#260 | The Most Fragile Layer of the Economy, Narrative Power in the AI Era & more
Nov 30th | The latest from Slow, Scale, Bessemer, Meritech, Foundation, QED, 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 & Industry Analyses
Oceans: The Most Fragile Layer of the Global Economy (Will Quist, GP @ Slow)
Top performers see AI-powered growth (Dale Chang & Chris Young, Scale)
The Agricultural Backbone that Powers Thanksgiving (David Talpalar, ex-VC @ Conversion)
Charts of the Week: Code Gen Strikes Back (A16Z Team)
Cloud built the foundation. AI is now rewriting the rules. (Byron Deeter, GP @ Bessemer)
The AI Labs Are Speedrunning November (Saanya Ojha, Partner @ BCV)
Software Pulse Report – November (Meritech Team)
Scaling for Endurance: M&A for Mature Climate Solutions (Kevin Stevens, Energize)
Guides, Case Studies, and Best Practices for Operating
Narrative power in the AI era (Ashu Garg, GP @ Foundation)
Best practices in fintech AI (Yusuf Özdalga, Partner @ QED)
What It Takes to Build and Ship Enterprise-Grade AI Agents (Annelies Gamble, Partner @ Zetta)
OTAs vs. SBIRs: The Founder’s Guide to the New Warfighting Acquisition System (AJ Smith, VC @ Outlander)
Designing AI-Native Software (Akash Bajwa, Principal @ Earlybird)
Additional Reads
Private Equity : The New Distribution Channel for AI Startups (Tomasz Tunguz, MD @ Theory)
AI Services, Beacon’s Bet & What I’m Reading (Pat McGovern, Principal @ Bowery)
The Price of Progress in Venture (Denny Gabriel, VC @ Runa)
Efficiency AND Optionality (Alfred Lin, GP @ Sequoia)
What Investors Should Know About Small Language Models (SLMs) (Rob May, GP @ Half Court)
FTC vs. Reality: A Tragicomedy (Saanya Ojha, Partner @ BCV)
Going Bananas 🍌 (Rex Woodbury, MP @ Daybreak)
Notes:
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