Jeff Seibert: Why OpenAI Will Become an Infrastructure Play | E1085

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

November 22, 2023

Duration

1h 1m

Channel

The Twenty Minute VC

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Every single 20VC episode is recorded with Riverside.FM. It is the one product that I could not live without. Try it today here (https://creators.riverside.fm/20VC) and use the code 20VC for 15% off. ----------------------------------------------- Jeff Seibert is the Founder & CEO @ Digits, building the future of AI-powered accounting. Digits have raised funding from the likes of Peter Fenton @ Benchmark and 20VC. Jeff previously served as Twitter’s Head of Consumer Product, a position he came to following the acquisition of his prior company, Crashlytics. Today, Crashlytics is the de-facto mobile crash reporting solution for iOS and Android and runs on over 6 Billion monthly active smartphones worldwide. ----------------------------------------------- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (00:30) Investor Meetings and Twitter's Impact (01:14) Childhood Ambitions and Product Design (04:03) Entrepreneurial Struggles and Management (08:26) CEO Accountability and Company Culture (12:50) Digits: Origin and Evolution (18:36) Business Pivots and Investor Interaction (26:17) AI Impact and OpenAI's Challenges (36:13) Data Privacy and AI Adoption Speed (41:14) Angel Investing and Startup Outcomes (54:25) Quick-Fire Round ----------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Jeff Seibert We Discuss:

1. The Art of the Pivot: What are Jeff’s biggest pieces of advice to founders pivoting? How do you know when you have enough data to make the decision to pivot? What are the single biggest mistakes founders make when pivoting?

1. AI: Who Wins and Who Loses: Why does Jeff believe that OpenAI will transition into an infrastructure play? What are the most significant challenges OpenAI will face moving forward? Why does Jeff believe that Apple are best positioned to win in an AI world? Why does Jeff believe that Google are the most vulnerable incumbent? What would Jeff do if he was CEO of Google?

1. LLMs: What Happens Now: Will we see the commoditization of LLMs? What are the biggest misconceptions people have on training and fine-tuning LLMs? Will we see LLMs increasingly specialise to vertical-specific models or will they remain horizontal? What is the difference between a thick and a thin wrapper when building on top of LLMs?

1. Angel Portfolio in Review: How many angel checks has Jeff written? How many failed? How many home runs? Does Jeff believe that company valuations are being kept artificially high? How did Jeff make 200x selling through the secondary market for a now failing company? What are Jeff’s three biggest pieces of advice for angels today? ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Jeff Seibert on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeffseibert Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #VentureCapital #JeffSeibert #Digits #HarryStebbings

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Jeff Seibert

  guest

• Harry Stebbings

  host

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Jeff Seibert and Harry Stebbings, Jeff Seibert: Why OpenAI Will Become an Infrastructure Play | E1085 explores openAI, Infrastructure, and Execution: Jeff Seibert on AI and Startups Jeff Seibert, serial founder and CEO of Digits, explains how large language models will commoditize and why OpenAI is likely to become an infrastructure provider similar to AWS rather than a full-stack app company. He argues that startups must treat AI as a tool, not a product, and focus on deep customer problems, strong execution, and decisive pivots rather than thin wrappers on foundation models.

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