#253 | Future of Robotics, Systems of Action, & more
Oct 12th | The latest from Sequoia, 8VC, Work-Bench, Primary, Insight, Energize, and others
SandHill.io aggregates and shares the latest investment themes, market insights, and best practices for operating and investing from 700+ VCs, analysts, and operators.
This newsletter curates a selection of posts featured on the website each week.
Investment Themes & Theses
An Early Map for a Useful Robotics Future (8VC Team)
Systems of Action: The Next Era of Software (Daniel Chesley, Principal @ Work-Bench)
Systems of Work Are Eating Systems of Record (Emily Man, Partner @ Primary)
The Future of Aesthetics (Simran Suri, Principal @ Maveron)
Industry Developments & Analyses
The State of AI Report 2025 (Nathan Benaich, GP @ Air Street Capital)
The Trillion Dollar AI Software Development Stack (Guido Appenzeller & Yoko Li, A16Z)
The state of the robotics ecosystem: The tech, use cases, and field deployment (Insight Team)
The Green Premium Is Dead—It Always Was (Kevin Stevens, Partner @ Energize)
Grid Software: Modernizing a Grid Under Strain (Ana Hugener, Principal @ Energize)
Mapping out the Future of Compute (Priyanka Somrah, VC @ Work-Bench)
The Operating System of Everything (Saanya Ojha, Partner @ BCV)
Guides, Case Studies, and Best Practices for Operating
Why Every Software Company Needs A CRM Agent (Marco Demereiles, GP @ Ansa)
Fundraising in the US (Alice Bentinck, CEO @ Entrepreneur First)
We Put AI SDR Tools to the Test: Here’s What We Learned (Namrata Ram & Stuart Watson, SignalFire)
Pricing Your Early‑Stage B2B AI SaaS Product: A Framework, Not a Formula (Natalie Coletta, GTM @ BCV)
Additional Reads
AI CapEx Now Hinges on Deus ex machina (David Cahn, GP @ Sequoia)
Parallel Intelligence & Jeff Bezos Says (Dez Fleming, VC @ FirstMark)
Winning in Vertical AI: Pathways for Success (Ali Afridi, Principal @ Equal)
The $1 Trillion Question (James Heath, Principal @ dara5)
When Private Becomes Public, Markets Follow (Jarrod Dicker, Partner @ TCG)
Why Bother? (Kyle Harrison, GP @ Contrary)
Five Eras of Marketplace Power Shifts (Susannah Shipton, Partner @ AlleyCorp)
The Model Doesn’t Matter (Rob May, GP @ Half Court)
You Are the Product (James Heath, Principal @ dara5)
Fruits of the Walled Garden (Marc Andrusko & Alex Rampell, A16Z)
Notes:
If you have any great agencies or freelancers that you have worked with and would recommend to other startups, please complete this form to vouch for them! These could be growth firms, deck designers, staffing firms, engineering providers or more. Once we collect enough responses we’ll share the top providers publicly.
The SandHill app is now pulling from 700+ blogs and newsletters (full list here). Respond to this email if we missed a post or a feed.
You can view all the latest posts in a live feed on the web app.