On September 30, 2026, Kelly Schricker, Head of Decile Labs, and Mike Suprovici, Head of Acceleration, hosted Introducing Cohort 23: The Era of the Agentic Fund, a live session on how VC Lab managers now launch and run a fund with agents doing much of the daily work.
The Cohort 23 announcement already lists the new tools, so this piece focuses on the other half of the session, which is what an agentic fund still needs from the person running it, from the order you raise in to the calls only a GP can make.
Watch the full session here: Introducing Cohort 23: The Era of the Agentic Fund, and read on for the parts of the conversation that apply to anyone weighing an application before the early deadline.
The short version
- Mike described venture as two markets now, with a new crop of emerging managers launching all over the world and getting into deals the old model couldn't reach.
- Agents in Decile Hub handle the daily operations and much of the follow-up, while investment decisions, LP calls and business judgment stay with you.
- The order you do things in decides how quickly you reach a first close, starting with LPs who trust you and leaving lawyers and decks until later.
- Your edge comes from a specialization that makes you uniquely qualified, whether that's a sector, a community, an accelerator or access to certain founders.
- You don't need committed capital to apply, and Start Fund handles structure questions like key person risk.
What an agentic fund means for Cohort 23
Mike's view was that because of what he called the agentic revolution, a solo GP can now run a fund that's every bit as institutional grade as a large organization, and do it efficiently, because agents can take on the day-to-day operations and even some of the investor relations.
That's the practical meaning of an agentic fund in this cohort, where agents inside Decile Hub, the agentic operating system for a VC firm, carry the operational load so your time goes to the thesis, the founders and the people who'll back you.
Venture isn't one market anymore
"It used to be one market. It's no longer one market," Mike said, describing how the same manager and LP archetypes used to recycle each other year after year, mostly in places like Silicon Valley, before a whole new crop of emerging managers started launching everywhere.
He said these managers start with smaller fund sizes, get into deals very early and make non-consensus bets on founders who may not have everything together yet, and that's the market an agentic fund is built to serve from day one.
He also pushed back on the idea that you're competing with others in the room, since first funds raise through trusted networks, and he compared the work to a sport like surfing or golf, where the real competition is the conditions rather than the people beside you.
Where agents carry the work
Mike showed pitch practice as one example, explaining that managers used to rehearse their pitch on people in their network and burn through those relationships while they got better, and now you can practice with an agent before you ever take a real meeting.
He also showed that you can connect AI tools like Claude to Hub through MCP, but you still need a system of record that understands venture deep down, because most of your questions will be business questions, like what to do when an LP won't wire a capital call.
Inside VC Lab, that system sits under a weekly sprint that tells you what to do next, so you're on rails through the 14-week program, with working groups, two sessions a week, office hours and a large community of GPs around you.
Where the human stays in the loop
When an attendee asked where the human stays in the loop, Mike's first answer was the investment decision, because you're making non-consensus bets, and the agents will often flag everything that can go wrong when you still need to be the one who says you're making the investment anyway.
Investor relations is another, since agents can run strong follow-up sequences, but "you're still going to have to get on a call with folks and convince them to invest," and someone still has to walk LPs through KYC and AML when they onboard.
Then come the judgment calls that look like accounting and turn out to be business decisions, such as whether to distribute a small early exit to your LPs or recycle it into another investment, or whether to accept a side letter or an LP's redline of your documents.
Mike said that's why Decile still hires very senior fund accountants to handle exceptions and give business advice even as the company runs agentically, and it's the role Decile Partners plays in the back office for managers who choose it.
The order of operations from formation to first close
Mike's answer to how VC Lab funds reach a first close quickly was that they put things in order, and the first rule is to hold off on lawyers until your LPs are hard-circled with letters of intent, because the LPs pay the bills and service providers cost time and money you can't spare yet.
The same goes for the deck, since Mike said you can't build one until your thesis is epic, and a thesis that lands is one where some of the LPs you talk to respond with a version of "I'm in, where do I sign?"
He also warned against spending time on LPs who were never going to back you, noting that most professional, institutional LPs are prevented by charter from investing in emerging managers, so your hours belong with the people who can actually say yes.
A PACT is the tool VC Lab managers use for that early hard-circle step, and our first VC fund fundraising data shows what early raises tend to look like across the community.
Trust networks and a specialist edge
Mike said the people who fund your fund will be people who already trust you, and after a first close they'll recommend you to people they trust, which is how you start to get what he called "network effects of trust" from one close to the next.
He added that "you need to be specialized in something," and clarified that specialist doesn't have to mean a sector, because an edge can come from running a community or an accelerator, or from being a sought-after security expert whose advice good founders already seek out.
He also told the audience that SPVs and angel investing don't count as track record, since the market reads track record as professionally managing a blind pool of capital, which is why a clear specialization carries weight. Our generalist vs specialist data looks at how the two approaches compare.
Structure choices for an agentic fund
On partners, Mike suggested starting as a solo GP unless you already know a co-founder well, then making a promising person a venture partner so you can test working together before you promote them, which keeps the partnership safer for everyone involved.
When asked about key person risk for a solo GP, he said Start Fund solves it through a fund continuity guarantee, where Decile Group steps in to manage everything if something happens to the key individual.
He said VC Lab supports venture studios that pair a studio with a VC fund, while a studio that only keeps producing startups is closer to raising for a startup, and he noted that LP restrictions vary by country for regulatory reasons, while there are generally few restrictions on the companies a fund backs.
How to apply for Cohort 23
- You don't need committed capital before you apply, since Mike said helping you get the money is the whole point.
- The early deadline is Monday, November 9, 2026 (PT), and applications stay open after that date.
- After acceptance you get a one-on-one onboarding call, access to the On-ramp first-close investor relations program and group office hours before the cohort begins.
- The cohort kicks off on Thursday, January 14, 2027.
- Kelly suggested applying early, since the Thanksgiving to Christmas stretch is a slower period that's well suited to reconnecting with your network once you're set up.
Frequently asked questions
What is an agentic fund?
An agentic fund is a venture fund where agents handle much of the operational work, such as follow-up, reporting and the daily tasks of running the firm, while the GP keeps the investment decisions, the LP conversations and the business judgment calls.
Do agents replace the GP?
No, Mike was clear that an agent isn't going to make the decision to invest in a company for you, and that you'll still get on calls with LPs, while senior experts handle exceptions and advice behind the agents.
Do I need a co-GP to launch an agentic fund?
Mike's advice was to start as a solo GP unless you already know your partner well, add a venture partner first if you're unsure, and rely on Start Fund's continuity guarantee to address key person risk.
Watch the full session
Introducing Cohort 23: The Era of the Agentic Fund was recorded September 30, 2026 with Kelly Schricker and Mike Suprovici, and includes the full live Q&A on structure, studios and the application.
Launch your own fund with VC Lab
VC Lab is Decile Group's R&D center, built for emerging VCs, with emerging VCs, where you join a community of 1,000+ investors in over 88 countries and build your fund with agents in Decile Hub carrying the daily work.
Apply to VC Lab at govclab.com before the Cohort 23 early deadline on Monday, November 9, 2026 (PT), and if you're raising funds two through four, look at the Emerging Institute instead.