1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator AI Investor Forum: Alex Benik, Encoded Ventures (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Let me ask you some of the broader trend questions and how you’re processing all this. As we discussed earlier, the market is currently in a human-in-the-loop, highly domain-specific and domain-expertise-oriented business space. The logical next step is going to be more automation, especially as agents become more active inside applications.

So how do you see that playing out on many fronts, including enterprise adoption, price structures, and so on?

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator AI Investor Forum: Alex Benik, Encoded Ventures (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Let’s do a couple more of your examples of what you’ve invested in.

Alex Benik: Sure. At Battery, I was an investor in a company called Packet, which was a bare metal hosting provider. It was acquired by a large data center company Equinix. The founders Zac and Jacob Smith are twin brothers and have gone on to found a company called Datum.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator AI Investor Forum: Alex Benik, Encoded Ventures (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: That’s refreshing to hear. Tell us what you’ve invested in. Let’s go over some case studies. Describe the situation when they came to you, what attracted you, what made you write the check, and what you saw in those deals.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator AI Investor Forum: Alex Benik, Encoded Ventures (Part 1)

Alex Benik, Partner/Founder at Encoded Ventures, discusses the fund’s investment thesis. Great discussion on how we each view the disruptions AI is causing on multiple fronts. VCs investing today have to think about the next 5-7 year window and what changes are likely to come.

Investor Readiness

Will 1Mby1M help me become truly investor-ready, not just pitch-ready?

Yes, 1Mby1M helps entrepreneurs become investor-ready, and not just “pitch-ready.” 

Here’s how:

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator AI Investor Forum: Ray Wu, Alumni Ventures AI Fund (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Yes, but I was not asking you about AI rollups. I’m asking you about this Y Combinator model of starting a full stack company from scratch.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator AI Investor Forum: Ray Wu, Alumni Ventures AI Fund (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Interesting. There is a completely opposite trend, but it’s kind of similar. Y Combinator put out the types of companies they’re looking for a few months ago. One of the types of companies is full stack AI.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator AI Investor Forum: Ray Wu, Alumni Ventures AI Fund (Part 1)

Ray Wu, Managing Partner at Alumni Ventures AI Fund, discusses the fund’s investment thesis.