#235 | Systems of Action, Fintech's AI Winners, & more
June 8th | The latest from Tidemark, Maveron, Acrew, Wing, Scale, Altimeter, and others
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Investment Themes & Theses
The Race to Become the System of Action (Dave Yuan, Partner @ Tidemark)
Returns Retailer (Simran Suri, VC @ Maveron)
The Emerging Shape of Fintech’s AI-Native Winners (Lauren Kolodny, MP @ Acrew Capital)
Faster, Smarter, Cheaper: AI Is Reinventing Market Research (Zach Cohen & Seema Amble, A16Z)
Agentic Commerce is Coming: How AI Will Reshape Online Retail (Tanay Jaipuria, Partner @ Wing VC)
Industry Developments & Analyses
The state of B2B monetization in 2025 (Kyle Poyar, Partner @ Tremont)
The Personalization of Software (Rex Woodbury, MP @ Daybreak)
A Primer on US Healthcare (Eric Flaningam, VC @ Felicis)
The Intersection of Climate and Health: Investing in Innovation for a Resilient Future (7wire Ventures)
The AI Inference Stack (Jake Flomenberg & Richard Li, Wing)
Fintech’s Next Chapter: Scaled Winners and Emerging Disruptors (Rachel Dix-Kessler, QED)
The New Engineering Stack (Parul Singh, Board Partner @ Initialized)
AI+Wealth management: Helping the rich get richer (Damian Gardiner, VC @ Scale)
The Intersection of Climate and Health: Investing in Innovation for a Resilient Future (7wire Ventures Team)
Guides, Case Studies, and Best Practices for Operating
The 10-Step Playbook for Founders When Considering a Micro-Exit (Ben Yoskovitz, Partner @ Highline Beta)
Track This Metric Before Your AI Customers Churn (Liz Christo & Mark Roberge, Stage 2)
How Founders Can Land Their First Few Customers by Building a Roster of Advisors (Joe DiMento, Bain Capital Ventures)
AI is reshaping B2B GTM with signals you’re still ignoring (Varun Ramakrishnan, VC @ SignalFire)
How Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Rewrites the Rules of Search (Zach Cohen and Seema Amble)
The Founder's Guide to Vertical AI (Euclid Ventures)
Speed x AI (James Currier, GP @ NFX)
Additional Reads
How to Spot ERR (Jamin Ball, Partner @ Altimeter Capital)
The Complexity Crisis (Yoni Rechtman, Principal @ Slow)
Does AI Threaten Vertical SaaS? (Euclid Ventures)
The AI Dividend: Why startup efficiency keeps rising, even without reallocating spend (Dale Chang, Operating Partner @ Scale)
Trading Margin for Moat: Why the Forward Deployed Engineer Is the Hottest Job in Startups (Joe Schmidt, Partner @ A16Z)
AI Startup Defensibility: Evals (Akash Bajwa, Principal @ Earlybird)
2024 Annual Letter (Chamath Palihapitiya, GP @ Social Capital)
World Positive Capitalism (Vishal Vasishth, MD @ Obvious Ventures)
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