#211 | The Next Standard Oil, AI SDRs, Four Futures, & more
Dec 22nd | The latest from IVP, Madrona, Khosla Ventures, Sapphire, USV, and others
SandHill.io aggregates and shares the latest investment themes, market insights, and best practices for operating and investing from 700+ VCs, analysts, and operators.
This newsletter curates a selection of posts featured on the website each week.
Investment Themes, Theses, & Outlooks
The Next Standard Oil Will Be Built in Mining (Nkechi Iregbulem, Principal @ MVP Ventures)
What to Watch in 2025 (Shravan Narayen, Partner @ IVP)
Five Predictions for AI in 2025 (Vivek Ramaswami & Sabrina Wu, Madrona)
2025 Predictions (Tomasz Tunguz, MD @ Theory)
Top 10 AI Trends & Predictions for 2025: A Platform Shift in the Making (Sapphire Ventures Team)
2024 → 2025: The Year Ahead in AI (Nikunj Kothari, VC @ Khosla)
Industry Developments & Analyses
Vertical Integration: Model vs Product Companies (Akash Bajwa, Principal @ Earlybird)
Agents + Agencies: Building Tomorrow's Moats (Zain Rizavi, Principal @ Ridge)
The Rise of VPPs: A Grid Solution Whose Time Has Finally Come (Grace Penders & Tyler Lancaster, Equal & Energize)
Why AI Is Good for Our Health but May Hurt Our Wallets (Morgan Cheatham, VP @ Bessemer)
Pharmacogenomics: Personalizing Medications for Better Outcomes (Amit Kini, VC @ Lotus Capital)
Robotics: A Product Selection Problem (Jordan Nel, VC @ Hummingbird)
Guides, Case Studies, and Best Practices for Operating
Selling Smarter: AI SDRs and the Future of Prospecting (Sapphire Ventures Team)
Everything in Business is About Fighting Entropy — Here’s How Rippling Does It (First Round Review)
Emerging Wedges in Vertical AI Startups (Tanay Jaipuria, Partner @ Wing VC)
How to differentiate your product (Kyle Poyar, Partner @ Tremont)
How to Price Your AI-First Product (Medha Agarwal, GP @ Defy)
Additional Reads
Four Futures (USV Team)
Full stack startups, revisited (Aashay Sanghvi, Partner @ Haystack)
Four Blog Posts I Didn't Publish This Year (Charles Hudson, GP @ Precursor)
ServiceTitan’s Series A Memo (Bessemer Team)
2024 Revealed the Cracks in Our Social Contract: It's Time We Invest in Social Infrastructure (Youssef Kalad, VC @ AlleyCorp)
Repeat Founders and the Risk of a False Positive (Rob Go, GP @ NextView)
Resources & more
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