Equity Seed to Series C: What VCs actually want from AI startups
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Jun 19, 2025 
Join Jill Chase, a Partner at CapitalG and expert in growth-stage AI investments, alongside Kanu Gulati from Khosla Ventures, who focuses on early-stage AI startups. They delve into the booming AI funding landscape and emphasize that founders should prioritize relationship-building over perfect pitch decks. The conversation highlights the importance of agility, consumer focus, and unique value propositions for startups competing against giants. They also tackle how AI agents are reshaping startup strategies and the need for ethical considerations in AI development.
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Early Relationship Building
- Build VC relationships early, even in messy idea stages, to showcase your grit and problem-solving skills.
- Perfecting pitches before connecting may miss the chance to demonstrate how you think and operate.
Leverage Agents to Reduce Labor
- Startups can leverage AI agents to reduce costly labor, changing how complex tasks like chip design are done.
- Founders should reimagine industries needing fewer people through automation to build competitive companies.
Future White Collar Work Landscape
- The CEO of Anthropic predicts up to 50% of white-collar work will disappear in 5-10 years.
- Innovation will shift toward automating tasks in existing businesses rather than ending startup creation.