Sarah Guo isn’t late to the AI party

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Oct 12, 2022

Sarah Guo, founder of Conviction and a former Greylock partner, talks about her new $101 million fund targeting software and AI investments. She explains her departure from Greylock and the evolving venture capital landscape, emphasizing trust between investors and founders. The conversation dives into AI's real-world applications and the skepticism around its hype, while addressing the pressing need for capital efficiency in startups. Guo also shares insights on navigating seed-stage investments and the importance of understanding market dynamics.

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ANECDOTE

Tumultuous Times

The past three years have been tumultuous for startups, with a pandemic, recessions, and crypto booms and busts.
This period feels like a thousand years in "startup and dog years."

INSIGHT

Conviction's Name

Sarah Guo chose the name "Conviction" for her VC firm to emphasize belief in founders and a differentiated investment thesis.
Many VC firms sound the same, so Guo wanted Conviction to stand out as the best choice for a specific type of entrepreneur.

INSIGHT

Conviction's Investment Strategy

Conviction's investment strategy involves a concentrated portfolio focused on seed and Series A rounds.
Guo prefers larger, more involved investments over smaller angel checks.

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Sarah Guo isn't late to the AI party, but she did just raise a $101 million fund to bet on the appetizers.

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single person, think about their work, and unpack the rest. This week, Natasha and Alex interviewed Guo, who worked at Greylock for nearly a decade, and her launch of Conviction.

We spoke about the self-correcting venture market, what made her leave Greylock, and even rewound to her last episode with us (recorded almost exactly three years ago).

There was also an especially fruitful conversation about the opportunity in artificial intelligence right now, and how she's defining Software 3.0. (Warning: We talk about SaaS!) We also dug into why she started a fund, the LP market, and more. The conversation ran a bit long, but it felt reasonable to keep going given the sheer breadth of stuff that we wanted to get through.

Don't forget that Equity is going to be live at Disrupt next week, on Tuesday morning. It's going to be a blast. And before we go, two programming notes (that help your wallet, too):

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Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

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