Jeff Clavier

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@jeff

Founder of Uncork, one of the OG seed VC firms. Invested in 300 cos at scary early stage. Owner of Clos Clavier. @bernadette hubby, dad of 2, grandad of 1.

Walla Walla, WA uncorkcapital.com/team/jeff-clav… Joined March 2007

360 Following 96K Followers 13K Posts

Latest posts 5

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Jeff Clavier @jeff Sep 18

We’re thrilled to share that, after 18 months in the making, @Bernadette and I have launched @closclavier in Walla Walla, WA!
Our inaugural release features two wines: a Condrieu-inspired white and a Priorat-inspired red blend. Only 150 cases will be available this year - and 40% of our stock was already purchased by friends of ours in the last few days.
Visit closclavier.com to learn more or buy some wine!

Jeff Clavier @jeff Oct 24

Happy podcasting anniversary to the one and only Patrick @NotPatrick Beja - 20 years behind the mic! I’m lucky to have stumbled onto azeroth.fr in the early days, and grateful for this friendship that got me into podcasting almost 18 years ago. Here’s to the next 20! 👏😁

Jeff Clavier @jeff Sep 24

Thanks to my old friend @Jason for bringing me back on @twistartups. It was a fun episode arguing (a bit) with @jefielding and @davemcclure. Enjoy!

This Week in Startups @twistartups Sep 23

Anthropic and OpenAI released cheaper models on the same day with Claude Opus 5.5 and GPT-6. Dave McClure of Practical Venture Capital, Jeff Clavier of Uncork Capital, and Jenny Fielding of Everywhere Ventures join Jason to debate what that means for open-weight models. They also get into why fintech and healthcare are suddenly on the VC sideline, whether Meta's Muse leaves any room for Instinct, why it's a buyer's market for secondaries, and why median seed valuations have more than tripled since 2017.

@jason @davemcclure @jeff @jefielding

0:00 What seed rounds looked like then: Fitbit's $2M seed
3:15 Jenny's Techstars NYC years and the two-unicorn mug
7:51 All-In Summit: Trump calls Jensen Huang onstage. Staged or not?
8:56 P(doom) roundtable + Dave's AI sovereign wealth fund prediction
10:08 Northwest Registered Agent - Got a new business idea? Northwest Registered Agent helps you bring it to life. Get a free domain, email, phone number, and more - with no purchase required! Learn more at northwestregisteredagent.com/twistdomain
13:35 The AI intel error that nearly triggered a US-China incident
17:44 "McClure's Law": a human with AI is the real risk
19:59 Odoo - The all-in-one business platform. Your first app is free! Get started today at Odoo.com/twist
21:37 Stripe + OpenRouter: an anti-fraud play, not a routing play?
23:07 Seed valuations: median $8M (2017) to $28M today
23:58 Instinct: $2.5B to a reported $10B in weeks
29:49 Rippling - Thanks to our partners at Rippling! Head to Rippling.ai/twist and get the only AI built to give you full visibility across your startup and take complex actions across your entire business.
44:01 Opus 5.5 vs. GPT-6 Sol: the same-day price war
46:51 Gun to your head: open-weight models or frontier labs?
51:00 Secondaries: the top 30 names vs. everyone else
52:30 Why fintech and healthcare are unloved (and Jason's Robinhood bet)

🎥 Watch the full episode here 👇

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Jeff Clavier @jeff Sep 23

Looking forward to it! PS: yes that picture is probably 10-year younger me 🤭

This Week in Startups @twistartups Sep 23

Today on TWiST, we're joined by @jeff, Founder of @uncorkcap.

Over 20+ years he's made 290+ seed investments, including early bets on Fitbit and SendGrid (later acquired by Twilio).

This year, on Uncork's 21st anniversary, he just closed $300M across two new funds. Come tune in at 12pm CT. Link in comments.

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Jeff Clavier @jeff Sep 22

A huge thank you to @Erica_Wenger for inviting me onto her podcast! I really enjoyed our wide-ranging conversation. Fantastic work!

Take a listen!

Erica Wenger Verified account @Erica_Wenger Sep 22

My conversation with Jeff Clavier.

@jeff is the founder of @uncorkcap, one of Silicon Valley’s earliest seed-stage venture firms, with early investments in companies like Fitbit, @Postmates, and @eventbrite .

We discuss how he became one of the earliest dedicated seed investors, what it takes to raise a venture fund, the mistakes that turned an eight-week fundraise into a nearly two-year process, and what LPs actually look for when backing emerging managers.

We also discuss:

- Why the world doesn’t need another generic seed fund
- What emerging managers need to prove before raising institutional capital
- How to stand out when competing for limited LP capital
- Why winning competitive deals matters when raising a fund
- Why DPI matters more than paper markups
- How Jeff thinks about secondaries and returning capital to LPs
- What Jeff learned from passing on companies like @Uber and @twilio
- Why supporting founders across multiple rounds can compound your reputation
- How to successfully transition leadership at a venture firm
- Why AI startups are scaling faster than anything Jeff has seen before

Enjoy!
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
03:05 - The Fundraise That Took Jeff Nearly Two Years
08:38 - How Jeff Launched One of the First Seed Funds
13:26 - Why DPI Matters More Than Paper Markups
23:28 - What LPs Actually Want From Emerging Managers
26:26 - How to Build a Venture Firm That Outlives You
30:45 - Life Outside Venture Capital
36:46 - Why Jeff Is Betting on Deep Tech and Hardware
43:08 - Why Jeff Passed on Investing in Uber
47:45 - How Jeff Led the Seed Round for Postmates
51:09 - Trailblazer Trade-Offs

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