with the issue Tell TechCrunch. While at Tiger Global, Cook led deals including TradingView, Scalapay and TrueLayer, among others. Prior to Tiger Global, Cook worked at Apollo.
• Bessemer Venture Partners announced he added Laurie Moore As a partner on July 22. Moore was previously a partner at Foundation Capital for two years and was an operator at LinkedIn before that. Moore will focus on early-stage investments in sectors including data, AI and developer tools.
• DCVC on July 17th announced had brought Milo Werner as a general partner to lead the firm’s climate investment practice. The firm is currently raising its first devotee climate fund. Werner was most recently a senior partner at Engine Ventures for two and a half years. Werner was previously a partner at Ajax Strategies.
• Anne Lee Skates announced on July 11, he announced his departure from Andreessen Horowitz, where he has been a partner in the consumer team since 2019. He added that he’s off to pursue a “life’s work” and will soon publish more information about his future plans. At Andreessen, he backed companies including Whatnot, Kindred and Prisms, among others.

June

• On June 17 Spencer Peterson announced he said he left Bedrock, where he served as a partner for five years, to become a general partner at Coatue. Peterson is an investor in companies including OpenAI and Rippling, among others.
• Amanda “Robbie” Robson announced his departure from Cowboy Ventures LinkedIn post in early June. Robson has been with Cowboy Ventures since October 2019 and Norwest Venture Partners for three years prior to that. Robson plans to start his own foundation.

May

• Founding partner of Serena Ventures Alison Stillman announced retired from the firm on May 14 after nearly six years working with tennis star Serena Williams. Stillman has not announced his next move.
• Terry Burns announced On May 13, he announced the launch of a new venture firm called Type Capital. Burns was previously the first black female partner at GV and left the firm in 2022. His new fund will focus on pre-seed and seed stage startups.
• TechCrunch last week whipped Co-founder of Fika Ventures Eva Ho Fika intended to leave the firm after finishing deploying its current fund. Ho withdraws for personal reasons. The move was confirmed by the company blog post May 9.
• On May 9 Alison Lange Engel announced he was the CEO of Ceros, an AI design company. Lange Engel left Greycroft, with whom he has partnered since 2019, in December to take up the role.
• After 15 years, Vic Singh announced X announced his resignation from Eniac Ventures on May 1. Singh helped found the firm in 2009 and plans to launch his own.

April

• On April 30 Ethan Kurzweil announced After 16 years, he left his role as a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. Kurzweil will launch an investment firm focused on early stage Report from Axios. Will launch the firm with Kurzweil Christina ShenAndreessen Horowitz, who left after four years on March 29, and Mark Goldberg, who left Index Ventures after eight years last fall.
• On April 1 Christina Farr announced said he will leave OMERS Ventures, where he served as a principal investor and head of the firm’s health technology practice, effective December 2020. Farr announced that he will be working on a health technology newsletter at X and writing a book focusing on it. consulting with power and health technology founders that tales can have on businesses.

March

• After six years as a partner at Accel, Ethan Choi In March, Khosla announced that he would be leaving the firm to join Ventures. Choi will focus on growth-stage investments at his new firm and has backed companies such as Klaviyo, Pismo and 1Password.
• While many of the recent VC moves have been by people looking to start something new or pursue a different opportunity, not all. Social Capital of Chamath Palihapitiya on March 13 announced fired his partners Jay Zaveri and Ravi Tanuku. Bloomberg reported on this He said it was related to a fundraising issue for AI startup Grog.
• Rabois was not the only one who wanted to return the boomerang to an old place in the recent upsurge of investor turnover. On March 5 Miles Grimshaw announced he will return to Thrive Capital as a general partner after three years in the same role at Benchmark Capital. Grimshaw originally started at Thrive Capital in 2013 and has backed companies such as Airtable, Lattice, and Monzo, among others.
• While the transition from operator to VC is a common career progression in the startup ecosystem, it’s not for everyone. On March 4th Sam Blond announced he had come to that conclusion and would be leaving Founders Fund, where he had been a partner for about 18 months. Blond said he would return to acting and held positions at companies such as Brex, Zenefits and EchoSign.

january

• After 12 years at Andreessen Horowitz, Connie Chan announced he was leaving the firm on January 23. Chan has been a senior partner at the firm for the past five years and has backed companies such as Cider, KoBold and Whatnot.
• Famous venture investor Keith Rabois announced on January 9, he announced that he was leaving Founders Fund to return to Khosla Ventures. Rabois has been a general partner at Founders Fund for nearly five years; Khosla returned to his previous role as managing director.

TechCrunch is following the latest venture moves and will continue to update this article as they happen. If you have any tips or notes to bring to our attention, please contact me here: rebecca.szkutak@techcrunch.com.

This article was originally published on May 1. It has since been updated on May 13, July 12, August 15, September 23, November 18, and December 23, 2024 to include additional actions within the facility.

This post has been updated to better reflect Anne Lee Skates’ investment in Andreessen Horowitz.