Stanford GSB Professor on Startups & Investors

Hitting Once, Hitting Often: The Anatomy of a Great VC Career

Ilya Strebulaev's avatar
Ilya Strebulaev
Sep 08, 2026

Recently I wrote about how (not) to become a VC partner. It struck a nerve. But only some partners become truly successful at what they do. What about actually being good at the job and can we predict and explain it?

In this post, I will be diving not into what you are called, but what you actually backed. I will be answering the following questions: Ove…

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