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Why Does Index Ventures Back Founders Before They Have a Business Plan? · Sourcery

Sourcery

Inside $17B Index Ventures: Anthropic, Wiz, Datadog & the Future of AI

Shardul Shah, Partner at $17B Index Ventures, joins Sourcery from the firm's NYC office to discuss its investments in Anthropic, Wiz, Datadog, Simile, Parallel, and the next generation of AI companies. Shardul joined Index in 2008 and has backed some of the most important companies in cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity, including Wiz, acquired by…

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Notes

  1. How Has Index Ventures Stayed Focused on Taste? at 2:39

    Shardul Shah says enormous attention to taste has been true for Index Ventures from the beginning through today. Full answer

  2. Why Does Index Ventures Back Founders Before They Have a Business Plan? at 6:06

    Shardul Shah says Index Ventures backed the founders of Wiz before they had a business plan. The investment happened on his birthday. Full answer

  3. Why Do Startup Valuations Keep Rising? at 11:36

    Shardul Shah says startup valuations keep rising because more capital is moving into private markets than there are giant outcomes to own. Full answer

  4. What Is the Biggest Problem Founders Face Now? at 19:38

    Shardul Shah says the biggest problem founders face is expressing themselves, and the Cartesia founder was right to ignore advice to shut a successful part of… Full answer

  5. How Much Did Index Ventures Invest in Wiz? at 34:06

    Shardul Shah says Index Ventures invested over $250 million in Wiz over time. Full answer

  6. Why Can't Investors Time an IPO? at 37:40

    Shardul Shah says investors cannot time an IPO. He learned that from the New York Stock Exchange and its media partner: you can never time the window. Full answer

  7. How Did Index Ventures' 2012 Fund Perform? at 39:52

    Index Ventures' 2012 fund had an 11x DPI as of January 2026, Molly O'Shea says, compared with an industry average of 1.5x. Full answer

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