#261 | Modern House of Brands, AI in 2026, Healthcare Trends, & more
Dec 7th | The latest from South Park Commons, Maveron, Sequoia, 8VC, Madrona, 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
Requests for Curiosity (South Park Commons Team)
A Vision for Healthcare AI in America (Joe Lonsdale, GP @ 8VC)
Vision‑native AI opportunities: a precursor to intelligent robotics (Bhavik N. & Talia G., Bessemer)
A Modern House of Brands: Why the Next Great Consumer Platforms Will Be AI-Native and Built for Synergy (Maveron Team)
The Next Frontier: How GenAI is Transforming Direct Procurement (Feyza Haskaraman, Partner @ Felicis)
AI in 2026: A Tale of Two AIs (David Cahn, GP @ Sequoia)
12 predictions for 2026 (Aashay Sanghvi, Partner @ Haystack)
Industry Developments & Analyses
The First Trillion-Dollar Holiday (Brian Sugar, GP @ Sugar Capital)
Healthcare Trends 2025 (Vickram Pradhan, VC @ Sopris Capital)
AEO: Golden Age or Blood Bath? (Chelsea Z. & Shazeem K., Equal)
Tariffs? Customs? FML. AI’s chance to revolutionize logistics (Aurelia H. & Alex N., Scale)
What’s Happening in the Private AI Tech Markets? (Vivek R. & Sabrina Wu, Madrona)
Deep Dive: The Electric Grid (Chamath Palihapitiya, GP @ Social Capital)
The Insurance Index (Adam Chadroff, Principal @ Equal)
The Powerful, Behind-the-Scenes Impact of AI in Financial Services (David Talpalar, ex-VC @ Conversion)
Guides, Case Studies, and Best Practices for Operating
Being Right vs. Getting It Right (Alfred Lin, GP @ Sequoia)
An outbound playbook for 2025 (Kyle Poyar, Growth Unhinged)
Tell Better Stories (Kyle Harrison, GP @ Contrary)
The Hidden Structure Behind Today’s Fastest Startups (Pete Flint, GP @ NFX)
Stop LARPing (Nikunj Kothari, Partner @ FPV)
Additional Reads
Taking Thiel Seriously on the Antichrist (Joe Lonsdale, GP @ 8VC)
The two kinds of pivots (Yoni Rechtman, Partner @ Slow)
The Quiet Death of VC-Founder Alignment (Euclid Ventures Team)
Manager Selection In A Bubble (James Heath, Principal @ dara5)
The Logic of the Market: Cash Flows, Crowds & the Blurring Line Between Them (Matt Harris, GP @ BCV)
$1T Private Companies, AI Fundraising, and Outbound Sourcing (Charles Hudson, GP @ Precursor)
AI-Native Systems Are The Default (Nihar Bobba, Partner @ BTV)
Network Effects in Venture Capital (Scott Hartley, GP @ Everywhere)
Notes:
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