Limited partner (LP)
Also: LP
The investors in a VC fund — super funds, family offices, endowments, wealthy individuals — whose money the GPs deploy.
Understanding that VCs answer to LPs explains a lot about how they behave: they're managing someone else's money to a return.
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Get the real-world version of "Limited partner (LP)" drawn from hundreds of conversations with founders and investors.
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General partner (GP)
The partners who run a VC fund — they source deals, make investment decisions and sit on boards.
Carry
The share of a fund's profits the GPs keep — classically 20% — after returning capital to LPs.
Fund / vintage
A fund is a single pool of LP money invested over a few years; its vintage is the year it started.
Management fee
The annual fee (often ~2%) LPs pay GPs to operate the fund and pay salaries.
DPI / TVPI / IRR
Fund return measures — DPI is cash actually returned, TVPI includes paper value, IRR is the annualised rate.
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