VBSR 1.01: RTO is back (again) + data moats dry up + Sara vibecodes

Welcome to a Very Brief Short Report: (kinda) short listens on the biggest ideas in tech right now, from Accel’s Vas Natarajan and Sara Ittelson. This week, Sara and Vas try to make sense of the “chaotic change” happening as they share observations from Accel’s latest portfolio review. They discuss why teams that collaborate in-office are thriving, how data isn’t the moat it once was, and what it means when everyone’s vibecoding (Sara and Vas’s teen nephew included).

This Week’s Five Takeaways

1. The energy is snapping back to San Francisco. Tech talent dispersed across the US (and the world) during the pandemic. Lately, we’re seeing an uptick in teams collaborating five days a week, right here in SF.

2. As switching costs ease, data becomes less of a moat. Portability is easier than ever. When platforms can quickly gather—and, more crucially, use LLMs to make sense of—enterprise data, businesses need to consider how else they can drive retention. The pain of migrating simply isn’t enough to get a contract renewed.

3. A lot of talented people are founding right now. It’s an exciting time to build, with AI lowering barriers to entry and powering rapid scale. It’s also more competitive than ever. A slick demo and a world-class team are the default assumptions—you need to bring an additional edge, like a distribution advantage or a discerning sense of taste.

4. Build vs. buy is coming to consumers. Enterprises with massive developer teams have always had the option to simply build custom solutions. Vibecoding gives end-users this option, too.

5. Creativity is in a moment of “IKEA-fication.” AI means everyone’s a medium-level creator. But there’s real hunger for products and experiences that feel deeply human. Make something that feeds people’s craving for connection and authenticity, and you can command a premium price point.