At age 17, Larsen Jensen appeared on the cover of Swimming World magazine with the headline “The Next Great American Distance Star?”
I’m not a big fan of question marks in headlines, but in this case the punctuation was an admission of reality: incredibly high expectations that are difficult for anyone to meet, let alone a teenager from a rural town. Jensen loved pizza and Zoolander, and spent what little free time he had with friends or on the computer. But he had also just accomplished the seemingly impossible: breaking the long-held U.S. men’s 800-meter freestyle record. The 2003 article proved prescient. The following summer in Athens, Jensen won the silver medal in the grueling 1500-meter freestyle, beaten only by legendary Australian swimmer Grant Hackett.
“Nobody goes for the silver medal at the Olympics,” Jensen said, “everybody goes for the gold medal, so of course I wish the American national anthem had been played, but it wasn’t. And I got to run the whole way with Grant, who was a real hero to me.”
Today, Jensen leads a very different life. After serving as a Navy SEAL, he moved into venture capital. After a few years at Lightspeed Venture Partners, Jensen started his own firm, Harpoon Ventures, in 2018. When I asked Jensen if venture capital and elite swimming have anything in common, the answer was mostly no. On the other hand, he said there is some overlap between startup founders and Olympic athletes. Both paths are often thankless and lonely, and the payoff at the end is far from certain.
“I think it’s a more direct connection than I expected,” Jensen says. “It’s interesting to talk to founders now and reflect on their journeys and struggles. Life is full of struggles, but there are also some highlights along the way.”
Still, Jensen says there are some lessons to be learned from elite swimming that startups should probably consider. One is a pretty provocative idea: In swimming, competitors train together, often with the same coach. This is the “iron sharpens iron” theory: if the best swimmers train to beat each other, everyone improves.
I spoke to some of Jensen’s Olympian training buddies (and rivals) about how it worked out; their relationships were highly competitive but mostly characterized by warmth and respect. I reached out to Hackett, who told me in an email that his 2004 showdown with Jensen “was the toughest race I’ve ever had. He pushed me to my limits that day.” Three-time medalist Erik Bent similarly praised Jensen’s ability to “show up when it mattered most.” Bent found the pressure of training with a direct rival a valuable preparation for a tough but liberating reality.
“It’s almost meaningless,” he said. “It’s black and white. You win or you lose.”
Success in tech and business is rarely as decisive as a gold, silver, or bronze medal. But either way, winning at that big moment requires an immense amount of preparation. Few people see startup founders struggling for years before their business gets off the ground. Jensen’s friend and rival, four-time medal winner Peter Vanderkay, describes the grueling training schedule of an Olympic swimmer: in Vanderkay’s case, 15 years, 10 practices a week.
“The best memories are the struggles and hard work that went into it,” Vanderkay says. “Obviously, the wins and stuff like that are great, but the most important part is the process, and that’s something that gets lost so easily in today’s society. Everyone wants to just tap a button and get something done, but most things in real life don’t happen that way.”
I asked Jensen what it feels like to stand on the Olympic podium, and his response was striking: He’s gracious and thoughtful about it, but at the same time, you can tell he still wishes he’d won gold. And as we all hunker down to watch the Olympics over the next few weeks, it’s a reminder that these athletes essentially gave so much of their lives for one moment.
“It feels unreal. [on the podium]”You get that after years and years and a lot of moments that go unappreciated,” Jensen says. “In my sport, you’re in the water at 5 a.m., even in the freezing winter. I grew up in outdoor pools and there was frost on the sides. It was a lonely sport with no coaches… it was miserable. It was grit, it was determination, and my biggest enemy was myself. It was hard, it was lonely, it’s not very glamorous, but it’s a moment of global recognition. It only takes a minute, maybe two. Now I’m amazed at the athletes who give for that opportunity.”
I remember as a kid thinking that Olympians were glorious, complete human beings, and couldn’t possibly be anything but — they must be supernaturally gifted, and always have been — but maybe the best swimmers in the world are the ones who can keep swimming along the line at the bottom of the pool, then do a somersault and start all over again.
see you tomorrow,
Allie Garfinkle
twitter: Agarfinx
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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Venture Transactions
– San Francisco-based satellite manufacturer Astranis raised $200 million in Series D funding. The round was led by a16z and BAM Elevate, with participation from BlackRock, Fidelity and Baillie Gifford.
– Confo Therapeutics, a Ghent, Belgium-based drug discovery company, raised €60 million ($65.2 million) in Series B funding. Ackermans & van Haaren led the round, with participation from Driehaus Capital Management, Quest for Growth, and existing investors.
– London, UK-based AI chip company Fractile raised $15 million in seed funding. Kindred Capital, NATO Innovation Fund and Oxford Science Enterprises led the round, with participation from Cocoa, Inovia Capital and angel investors.
– Irvine, California-based virtual network company ZeroTier raised $13.5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Battery Ventures, with participation from Bonfire Ventures, Anorak Ventures, Grand Enterprises BV and others.
– Freestyle Chess, a chess event series based in Hamburg, Germany, raised €10 million ($10.9 million) in funding from Left Lane Capital.
– Look North World, a Los Angeles, California-based video game studio and publisher, has raised $4.5 million in seed funding. The round was led by London Venture Partners, with participation from Bandai Namco Entertainment 021 Fund, Overwolf, Crush Ventures, and others.
Unlisted stocks
– Apollo has agreed to acquire the gaming and digital businesses of Everi Holdings, a casino gaming technology supplier based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and International Game Technology, a gaming technology developer based in London, England, for total consideration of approximately $6.3 billion.
– JPA Health, a Great Point Partners portfolio company, has acquired akt health communications, a London, U.K.-based health communications agency. Financial terms were not disclosed.
end
– PAI Partners agreed to acquire a majority stake in Paris, France-based nutrition brand Nutripure from Ardian. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Initial public offering
– WeRide, a Guangzhou, China-based autonomous driving technology developer, has filed for a Nasdaq listing. The company is backed by Tony Xu Han, Yan Li, Yutong’s companies, Qiming’s companies and Alliance Ventures.
people
East Rock Capital has hired Alexandra Schueler as senior director of strategic engagement, who previously worked at the Milken Institute.
