Unlocking growth-stage VC: Insights from CapitalG’s Jill (Greenberg) Chase and James Luo

In July 2024, I visited the Ferry Building in San Francisco to sit down with CapitalG partners Jill (Greenberg) Chase and James Luo.

As Alphabet’s growth-stage VC fund, CapitalG specializes in backing startups that have found product-market fit and are ready to scale with investments ranging from $50M to $200M.

We talked about the key signals that indicate a company is ready for growth-stage investment, how CapitalG leverages Google and Alphabet resources to boost its portfolio, and their frameworks for assessing risk and potential returns.

We also spent time talking about the importance of go-to-market strategies, team-building, and product partnerships.

Whether you’re an early-stage founder or curious about what it takes to scale a business to the next level, this conversation offers actionable insights into navigating growth-stage funding.

Runtime: 53:05 EPISODE BREAKDOWN

(1:57) A general overview of CapitalG and its relationship to Alphabet and Google.

(6:11) What are some of the early signals indicating that a company is at growth stage?

(8:33) James: “When you get to the later stages, you have a ton of different data points that you don't have at the Series B.”

(12:53) Jill: “We talk a lot about the concept of, “are you paid for the risk that you're taking?”

(18:53) Jill: “Our job when things aren't going so well is to remind them of the dream and to say, ‘no, we're not giving up.’”

(19:30) Which trends and technology are Jill and James following these days?

(25:25) James’ framework for sizing TAM for growth-stage startups.

(30:50) James: “TAM is a judgment call. It's as much art as it is science.”

(32:28) Jill on what separates a high-potential AI startup from the rest of the pack.

(38:29) Jill: “The way we approach investing at CapitalG is highly thematic and sort of thesis-driven.”

(44:50) Why growth-stage investing is similar to park rangers looking for forest fires.

(48:45) James: “You're basically never going to find somebody who's amazing at every possible thing that you need to do to run a business.”

(51:01) Jill: “It is a huge red flag for me when somebody can't say, ‘yep, I was wrong about this.’”

LINKS

• Jill (Greenberg) Chase
  • jillgreenberg@capitalg.com
• James Luo
• CapitalG
  • Robinhood
  • Stripe
  • Magic
  • Rippling
• San Francisco Ferry Building