  Using a combination of incentive modeling and empirical meta-analyses, this
paper provides a pointed critique at the incentive systems that drive venture
capital firms to optimize their practices towards activities that increase
General Partner utility yet are disjoint from improving the underlying asset of
startup equity. We propose a "distributed venture firm" powered by software
automations and governed by a set of functional teams called "Pods" that carry
out specific tasks with immediate and long-term payouts given on a deal-by-deal
basis. Avenues are provided for further research to validate this model and
discover likely paths to implementation.
