Venture capital talent disperses beyond the Bay Area

The 2026 Strebulaev-Jackson Venture Ranking shows that firm location and investor tenure fail to predict success in the current market (Ilya Strebulaev from Stanford GSB Professor on Startups &…). While 48 of the top 100 investors work at firms headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, the remaining majority operate from 26 other cities globally. New York-based firms employ 18 of these top investors, while firms in Los Angeles, Florida, and Texas host a combined 16. Seven top investors work at firms based outside the United States, including locations like Israel, London, and Toronto.

Experience metrics also provide little guidance for founders or limited partners. Thirty-three of the top 100 investors entered the venture capital industry in 2016 or later, and the top-ranked investor, Sol Bier, started his career in 2020. Partners often build their track records at previous firms, meaning the platform behind their past results may no longer exist. Because 64 of the 80 firms represented have only one investor in the top 100, limited partners face significant key-person risk when evaluating these emerging managers.