Podcast Summary: "Can VCs Actually Pick Winners?"
Podcast: How I Invest with David Weisburd
Episode: 306
Guest: Eric Bahn, Co-founder at Hustle Fund
Date: February 17, 2026
Episode Overview
This episode dives deep into the core question facing all early-stage venture capitalists: can VCs reliably pick winners, or is early-stage investing really more art and luck than science? David Weisburd interviews Eric Bahn, co-founder of Hustle Fund, to discuss what truly signals venture success at the pre-seed stage, why their fund prioritizes “hustle” over pedigree, their “wide net” investment strategy, and how Hustle Fund reinvents VC as a service-and-community platform. The conversation is rich with firsthand anecdotes, data-driven skepticism about traditional signals, and philosophical insights on career satisfaction and building differentiated value as an investor.
Key Topics & Insights
1. Origins of Hustle Fund & the “Hustle” Thesis
[00:00–03:30]
- Early experience at 500 Global showed that after only a month observing startup accelerator cohorts, the initial “hustle ranking” of teams barely changed over time.
"Our stack ranking about one month in did not change indefinitely into the future after that." — Eric Bahn [00:22]
- "Hustle" is defined as great execution combined with high velocity, the ability to consistently deliver results quickly.
"We think that hustle, which we define as great execution meets high velocity, is one of the best leading indicators of success." — Eric [00:43]
- Hustle Fund’s model: invest a small amount, then assess true hustle over the following weeks through close collaboration and observation.
2. Judging Hustle vs. Pedigree
[03:30–05:31]; [10:46–12:58]
- Traditional indicators like pedigree (schools, former employers) do correlate with some outcomes, but their value is often “priced in” via higher valuations.
"Yes, Stanford engineer will have a better outcome...but it’s priced in at the entry point." — David Weisburd [11:45]
- Hustle, measured as gritty, rapid execution and a willingness to do unglamorous work, is not priced in and is more predictive at the pre-seed stage.
"Teams that do best are the ones that are just doing the gritty, nasty work in the beginning...like picking up the phone, trying to make 100 phone calls into prospective clients a day." — Eric [12:58]
- Pedigree can sometimes signal higher risk of entitlement or less willingness to do grunt work, where founders from less privileged/connected backgrounds sometimes excel.
3. “Quantity Equals Quality” and Learning by Shipping
[03:30-07:06]; [05:31–06:37]
- Both agree: shipping more product/features (or more “reps” in any discipline) accelerates learning, which in turn accelerates quality.
"It's not just that the top PMs write a lot of code. It's the people that write a lot of code become top PMs." — David [03:30]
- Pragmatic bias to action: frequent iteration and experimentation are critical for both startups and career development.
"When you just have so many shots on goal, you just tend to find that the metric that you're trying to track against just goes up and to the right because of sheer throughput." — Eric [05:31]
4. Wide Net versus Concentrated Bets ("Spray and Pray" Rehab)
[07:06–10:46]
- Hustle Fund deliberately invests widely and then concentrates capital and attention after observing hustle, combining benefits of indexing with selective follow-on.
"The intersection of the Venn diagrams is Hustle Fund, which is: let’s cast that wide net and then do some level of concentration...after we’ve had a chance to work with them." — Eric [08:31]
- Unlike larger funds, Hustle Fund is less ownership-sensitive, more focused on high-multiple outcomes from small, early checks.
- Debate persists in VC on concentration versus diversification, but Eric believes wide net plus selective doubling down is more intellectually honest at pre-seed.
5. Building Community & Media as a Fund Differentiator
[15:43–19:13]
-
Hustle Fund supports founders through a 26-person “knowledge and networks” team, producing newsletters (500,000+ reach), events, educational materials, and Angel Squad (2,600 angels/operators).
"The value prop we offer for founders...we’ll begin promoting through our newsletters ... drive your first revenue this way. In some cases, we drove the first million in revenue for free." — Eric [17:25]
-
Hustle Fund media and educational activities operate as a parallel business, producing $3 million/year in sponsorship revenue, underwriting the knowledge team, and allowing the fund to cap management salaries.
"Our GP is capped at a $210,000 salary per year ... the only way that we can make substantial wealth from Hustle Fund is if our founders get rich." — Eric [19:33]
6. Seed Strapping, Markups, and New Liquidity Models
[21:29–25:26]
- “Seed strapping” (raising small amounts and then generating profits quickly, e.g., Midjourney) is only possible in particular sectors (mainly software).
"It works for a very specific set of companies...be a part of this journey for the seed strappings where they keep growing until they're acquired for a gazillion dollars." — Eric [21:44]
- Downside for VCs: lack of markups and delayed liquidity make it harder to show fund performance under traditional LP optics.
- New forms of liquidity: secondaries and continuation vehicles are becoming necessary as IPO timelines stretch (e.g., Stripe, Palantir).
"Secondaries really does seem to be the very best route by which you can extract liquidity." — Eric [24:08]
- Fund structures may need to evolve—e.g., evergreen funds, longer durations—to match new startup timelines and types of capital sources.
7. Career & Life Advice: Comparative Advantage and Strengths
[26:56–30:48]
- Early career: Leverage your “superpower” as a student—reach out and build connections aggressively.
"You have the ability to cold message pretty much anyone...the response rate is absurdly high." — Eric [27:11]
- Build 'mental models' early through relationships, learning from many people.
- Target your comparative advantage; surround yourself with people who see your strengths, not just weaknesses.
"How can you be around people that see more in you than you see in yourself?" — David [28:48]
- True career satisfaction (the “smile curve”) comes from accepting and leaning into your unique strengths as you age.
"...as you've aged...it's usually just an acceptance of like, ah, my weaknesses are just things that are, you know, I'm not as interested in trying to fix." — Eric [29:04]
- Older age is portrayed as an aspirational period of self-acceptance and freedom.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On Early Startup Assessment
"Our stack ranking about one month in did not change indefinitely into the future after that." — Eric Bahn [00:22]
-
On What “Hustle” Really Means
"We want teams that are going above and beyond being able to ship even beyond what seems feasible in any unit of time." — Eric Bahn [01:26]
-
On the Limits of Pedigree
"Pedigree I think is really problematic in that I think it presumes a de-risking, which I just fundamentally don't believe in." — Eric Bahn [11:07]
-
On Venture Honesty
"The longer that I'm in this game as a pre-seed stage investor, the more I'm convinced that all of us are just sheerly guessing, full stop." — Eric Bahn [07:33]
-
On Incentive Structures
"If you're making too much money...we're not working as hard, we're not fighting as hard as we should, we're not hustling as hard." — Eric Bahn [19:33]
-
On Learning Faster
"It's not just that the top PMs write a lot of code. It's the people that write a lot of code become top PMs." — David Weisburd [03:30]
-
On Markups and Seed Strapping
"We have held them at cost for their last raise...and sometimes when we're raising capital, LPs are like, are you guys like kind of dogshit investors here? ... this notion of markups is quite arcane in many cases." — Eric Bahn [22:54]
-
On Cold Outreach as a Student
"Try to gain a lot of mental models by building relationships early with people and don't be afraid to just cold message people." — Eric Bahn [27:11]
Key Timestamps
- 00:00–03:30 – Genesis of “hustle” as a predictive trait
- 03:30–05:31 – The art and science of measuring true hustle pre-investment
- 07:06–10:46 – The debate: concentrated bets vs. “spray and pray” early-stage investing
- 11:07–12:58 – Why pedigree is an overvalued signal; true grit matters more
- 15:43–19:13 – How Hustle Fund’s media and community business supports founders and the fund’s unique model
- 21:29–25:26 – Seed strapping, challenges with markups, and the rise of secondaries
- 26:56–30:48 – Advice to younger self, maximizing comparative advantage, and the “smile curve” of life satisfaction
Tone & Style
The conversation is candid, direct, and full of both humility and practical wisdom. Eric Bahn and David Weisburd share industry skepticism, emphasize self-awareness over ego, and bring a founder-to-founder authenticity to the discussion.
For anyone curious about how modern pre-seed VC funds think, how founders can actually signal their potential, or how new capital structures are adapting to today’s realities—this episode is a must.