Uncapped with Jack AltmanThe Next Generation of Software | Mamoon Hamid, Partner at Kleiner Perkins | Ep. 16
CHAPTERS
From 1997 engineer to VC curiosity: living inside the first internet boom
Mamoon Hamid recounts arriving in Silicon Valley in 1997 as a young engineer at Xilinx and experiencing the internet’s early momentum firsthand. Seeing iconic products (Netscape, Sun, Amazon, Google) and learning they shared a common Series A backer planted the seed that venture capital could be an impactful career.
The dot-com bubble: when prices detached from reality
The conversation moves into what the dot-com era felt like from the ground—both exciting and increasingly irrational. Mamoon describes day trading culture, companies with no revenue achieving massive valuations, and the growing presence of “non-builders” chasing monetization.
Lessons from cycles: stay optimistic, but obsess over timing
Mamoon explains how living through bubbles changes (and shouldn’t over-harden) an investor’s mindset. The key is balancing openness and optimism with a rigorous “why now” framework—many dot-com ideas were correct but too early for adoption and infrastructure.
2000–2005: the slowdown, immigration constraints, and business school as reset
After the crash, Mamoon describes a quieter Valley where jobs were scarce and mobility was limited, especially for those on visas. He uses the downturn to step away for business school, returning when the next wave begins to form.
Web 2.0 and the emergence of cloud software: the pre-consensus years
Returning in 2005, Mamoon joins venture and shifts focus from semiconductors to web and cloud software—before it became the dominant investing narrative. He highlights how early Web 2.0 products and UI-centric experiences reshaped expectations, while SaaS adoption was still far from a given.
Investing in Box: a product thesis meets an exceptional founder
Mamoon explains his early thesis: if desktop software moves to the browser, file sharing/file exploration would be foundational. Box became his first major investment, supported by both a clear product-category logic and immediate conviction in Aaron Levie’s founder quality.
Mobile’s early days: from HTML5 wrappers to native killer apps
Mamoon places mobile as a wave that overlapped with cloud but took time to mature into native-first experiences. He notes how debates about wrappers vs native ended as gaming and apps like Uber pushed performance and engagement expectations forward.
AI as a supercycle: mapping a $60T labor opportunity
Mamoon frames AI as larger than prior waves because it targets not only software and productivity but labor itself. He uses macroeconomic context (GDP, tech as % of GDP, labor share) to argue AI can reshape value allocation and create trillion-dollar venture outcomes.
Where to invest in AI: application layer first, using a ‘jobs pyramid’
Rather than focusing on foundation models or infrastructure, Mamoon explains Kleiner’s application-centric approach. They organize opportunity by job categories—starting with high-skill professions—initially building “copilots” that evolve toward autonomy.
From copilots to autonomous agents—and why robotics is later
Mamoon describes the next step down the pyramid: roles like nursing, sales, and analysis where agents can perform work end-to-end. He contrasts this with robotics, which faces harder data, cost, and physical-world complexity constraints—making it a longer-timeline bet.
Reigniting Kleiner Perkins: ‘back to the future’ and a refounding mindset
Mamoon explains joining Kleiner in 2017 as both a personal full-circle moment and an institutional reset. The firm focused back on what historically made it great: a small, early-stage, craft-driven partnership centered on serving founders.
Growing vs recruiting talent: building a small partnership with strong culture
He outlines why Kleiner intentionally keeps the partnership small and emphasizes internal development. Culture fit—servant leadership and founder service—matters as much as raw investing skill, and the firm optimizes for deep debate around a single table.
Win-rate discipline and the KP operating system: see, pick, win, work
Mamoon shares how KP evaluates both deals and investors via a four-stage funnel: seeing, picking, winning, and working. They track Series A coverage weekly, aspire to win every deal they choose to pursue, and review losses systematically to improve their playbook.
Pattern recognition in top investments—and the founder qualities that matter
Reflecting on Box, Slack, Figma, Rippling, and Applied Intuition, Mamoon distinguishes between non-competitive early bets and later competitive wins. His recurring signals include small-N but extreme engagement, product-obsessed builders, and founder-executors who can “will the future” into existence.
KP’s fund strategy and personal grounding: doubling down + family and faith
Mamoon explains the two-fund approach: an early-stage fund requiring outlier outcomes and a select/growth vehicle to double down on the best performers (and occasionally re-enter missed deals). He closes with what anchors him outside work—family and faith—and how those values shape how he treats founders and colleagues.
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