Smash Notes
Why Did Alex Davis Double Down on Palantir Before Its IPO? · Sources with Alex Heath

Sources with Alex Heath

A quiet investor’s $10 billion bet on AI, chips, and defense

Alex Davis plans to put $10 billion into roughly 10 companies. His firm, Disruptive, has maintained a low profile out of Texas while backing Reflection AI, ElevenLabs, Groq, Shield AI, Databricks, and Helsing. Its earlier investments include Palantir, Airbnb, and Spotify. I sit down with Davis in Dallas for his first-ever podcast interview to understand…

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Notes

  1. Why Raise a $10 Billion Fund When Valuations Look Frothy? at 1:22

    Alex Heath asks why announce a $10 billion growth fund when valuations look frothy. Full answer

  2. Why Does Alex Davis Only Back Companies That Are Already Winning? at 9:47

    Alex Davis says Disruptive was not built as a fee business by people who had left banking for venture. Full answer

  3. How Does a $10 Billion Fund Become Ten Checks? at 14:21

    Alex Davis says the firm has already been writing some of the largest checks in growth-stage companies, especially over the last five or six years, after 15… Full answer

  4. Why Are Top Startups Blocking SPV Investors? at 16:16

    Alex Heath asks why leave deal-by-deal vehicles, where limited partners could see each company, for a fund. Alex Davis says this is the first real fund. Full answer

  5. Why Invest More After a Startup's Valuation Goes Up? at 24:19

    Alex Davis keeps the list of companies Disruptive wants to own. Sometimes it is 20 names, sometimes 15, and he holds the list. Names come on and off. Full answer

  6. Why Did Alex Davis Double Down on Palantir Before Its IPO? at 35:42

    Alex Davis says Disruptive had been in Palantir for about 10 years when COVID arrived. Full answer

  7. What Is Alex Davis Building at Groq After the Nvidia Deal? at 39:43

    Alex Heath describes an early investment in Groq, the inference-chip company, and a $20 billion licensing deal with Nvidia. Full answer

  8. Why Will Speculative Data-center Landlords Get Hurt? at 47:39

    Alex Davis does not think there are too many neoclouds. He thinks there are not enough good ones. Full answer

  9. Will Defense Startups Become the New Prime Contractors? at 54:56

    Alex Davis expects new prime contractors for the first time in 100 years, and a defense-tech market that does not look like the old one. Full answer

  10. Is Value Investing Dead? at 1:03:48

    Alex Davis says the only thing he wrestles with before writing a check is regulatory, meaning whether a regulatory problem was a reason to pass. Full answer

  11. Why Does Alex Davis Wish He Had Backed Closed Models Harder? at 1:05:58

    Alex Davis does not point to regrets in what Disruptive did. Fifteen years later he does know answers he did not have then. Full answer

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