In venture capital, one phrase shows up in almost every partner meeting: “What’s our ownership?”

For years, VCs have been trained to think that if you don’t own 10–20%, you’re not really in the deal. But is that always true? And in a world of larger rounds, competitive syndicates, secondaries, and multi-asset strategies… how much should a VC really care about ownership %?

Short answer: You should care about ownership — but you should care about fund outcomes and influence first, and treat ownership % as a tool, not a religion.

Let’s unpack this with some simple math.

There’s a lot written about the lifecycle of a startup, the lifecycle of a fund, even the lifecycle of a market. Almost nobody talks about the lifecycle of a VC’s ego.

This is my attempt to map that journey, not as a therapist, not as a guru, but as someone who has lived through most of these stages personally.