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
Defying Gravity: The System of Record in the Age of AI (Aaron Neil & Michael Brown, Battery Ventures)
The Golden Age of Biomedical Devices Has Arrived (Teddy Blank, Partner @ First Star)
The Incumbents Are Coming (Seema Amble, Partner @ A16Z)
Industry Developments & Analyses
Long-Horizon Agents: Compute, Memory and Power Profile (Akash Bajwa, Principal @ Earlybird)
The Rise of NeoLabs (Rich Kotite & Aaron Rosenberg, Radical)
The Price of Entry to the Frontier (Tomasz Tunguz, MD @ Theory)
When throughput is not enough: What financial markets need from blockchains (A16Z Crypto Team)
9 Major Themes from Q2 SaaS Earnings Calls (Sammy Abdullah, MP @ Blossom Street)
The Robotics Demo to Production Gap (Selina Wang, VC @ Altimeter)
The ghost in the machine: Simulation and the future of AI-powered determination (Bessemer Team)
Introducing the 2026 Intelligent Applications 40 (Matt McIlwain & Rolanda Fu @ Madrona)
The Great AI Talent Concentration (Adrian Radu, Partner @ Khosla)
Recurrent Depth (Jamin Ball, Partner @ Altimeter Capital)
Guides, Case Studies, and Best Practices for Operating
Build the damn best product. (Kenneth Auchenberg, Partner @ Innovation Endeavors)
The new Series A is the old Series B. (Patrick Salyer, Partner @ Mayfield)
Enterprise AI Economics: How to Scale Intelligence Without Scaling Costs (Denis Barrier & Jaclyn Hartnett, Cathay Innovation)
How marketers are measuring AI search (Bessemer Team)
Additional Reads
Three Beach Minimum (David Beisel, GP @ NextView)
The Series A is dead, Long live the Series A (Jackie DiMonte, Partner @ Grid)
In Response to Bill Gates: It’s Time to Reimagine Capitalism (Vishal Vasishth, MD @ Obvious Ventures)
AI gutting what you love about work? Me too. (Phin Barnes, Partner @ The GP)
Universal Moral Core Principle 2: Implications (Albert Wenger, GP @ USV)
The New Valley (Nikunj Kothari, Partner @ FPV)
Every Overbuild Ends the Same Way (Kevin Stevens, Partner @ Energize)
How To Think About The Negative ROI on AI Investment (Rob May, GP @ Half Court)
How founders are raising in 2026 (Climate Tech VC)
Why AI Consciousness Matters (Albert Wenger, GP @ USV)
The Holy Grail of Autonomy is Coming into View (Mo Islam, Partner @ Obvious)
Notes:
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