Tomasz Tunguz is the Founder and General Partner @ Theory Ventures, just announced last week, Theory is a $230M fund that invests $1-25m in early-stage companies that leverage technology discontinuities into go-to-market advantages. Prior to founding Theory, Tom spent 14 years at Redpoint as a General Partner where he made investments in the likes of Looker, Expensify, Monte Carlo, Dune Analytics, and Kustomer to name a few. Tom also writes one of the best blogs and newsletters in the business which can be found here. In Today's Episode with Tomasz Tunguz We Discuss: Founding a Firm: The Start of Theory: Why did Tom decide to leave Redpoint after 14 years to found Theory? What are 1-2 of his biggest lessons from Redpoint that he has taken with him to his building of Theory? What does Tom know now that he wishes he had known when he started investing? 2. From 150 LP Meetings to Closing $230M: Raising a Fund I How would Tom describe the fundraising process? How many meetings with LPs did he have? How many did he know previously? What documents did he share with LPs? Did he have a dataroom? How did he use it? How did Tom create a sense of urgency to compel LPs to come into the fund? How does Tom feel about the debate between one close and multiple closes? What was the #1 reason LPs said no to investing? What worked and Tom would do again for the next raise? What did not work and he would change for the next raise? 3. Where Will Value Accrue in the Next Decade of AI: Startup vs Incumbent: Will incumbents embrace AI before startups are able to acquire distribution? Infrastructure vs Application Layer: Where will the majority of value accrue in the next decade; infrastructure or application layer? Bundled or Unbundled: Will bundled services be the dominant consumer and enterprise choice or will unbundled specialized solutions win? 4. AI and The World Around It: How does Tom believe AI could save the US economy? Why does Tom believe Google are the losers in the AI race? Which incumbents have responded best to AI? Why does Tom believe we will be in a worse macro place at the end of the year than we are now?

One of the core questions in AI and investing today; who wins, startups or incumbents? Startups have speed and innovation but incumbents have scale, resources, and distribution? Today we hear from 6 leading investors and founders discussing where they place their bets who has the advantage; startups or incumbents? Emad Mostaque is CEO @ StabilityAI, the parent company of Stable Diffusion. To date, Emad has raised over $110M with Stability with the latest round reportedly pricing the company at $4BN.  Yann LeCun is VP & Chief AI Scientist at Meta and Professor at NYU. He was the founding Director of FAIR and of the NYU Center for Data Science. Clem Delangue is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Hugging Face, the AI community building the future. Clem has raised over $160M from the likes of Sequoia, Coatue, Addition and Lux Capital to name a few. Sarah Guo is the Founding Partner @ Conviction Capital, a $100M first fund purpose-built to serve “Software 3.0” companies. Prior to founding Conviction, Sarah was a General Partner at Greylock. Vince Hankes is a Partner @ Thrive Capital where he has led the firm’s investments in OpenAI, Melio, and Airplane.dev. Prior to Thrive, Vince learned the craft of venture from Lee Fixel @ Tiger. Tomasz Tunguz is the Founder and General Partner @ Theory Ventures, a $230M fund that invests $1-25m in companies that leverage technology discontinuities into go-to-market advantages. The Question of the Day: Who wins? Startups or Incumbents?

Guest Tomasz Tunguz, a VC with AI expertise, delves into AI's evolution, modern data stacks, human evaluations, and high-value use cases. Topics also cover AI disrupting industries, advice for incumbents and startups, successful distribution strategies like Midjourney's on Discord, and the future of AI in non-determinism and professional relationships.

Tomasz Tunguz, a leading voice in tech investment, discusses Ethereum's potential, data security in a decentralized world, and AI technologies. They delve into blockchain's use case, the intersection of blockchain and AI, and trends in cloud investments.

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.On this week’s show we’re excited to have Tomasz Tunguz, Founder of newly formed Theory Ventures. Tomasz spent nearly 15 years at Redpoint Ventures, before recently spinning out to start Theory Ventures. Earlier this year, Theory closed a $230MM fund to back early stage entrepreneurs. Those who have followed Tomasz’s writing, know that he is incredibly analytical and thoughtful in his approach to business. This conversation was no different as we went deep into topics such as portfolio construction theory, business models in VC, and how to be strategic in raising a VC fund. About Tomas Tunguz:Tomasz Tunguz is a Founder and Managing Director at Theory Ventures. He is an active blogger at tomtunguz.com and is co-author of Winning with Data which explores the cultural changes big data brings to business and shows you how to adapt your organization to leverage data to maximum effect.Before founding Theory, Tomasz was Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures, where he backed many early-stage SaaS, data, and infrastructure founders in his 14-year tenure. He began his career as the product manager for Google’s AdSense social-media products and AdSense internationalization.Tomasz attended Dartmouth College and graduated with a BA in mechanical engineering, a BE in machine learning, and a master’s degree in engineering management.In this episode we discuss:(01:42) Why Tomasz joined Redpoint(03:01) The decision to start Theory Ventures (06:32) Raising his first fund during one of the most difficult raise environments in recent history(07:45) What his plan was with the raise(10:47) How Tomasz created and sustained momentum during his raise(16:12) Common objections from LPs and how he overcame them(19:49) What it means for a venture firm to have a business model(23:00) How Theory’s thesis addresses the problem of multiples in the venture market(24:59) Winning deals without paying premiums(26:13) Why the 3x net returns on venture needs to increase to be competitive(27:40) Getting comfortable with a smaller portfolio(31:29) Tomasz’s mental model of picking and diligence with a smaller portfolio(34:30) Qualitative signs he looks for in founders and companies(38:19) Why Tomasz embraces the emerging manager label(39:30) What the next decade of venture looks like(42:07) The best career advice he’s receivedI’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Tomasz. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

Tomasz Tunguz, a general partner at Theory Ventures with expertise in data businesses, joins to discuss the evolving data ecosystem. He analyzes Databricks' competitive stance against Snowflake and its significant role in AI development. The conversation dives into key investment strategies, valuation metrics, and the crucial function of data catalogs. Tunguz also explores modern trends in the data stack and the implications of AI on investment opportunities, offering insights into potential market consolidation.

Tomasz Tunguz, a seasoned venture capitalist with over 15 years of experience, dives into the evolution of venture capital, focusing on Web3. He emphasizes that brand is the only enduring moat in investments and predicts that Web3 will mirror private equity's explosive growth. Their discussion highlights Theory Ventures' investment in Allium, which addresses the growing demand for Web3 financial infrastructure. Tomasz also explores the complexities of valuing Web3 companies and the challenges of navigating funding dynamics in the crypto landscape.

Tomasz Tunguz, General Partner at Theory Ventures, discusses the Theory Ventures model, the contraction in investable VC dollars, the parallels between PE and VC, and the significance of research and analysis in venture capital. They also explore LPs and venture firm fundraising, the future of multi-stage VC firms, the current state of the economy and software and fintech sectors, and the ideal concentration of companies in a fund and the future of accelerators.

In this episode, Erik Torenberg chats with Tomasz Tunguz about Databricks, AI impact, data catalogs, and future data trends. They discuss Databricks' growth, competition, AI development, unstructured data handling, and strategic business decisions. The conversation also covers the importance of data control, AI workload support, market dynamics, and potential growth of AI companies like Databricks in the public market.

Experienced investors Rob Rueckert, Tomasz Tunguz, and Frank Rotman share key career lessons. Rueckert emphasizes personal conviction in investments. Tunguz discusses supporting companies like Snowflake through challenges. Rotman highlights maintaining food quality while maximizing profitability in startups.