Jeff Evans x Chainsmokers: The $100M Rise of Mantis VC
Jeff Evans is the co-founder and managing partner of Mantis Venture Capital, the firm he launched in 2020 alongside Alex Pall and Drew Taggart of the Chainsmokers and partner Milan Koch. He recounts how the partnership came together around a shared thesis, why the Chainsmokers' work ethic and access gave Mantis its edge, and how their very first raise kicked off just two weeks before the first COVID shutdown, with Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon becoming Mantis's first commitment.
Evans walks through Mantis's evolution from Fund One to its $100M, thesis-driven third fund, sharing the lessons that shaped his approach: stick to your guns on valuation, hire people smarter than yourself, and remember that venture is about the founder, the founder, and the founder. He illustrates with the story of backing Jeremy Levine and Underdog Fantasy, and draws on his earlier career as a serial entrepreneur to explain his Roadrunner philosophy of relentless sprinting and his rule to simply 'work the problem' until you win.
“And I will say that they're two of the hardest working people I've ever met. And I don't mean hardest working musicians. I mean, hardest working people.”
“Like the three most important rules when we say adventure are the founder and then the founder and then the founder.”
“And it's a willingness to run through brick walls when everyone's telling you not to until something is there.”
Key takeaways
- 00:00:24Mantis began raising its first fund just two weeks before the first COVID shutdown, when no one knew whether the moment was an ending or a beginning.
- 00:10:35Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, a mentor and friend of the Chainsmokers, was the first commitment to Mantis.
- 00:09:18The Chainsmokers realized their existing startup investments suffered from adverse selection, so they set up a fund to win access to the best deals instead.
- 00:12:09Each Mantis fund had a distinct goal: Fund One built the brand of being the most helpful investor on the cap table, Fund Two built the investment team, and Fund Three became focused and thesis-driven.
- 00:15:31A key lesson from the 2020-2021 bubble was to stick to your guns and not deploy when valuations are inappropriate, echoing Warren Buffett's warning about 'this time it's different.'
- 00:18:04Mantis backed Jeremy Levine's Underdog Fantasy pre-revenue and pre-product after a chain of LP introductions, conviction that he was the right founder for online gambling.
- 00:33:52Evans's hiring rule is to hire slow and fire fast, since no one ever wished they had been slower to let the wrong person go.
- 00:38:07His core operating mantra, drawn from The Martian, is to focus and work the problem, then move to the next most important problem until you win.
Chapters
- 00:00:00Introduction
- 00:05:00How The Chainsmokers Raised a $100M VC Fund
- 00:06:31Jeff Evans’ Unfiltered Journey from Founder to VC
- 00:07:47The Untold Origin Story of Mantis VC
- 00:09:08How The Chainsmokers Became the Hardest-Working VCs
- 00:10:53The Advantage That Made Mantis VC Stand Out From Day One
- 00:11:48The First $100M Came Right After a Pandemic Shutdown
- 00:13:30Why Founders Let Mantis VC In—Even With Tiny Checks
- 00:15:03How Jeff Built a Team Smarter Than Him
- 00:15:52From Fund 1 to Fund 3: The Playbook for Scaling a VC Firm
- 00:16:44Jeff’s Brutal Lessons from the 2020-2021 Bubble
- 00:17:36The 3 Most Important Words in Venture Capital
- 00:21:37The Bet on Underdog Fantasy: How They Knew
- 00:23:47What Every Great Founder Has (And Most Don’t)
- 00:25:29Why Some Founders Shouldn’t Be Founders
- 00:26:26The #1 Reason Startups Fail—And How to Avoid It
- 00:27:23Want to Be a VC? Here’s What You MUST Have
- 00:29:23Founders: If You Can’t Do *This*, Don’t Start a Company
- 00:31:29The Real Reason Jeff Evans Still Builds After $100M
- 00:32:48Jeff’s Rule: Hire People Better Than You or You’ll Never Scale
- 00:35:40The Painful Hiring Mistake That Nearly Broke the Culture
- 00:38:06Jeff’s Roadrunner Rule for Every Entrepreneur
- 00:40:39“Work the Problem”: The Best Advice You’ll Ever Hear
- 00:42:20Why Every Mistake Jeff Made Was Worth It
- 00:43:32Jeff’s Vision for Mantis VC’s Next Decade
- 00:44:20The Legacy Jeff Evans Wants to Leave Behind
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