Hemant Taneja is the CEO and Managing Director of General Catalyst. We cover the motivation behind GC's focus on critical industries such as healthcare, the value of a long-term approach to building deals and relationships, and how to be successful at succession.
Principles & Lessons:
1) Resilience in critical industries calls for rethinking partnership models. Hemant emphasized that a shift away from merely “globalization and cost efficiencies” means newly important national self-reliance. As he put it: “If you are a country today, are you really going to rely on the United States for the vaccine for the next pandemic?” This question captures his view that healthcare, energy, defense, and manufacturing require more resilient designs, which include new ventures created through “radical collaboration” between technologists and domain experts.
2) Connecting payer and provider incentives in healthcare boosts consumer health. Hemant explained how volume-based health systems “are literally incented to have heads in beds” while insurers prefer healthy populations. He pointed out that Kaiser’s model—“Kaiser has a health plan, and you go to their primary care”—aligns those objectives. “If Kaiser is seeing you as a patient and also getting paid as a health plan, they don’t want you going to the hospital.” This exemplifies why GC prefers health systems with “value-based care” or “pay-vider” models, rather than strictly fee-for-service structures.
3) Long-horizon thinking changes decisions on exits and capital usage. Reflecting on Livongo’s 2020 sale, Hemant noted he felt “incredible buyer’s remorse” because it went public serving only half a million patients. “What would have happened if…we were actually serving 10 million people and we kept doing this?” He realized that maximizing both profit and social impact necessitates structures like permanent capital or multi-decade commitments, rather than defaulting to seven-year venture horizons.
4) Emphasizing “applied AI” yields immediate productivity gains. Hemant described how Livongo initially focused on “applied AI” to manage chronic conditions rather than chasing grand but speculative “AGI.” He added that his firm invests heavily where AI can directly benefit an established function—e.g., “We built Hippocratic as a language model for health care,” not to sell AI alone, but to offer “the smartest AI nurse.” Similarly, he sees call center automation as a near-term AI use, re-onshoring services and creating “high-margin software businesses.”
5) Building companies in-house requires exacting criteria and a true founder. For internal incubations, Hemant said: “We don’t start unless there is somebody who is a co-founder and the primary founder that wants to own it.” This stance arises from his experience that good ventures need full-time, accountable founders rather than part-time or fragmented leadership. He also insists on leaving room so “if along the way we lose confidence, but the founder wants to keep going, they can raise from the outside” without capital-stack distortions.
6) Stress on relationships guides decision-making and the firm’s culture. Asked about GC’s core values, Hemant replied succinctly: “Relationships…that’s the last thing that will go.” They prioritize trust and authentic collaboration with founders, industry partners, and governments. As Hemant put it, “Our business is a relationship with the founders, a relationship with those industries, and a relationship with the government,” all geared toward better alignment and creative problem-solving.
7) Progressive succession involves both trust and willingness to adapt. Hemant recounted how GC’s founders asked him to lead in the Bay Area, “literally took everybody we were developing in Boston and sent them 3,000 miles away.” This tested the firm’s structure. Their LPs “were super mad,” fearing a split. But Hemant noted that “they underestimated the power of that trust.” Later, with Ken Chenault becoming Chairman, the firm tackled an “intentional succession” that remained difficult but anchored in transparent dialogue and enduring partnerships.
8) Operating like a “company” complements the traditional partnership model. Hemant described forging three-year strategies, a CEO role, mission and values exercises, and OKR-based management. He credited Ken Chenault for driving such rigor, including the mission statement and “beautiful set of values” that stand behind GC’s expansion. This is all balanced with the traditional “conviction over consensus” approach: “We want to run with the rigor of any other company, while protecting the magic… backing conviction of a few people,” says Hemant, viewing this dual mode as essential for scaling and sustaining the firm.
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