\n<\/p>\n
Investors at TechCrunch Disrupt did not shy away from admitting they are interested in\u00a0mainly one\u00a0thing: artificial intelligence.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nina Achadjian from Index, Jerry Chen from Greylock and Peter Deng from Felicis, all spoke about the latest obsession in venture capital and how startups can stand out in a quickly crowding\u00a0market. The environment is moving fast, Achadjian told the crowd, and companies are experiencing unprecedented growth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spend an enormous, enormous amount of time really assessing the entrepreneur and how resilient they will be able to be in a moment where things are just rapidly changing,\u201d Achadjian said.\u00a0Now more than ever, founders have to lean into showing their passion, domain\u00a0expertise, and remain honest about their product market fit, she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is so much demand from enterprise companies to try the latest and greatest AI, sometimes there\u2019s false positives of product market fit,\u201d she explained, \u201cand you can get a lot of revenue with not having true ROI,\u201d meaning customers who are getting their return on investment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
That leads another consideration VCs are looking for: an ability to pivot as the market twists and turns. \u201cThere\u2019s a joke that, like, 1000\u00a0startups\u00a0die and that\u2019s why being\u00a0resilient\u00a0is really important,\u201d\u00a0Achadjian continued.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Deng, who used to work at OpenAI, added to\u00a0Achadjian\u2019s statements.\u00a0He said founders\u00a0need to find their unique data flywheels that are going to separate them from the hordes of everyone pitching the exact same idea, especially since the enterprise companies\u00a0likely\u00a0testing\u00a0their products are also testing out a few other\u00a0competitors\u00a0at the same time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re able to go deep and really solve a true need for them,\u201d\u00a0in a way they cannot do themselves, then managing data is \u201cwhere the important part is,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Techcrunch event<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> Founders should also have an answer for why their product will not just be a feature added into the foundational models, Achadjian said. It may be okay if a founder\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0know if the model makers are working on a competor but they should have a hypothesis\u00a0on how the business is defensible when pitching investors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Right now,\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0working in AI seems to be three things, Chen noted: Chat apps, coding apps, and AI in customer service.\u00a0But there is still so much more change to happen\u00a0throughout early\u00a0every sector and industry.<\/p>\n Deng is excited by AI-enabled marketplaces. Achadjian, meanwhile, thinks that this could be the moment for robotics, while Chen is curious to see how AI impacts SaaS and\u00a0othermarkets not yet directly impacted.<\/p>\n As for what\u2019s not AI and exciting? \u201cPen and paper processes and\u00a0digitize\u00a0them,\u201d Achadjian said.\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0a lot of blue-collar industries that, incredibly, still do many processes manually, she continued. But, they acknowledged even that\u00a0is ripe for the\u00a0opportunity\u00a0to be automated by AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n