Investing in AI: Finding Opportunities in a Competitive Landscape

In episode three of Turpentine VC, Aydin Senkut and Erik Torenberg examine the generalist approach to VC that Felicis pioneered. If you’re looking to make fund administration easy and intuitive, check out: http://carta.com/turpentine

We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com.

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SPONSORS:

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Episode Preview

(01:18) The three different stages in the evolution of Felicis

(03:42) Felicis' strategy to engineer more hits: being generalists

(05:26) The two key ingredients to finding the right general partners

(08:02) How does Aydin think about balancing mental health and motivation to build a company?

(11:04) Bottom-up vs. top-down approaches to opportunistic investing

(12:54) How Felicis divides and conquers sectors internally

(15:35) Sponsor: Carta

(16:10) Felicis' AI strategy

(18:55) Aydin on not playing the crypto / web3 wave

(20:41) What's the fourth phase of Felicis' evolution?

(25:07) What's Felicis' advantage and special ingredient?

(27:30) Looking at Felicis from an LP perspective

(31:11) Two non-negotiables for Aydin when raising funds

(33:12) Sponsors: Synaptic | Pesto Tech

(35:07) How does Felicis think about decision-making? How do they make such quality decisions?

(38:52) Why virtually all of Felicis' investments are narrative-driven

(40:59) Aydin's recommendations for firms starting in 2023

(43:47) Aydin on Felicis' unique governance model

(47:30) How active is Aydin in the actual investing of Felicis now?

(49:50) What do founders really care about getting from their VCs?

(53:10) The number one factor when founders are choosing investors

(54:20) Other investors Aydin admires

(56:24) The venture landscape in 2030

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This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at erik@turpentine.co.