20VC: Why To Win in AI, Investors Need to Change Their Approach | Why VC is Run by Principals and Associates and is a Broken System | The Bull Case for Anthropic & Whether Deepseek Changes Their Strategy with Nabeel Hyatt @ Spark Capital
Nabeel Hyatt is a General Partner @ Spark Capital, one of the leading firms of the last decade with portfolio companies including Twitter, Anthropic, Coinbase, Affirm, Discord, Deel and more.
In Todays Show with Nabeel Hyatt We Discuss:
1. The Rules of Investing:
What have been Nabeel's biggest lessons on price sensitivity? When did he not pay up and with the benefit of hindsight, wish he had of paid up?
How important is ownership to Nabeel and Spark? How does Nabeel think about reserve investing and doubling down?
Why does Nabeel not engage in secondary markets? How does Nabeel think about when is the right time to sell?
Why does Nabeel think the majority of market sizing is total BS?
2. The Venture Landscape: Run by Principles and Broken:
Why does Nabeel believe this generation of AI investing will require a different mindset to the one that made VCs successful over the last decade?
Why does Nabeel believe that venture is currently run by principals and associates? Why is that such a problem?
Why does Nabeel believe that the majority of venture firms today are dead but do not know it yet?
What does Nabeel believe happens to the mega multi-stage firms who have raised billions and billions?
3. How to Win the VC Game in a World of AI:
Infrastructure, models, apps: where does Nabeel believe the most value will accrue in the next decade of AI investing?
What does Nabeel mean when he says there are three categories of AI apps today? Where does Nabeel believe the most valuable will be built?
Does Nabeel believe Deepseek hurt or helped the future for Anthropic? How could Anthropic be a $100BN company from this point?
What does no one see about the next 10 years of AI that everyone should see?
20VC: Spark's Nabeel Hyatt on Investing in Oculus and Cruise & What It Takes To Invest Ahead Of The Curve
Nabeel Hyatt is a venture partner at Spark Capital where he invests in entrepreneurs using that rare combination of design and technology to transform markets. He is currently on the board of Spark Capital's investments in Cruise (acquired by General Motors), Fig, Harmonix, Postmates, Proletariat, and Thalmic Labs. Nabeel was previously cofounder and CEO of Conduit Labs, which was sold to Zynga in 2010, where he then became General Manager up through the IPO. Prior to that he was variously cofounder, head of product, and CEO at a variety of hardware and software companies including MIT Media Lab spin-out Ambient Devices, Teamtalk (BSkyB), and Interphase. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Nabeel make his way into the world of VC?
2.) What are the biggest lessons Nabeel can apply from his time in the trenches to being a VC at Spark? How has his investment strategy and decision making changed over time?
3.) What were the biggest takeaways for Nabeel as an observer and investor in Oculus?
4.) What is the story behind Spark's investment in Cruise (recently acquired by GM)? How did Nabeel come to meet Kyle and the team? What was the product like? How did it evolve?
5.) What does Cruise's acquisition mean for the autonomous car industry? What are the inherent challenges for the industry as a whole? How will they be overcome and what timeline are you placing on the industry to come into fruition?
Items Mentioned In Today's Episode:
Nabeel's Fave Blog: AVC
Nabeel's Most Recent Investment: Fig
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