# Field Notes No. 9 - A few things to read and Listen to By Jeff Stowell · 2026-08-13 · Insights > I just wanted to write a short note this week to pass along two things: something worth reading if you're anywhere near venture capital, and a record I've been waiting for that finally rewarded me fandom! # Something I'm Reading Ilya Strebulaev, who teaches VC at Stanford GSB and does some of the better research on how this industry works, published a piece last month called \["The Deal Funnel: Why VCs Say No to 99 Out of 100 Startups."\]([https://ilyastrebulaev.substack.com/p/the-deal-funnel-why-vcs-say-no-to](https://ilyastrebulaev.substack.com/p/the-deal-funnel-why-vcs-say-no-to)) It's Part 1 of a series he's calling VC 101: Investor Decision Making, and it does a clean job of laying out the actual shape of the funnel most founders are up against. A few numbers from the piece that I would highlight: \- The average VC reviews **101 startups** to make one investment. IT-focused investors see closer to 150. Healthcare, about 78. \- **~70 of every 100 opportunities die at initial screening** -- usually within minutes, without any meeting. \- About **60% of deals arrive through a professional network** in some form -- but roughly **1 in 10 investments** starts from a cold email, which is way less than most investors will tell you, but way MORE than I actually expected. Tl;dr is that investors rarely respond to cold outreach, but it does work. \- It takes on average **1.7 term sheets to close one deal**. When a term sheet lands, the leverage shifts a bit to the founder. The article is really great grounding if you're just starting in entrepreneurship or raising money for your startup or looking to break in. If I have one critique, it's that these numbers feel a little generous relative to what I'm seeing in the market today. AI rapidly changing how investors triage the top of the funnel. Cheaper (in terms of time) research means faster screening, and faster screening means fewer things survive. What used to be 70 dying at initial screening feels more like 80 or 90 to me right now, and I don't think it's going back the other way any time soon. Additionally, the "thing" that investors are looking for has narrowed the market. Most investors are locked in on AI-driven tools generating absolutely astounding revenue growth; numbers that most startups can't replicate. But this is exactly the kind of read I wish every founder walked into a fundraise having done. Strebulaev's key framing that the funnel is a _time-allocation machine, not just a quality-detection machine_ -- is a really useful way for a founder to internalize the fundraising process. Investors aren't being lazy (well... they're being a little lazy) when they pass in 90 seconds. They're being economical, because the alternative is spending real hours on companies they were always going to say no to. Understanding that makes almost everything about the process feel less mystifying, and a lot less soul-crushing when the first twelve investors don't reply. Strebulaev's Substack -- "[Stanford GSB Professor on Startups & Investors](https://ilyastrebulaev.substack.com/)" is one of the more reliable venture reads out there. I recommend. There are both free and paid versions. _(And if you happen to be a student, or know one, who wants to chew on this kind of thing more seriously, this is the sort of material we'll be working through inside The Full Ratchet Society. Look at the top right corner of the website!)_ # Something(s) I'm Listening To Punch Brothers dropped their new record, "[The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers](https://punchbrothers.lnk.to/UnsungAdventures)," at the end of July. It's their seventh album, their first with fiddler Brittany Haas and, notably, their first fully instrumental record. I've been a Punch Brothers fan for a long time, and this one is really good. The compositions are amazing and the all-instrumental format lets everybody stretch out in ways they've not really done since their first record under the Punch Brothers moniker. If you like acoustic string music, this one has earned steady rotation. And if you like this and want to keep going: Julian Lage's _Scenes from Above_, out earlier this year on Blue Note, is a different neighborhood but an absolute masterpiece. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this record. I think Julian Lage is the best guitar player in the world right now. It's just a delightful way to spend 45 minutes. What have you been reading or listening to lately? Always looking for good stuff. Thanks for reading! /JLS --- Canonical URL: https://hayseedcapital.com/blog/field-notes-9 Site: The Hayseed (https://hayseedcapital.com) — writing, coaching, teaching, and early-stage investing by Jeff Stowell. Operated by Hayseed Capital, LLC, Park City, Utah.