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Do You Need a Billion Dollars to Do Seed? · The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

20VC: You Need $1BN To Do Seed Today: The Untold Truths of Venture | Who Wins and Who Loses in the Next Decade of VC | Why Margin and Price Matter Less in a World of AI with Sameer Dholakia, Bessemer

Sameer Dholakia is a Partner @ Bessemer, the first that has just raised $5.75BN across a $1.75BN seed fund and $4BN growth fund. Sameer has led investments into the likes of Anthropic, Fireworks and Legora to name a few. Prior to venture, Sameer was the CEO of SendGrid, taking it from $30M in ARR to over $200M. AGENDA: 04:55 Why This Is a Supercycle Like…

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Notes

  1. Why Is AI a Bigger Market Than Oil? at 4:53

    Sameer Dholakia says intelligence will be a bigger market than oil. Oil powers machines. Full answer

  2. Was the Anthropic Round Bessemer's Lowest-voted Deal? at 9:40

    Sameer Dholakia says the Anthropic round was the lowest-voted deal in Bessemer's history for as long as Byron Deeter had been at the firm. Full answer

  3. Does Entry Price Still Matter in Venture? at 16:52

    Sameer Dholakia says entry price always matters, and about 150 times current revenue was still a price he would pay for Anthropic because the company could… Full answer

  4. Do Near-term Gross Margins Matter in AI? at 20:23

    Sameer Dholakia is not worried about gross margins over the next 12 months on a growth-stage check. Full answer

  5. Is Capital a Moat in AI Markets? at 23:30

    Sameer Dholakia believes capital is a moat in AI markets and a signal to the market. Full answer

  6. Do You Need a Billion Dollars to Do Seed? at 28:14

    Sameer Dholakia does not see how a small seed fund succeeds at the prices coming in for early-stage deals. Full answer

  7. Why Do Venture Firms Need to Be Giants or Specialists? at 29:26

    Sameer Dholakia says a venture firm has to be a giant global platform or an extreme specialist, because the middle is a hard place to make money. Full answer

  8. Does Bessemer Still Want Concentrated Growth Bets? at 35:11

    Sameer Dholakia says the numbers in a $4 billion Bessemer growth portfolio are large, and the firm still wants concentrated bets. Full answer

  9. What Company Does Bessemer Regret Missing? at 1:06:40

    Sameer Dholakia says the company Bessemer rues missing is Stripe. Bessemer was the developer API venture capital firm, and the firm was not in Stripe. Full answer

  10. Can Waymo Become a Trillion-dollar Business? at 1:08:32

    Sameer Dholakia thinks Waymo can become a trillion-dollar business, and ride hailing is not the only market that gets it there. Full answer

  11. How Fast Could AI Change Drug Discovery? at 1:11:08

    Sameer Dholakia says the next decade of biology, therapeutics, and drug development can show what would have taken half a century. Full answer

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