David Tisch has always been a collector. His firm’s biggest prize is a $1 billion return on Cursor

David Tisch, founder of early-stage venture firm BoxGroup, has always been a collector. The first time reporter Alexandra Garfinkle met Tisch, he was surrounded by an impressive collection of Bearbricks, vinyl bear-like Japanese art-toys. Tisch began collecting at a young age, starting with sports cards when he was 11, during the early days of the internet.

His investment instincts have remained consistent throughout his career. BoxGroup's biggest prize is a $1 billion return on Cursor, an AI coding startup acquired by Elon Musk’s SpaceX for $60 billion. Cursor was first written a $750,000 check by BoxGroup's CEO Michael Truell, plus two subsequent checks, resulting in an extraordinary return for the venture capital firm.

Tisch sees a parallel between investing in startups and collecting sports cards as a child. He believes that the person you're backing is the most important factor in early-stage investing.