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What should an LP ask about follow-on reserves at an AI specialist venture fund?
an AI specialist venture fund: Ask how reserves are sized, allocated, and revisited as evidence changes.
Ask how reserves are sized, allocated, and revisited as evidence changes. A reserve policy can describe discipline without guaranteeing access to later rounds. Clarify how the manager compares supporting existing holdings with making new investments.
Start with the decision
Review the decision criteria, capital model, and examples of follow-on and pass decisions. Test simultaneous demands and adverse scenarios. Ask how conflicts or allocation across related vehicles are handled under the applicable policies.
The illustrative scenario
This is an educational workbook. The company or fund and all numerical inputs below are fictional. They are not ADIN results, customer claims, market benchmarks, or a forecast.
The fictional fund focuses on companies applying or enabling AI. Its pitch claims technical sourcing advantages and rapid research. Several holdings depend on similar model providers and enterprise adoption patterns.
Different product names can conceal shared exposure. Distinguish company-level diversity from common dependencies on infrastructure, pricing, distribution, or customer budgets.
Reconcile the portfolio plan with its capital budget
This fictional model starts with $45,000,000.00 of commitments and sets aside $7,000,000.00 for modeled lifecycle costs and $15,000,000.00 for follow-ons. That leaves $23,000,000.00 for initial checks. A target of 25 investments at $800,000.00 requires $20,000,000.00 before any other unmodeled uses.
The cost amount is a hypothetical budget, not a quoted fee or an industry norm. Actual fees, expense allocation, offsets, fund term, investment authority, and distributions depend on the governing arrangements. A balanced budget does not establish that the manager can obtain the allocations, ownership, or results assumed in the strategy.
Compare the claimed specialist edge with specific decisions it improved or opportunities it revealed. Do not treat faster document production as proof of investment performance. Reduce the final close or increase the initial check and identify what changes first: company count, reserves, operating resources, or the strategy itself. For this article's question, use the resulting constraint to request the specific evidence or document provision rather than treating the spreadsheet as the decision.
| Item | Illustration |
|---|---|
| Fictional fund commitments | $45,000,000.00 |
| Modeled lifecycle costs | $7,000,000.00 |
| Modeled follow-on reserves | $15,000,000.00 |
| Available for initial checks in this model | $23,000,000.00 |
| Target initial investments / check size | 25 / $800,000.00 |
| Initial-investment capital required | $20,000,000.00 |
Use this worksheet
Answer the questions with a source, date, owner, and next action. Mark an unknown as unknown. Use public or permissioned information and involve a qualified specialist when a question requires expertise beyond the team’s competence.
- What qualifies for a follow-on?
- Who makes the decision?
- What access is assumed?
- How are competing demands ranked?
- What happens when reserves are insufficient?
Questions specific to this scenario
- Which exposures are shared?
- Who checks technical claims?
- What decision changed because of the specialist process?
Request a look-through dependency map, dated technical diligence examples, customer evidence, and a description of human investment authority. AI-generated research needs traceable sources and review responsibilities.
A concrete next test
Map two fictional holdings to their model providers, buyer budgets, and distribution channels. Ask which dependency could affect both at once. Then inspect a permissioned diligence example to see who checked technical claims and who retained the actual investment authority.
Interpret the result
Reserves create flexibility only within the fund's actual constraints. Avoid treating a fixed reserve percentage as universally optimal or assuming every promising company will receive support on acceptable terms.
Compare the claimed specialist edge with specific decisions it improved or opportunities it revealed. Do not treat faster document production as proof of investment performance.
Sources and method
These primary resources provide background for the concepts. The fictional scenario, calculations, and worksheet are ADIN educational examples; the sources do not report or validate those invented results. Reviewed October 11, 2026.