Why Institutional LPs Hate Celebrity VCs (And How to Win)
The Chainsmokers and Chamath reveal why fame triggers LP career risk, and why only hard cash distributions (DPI) overcome investor skepticism.
Jake Paul & The Chainsmokers: Turning Fame into Funds, Jake Enters Politics? & Venture Bubble Signs
With Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Friedberg, Jake Paul, Alex Pall, Drew Taggart · Sunday, October 4, 2026
At the All-In Summit, Chamath Palihapitiya and Jason Calacanis interview Jake Paul on turning creator attention into capital, disrupting UFC fighter economics via Most Valuable Promotions and PFL, and his long-term ambition to enter politics. Later, The Chainsmokers (Alex Pall and Drew Taggart) discuss transitioning from chart-topping EDM artists to venture capitalists with Mantis VC, navigating institutional LP biases, and identifying late-stage venture bubble behavior alongside the All-In hosts.
Key takeaways
- Institutional LPs reject celebrity-led funds because backing famous talent creates direct career risk for the investment officer if the fund fails. Read more →
- Alex Pall scraped the back end of music aggregator Hype Machine to build a direct contact list of college bloggers, generating over 30 number-one tracks. Read more →
- Jake Paul and partner Geoffrey Woo built Anti Fund around the thesis that venture capital has become a commodity, while proprietary distribution is scarce. Read more →
- The UFC pays its athletes roughly 15% of league revenue, compared to the 50% share standard across major leagues like the NFL and NBA. Read more →
- Jason Calacanis introduced Travis Kalanick to 21 angel investors; 19 passed because they wanted Uber to sell dispatch software to taxi fleets instead of running operations. Read more →
- Alex Pall secured an early Fund 1 liquidity win for Mantis VC through Underdog Fantasy, proving that locking in actual cash distributions beats holding paper gains. Read more →
6 articles from this episode
How The Chainsmokers Hacked Hype Machine to Launch Mantis VC
The Chainsmokers used cold email scraping to score 30 number-one tracks before building Mantis VC. Here is their exact growth playbook.
Jake Paul on Why Attention Beats Capital on the Cap Table
Jake Paul explains why capital is a commodity, how Anti Fund uses distribution to beat tier-one VCs, and why politics is next.
Jake Paul on Disrupting UFC Economics and the PFL Merger
Jake Paul explains how MVP and PFL attack the UFC by fixing fighter revenue splits and opening up sponsorship rights.
Why Domain Expertise Causes Investors to Miss Outliers
Chamath Palihapitiya and Jason Calacanis explain how domain expertise blinded top investors to Robinhood and Uber.
Why Real Unicorns Make $1B in Revenue, Not Paper Value
Jason Calacanis and Alex Pall expose venture bubble markups, Underdog Fantasy liquidity, and the discipline of 25% portfolio concentration.
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