What Venture's Top Voices Expect Next in AI
Origins - Inside Venture Capital, Hosted by a GP and an LP
Technical vs product genius in founders
Sarah Tavel outlines why early-stage AI needs technical founders now, and how product founders emerge as infrastructure matures.
2025 was, undoubtedly, the year of AI. In the first episode of 2026 Beezer Clarkson, Partner at Sapphire Partners, and Nick Chirls, Partner at Asylum Ventures revisit some of their favorite moments from the year before to see what the top voices in VC saw as emerging AI trendlines and how the venture ecosystem and global markets might respond next. In this episode we’ll hear from – among others – Sarah Tavel of Benchmark about what it means to be truly AI native, Sunil Dhaliwal & Mike Dauber of Amplify about finding technical VCs in the age of AI, and Micah Rosenbloom of Founder Collective on how early stage venture often misses major trends like AI until it’s too late.
Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partners
Learn more about OpenLP: openlp.vc
Learn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vc
Learn more about Benchmark: benchmark.com
Learn more about Amplify: amplifypartners.com
Learn more about Founder Collective: foundercollective.com
Learn more about Curie.Bio: curie.bio
Read Sarah’s Substack Posts: sarahtavel.com
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Welcome to Origins
3:36 Being AI Native with Sarah Tavel
10:36 Finding Technical Founders with Mike Dauber & Sunil Dhaliwal
14:31 Early Stage Founders Are 7 Years Too Late with Micah Rosenbloom
23:04 What AI CAN’T Do with Zach Weinberg28:37-Technical vs. Product Genius with Sarah Tavel
38:49 Nick & Beezer’s AI Trends to Watch In 2026
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Origins is produced by Sapphire Ventures in partnership with Pod People.
Nothing presented herein is intended to constitute investment advice, and under no circumstances should any information provided herein be used or considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund managed by Sapphire Ventures, LLC (“Sapphire”). Any offer or solicitation of securities by Sapphire may only be made in accordance with the current offering documents for a managed Fund in which Sapphire is an advisor. Additionally, Sapphire does not solicit or make its services available to the public; such offerings may only be provided to accredited investors and qualified purchasers defined within the Securities Act of 1933 and the Investment Company Act of 1940. Information provided reflects Sapphire Ventures’ views as of a particular time. Such views are subject to change at any point and Sapphire Ventures shall not be obligated to provide notice of any change. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual events, results or the actual experience may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in these statements. While Sapphire Ventures has used reasonable efforts to obtain information from reliable sources, Sapphire makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of third party information presented herein. Nothing presented herein may be relied upon as a guarantee or assurance as to the future success of any particular investment opportunity or strategy. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
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