How Does a $10 Billion Fund Become Ten Checks?

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 years at it. A fund is the more fixed version of that habit. The rule is a set number of checks each year, and a check means a company. Cut the list to 10 of the best companies they think they can help, divide the fund by that count, and the average check is large enough that $10 billion is a coherent pool.

He treats $10 billion as the goal and describes a range of $5 billion to $10 billion. Limited partners leaned toward the top of the range, as long as the firm keeps finding outlier companies and keeps doing the work behind the scenes that a wire alone does not do. Other managers can steward large sums for other jobs. The claim he makes is narrower. Disruptive can deploy a billion dollars into 10 companies over the next year and a half or two.