General Partner (GP)
A partner at a venture fund who makes investment decisions and sits on boards.
General partners run a venture fund: sourcing deals, making investment decisions, taking board seats, and returning capital to limited partners. They also invest personally in the fund, which aligns them with LPs.
GPs are compensated through management fees, usually 2% of the fund annually, and carried interest, usually 20% of profits. Carry is where the meaningful money is, which is why GPs care about large outcomes rather than safe ones.
When raising, it matters whether the person you are talking to is a GP with decision-making authority or an associate sourcing deals. Both are worth engaging, but only one can say yes.