Investment implications amid AI uncertainty

Deedy Das, Partner at Menlo Ventures and former founding team member at Glean, joins Sourcery to unpack a major shift reshaping venture capital: the move from rigid investment theses toward founder-led conviction.

With 48+ years of experience, 80+ public companies, 165+ mergers and acquisitions, and $6.8B+ under management, Menlo Ventures is partnering with Anthropic through the $100M Anthology Fund to back the next generation of AI startups.

Deedy explains how the firm identifies infrastructure companies early — often before the broader market recognizes their importance — and why iconic outcomes rarely emerge from predefined theses. He breaks down what distinguishes durable AI businesses from short-lived momentum plays, and how top investors evaluate founders capable of building enduring companies.

We also explore the rapid evolution of the AI stack — from internet-scale training to reinforcement learning, agentic systems, and the pursuit of the economic Turing test.

Topics Covered:

• The strategy behind Menlo + Anthropic’s Anthology Fund

• Why “anti-thesis” investing wins

• Founder traits that predict generational companies

• AI infrastructure gaps still waiting to be built

• Product taste as a competitive moat

• The danger of overfunding startups

• Why Deedy became one of tech’s most followed voices on X

  
  

Deedy Das: https://x.com/deedydas  

Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea 

Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy 

𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒

YouTube : https://youtu.be/Gjw0oBznXuQ

𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒

• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery

• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery

• Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery

• Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery

Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!

https://www.sourcery.vc/

Disclosure

Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.