Nabeel Hyatt, GP @ Spark Capital: To Win in AI, Investors Need to Change Their Approach | E1255

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. ---------------------------------------------- Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:50) Adapting Investment Mindset for the Age of AI (04:17) Adaptation of Venture Firms for Rapid Creativity & Innovation (10:00) Heuristics for Evaluating the Explosion of Startups (12:53) Venture's Shift from High Margin to Commoditized Industry (18:07) Effective Coaching & Mentorship Within a Partnership (19:29) Doubting Yourself as an Investor During the COVID Era (22:19) VC Service vs. Founders Who Don’t Need Help (25:23) What Happens When Nabeel Loses Faith in a Founder? (29:40) Sustainability of Value in a Rapidly Changing World (32:46) Why Focus on Product When It’s the Most Transient Element? (36:19) How Many Companies Does Nabeel Meet a Week? (39:48) Regrets Over Turning Down Deals Due to Price (42:37) Secondary Market Activity & The Need for Liquidity (44:23) Three Categories of AI Startups & How to Approach Them (50:53) Does DeepSeek Change OpenAI and Anthropic's Strategy? (54:03) The Future of the Agent Economy and Replacing Labor (57:39) Biggest Loss (01:00:20) Key Challenges Facing Europe Today (01:02:09) How to Approach the Path to Raising for AI Startups (01:05:36) Quick-Fire Round ---------------------------------------------- In Todays Show with Nabeel 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? ----------------------------------------------- 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 Nabeel Hyatt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nabeel 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 ----------------------------------------------- #20vc #harrystebbings #nabeelhyatt #sparkcapital #venturecapital #investing #ai #openai #startups