Eight years after becoming the first female partner at Benchmark, Sarah Tavel recently took on a new role as Venture Partner that allows her more time to fully immerse herself in AI, all while continuing to make new investments on behalf of Benchmark and serving her current portfolio. She sat down with Beezer Clarkson, Partner at Sapphire Partners, and Nick Chirls, Partner at Asylum Ventures, to unpack her learnings over the past few months, including what it means to be truly AI native, how the future of AI is social (not solo), and what that means for AI tools and the people who use them. She also discusses the importance of protecting your time as a VC and the advantages of devoting time each week to play.

This episode of Origins is supported by Sydecar. Visit sydecar.io/origins-podcast to learn more.

Learn more about Sapphire Partners: https://sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partners

Learn more about OpenLP: https://openlp.vc

Learn more about Asylum Ventures: https://asylum.vc

Learn more about Benchmark: https://benchmark.com

Read Sarah’s Substack Posts: https://sarahtavel.com

For a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter – delivered straight to your inbox: https://subscribe.openlp.vc

Sydecar, Inc. (“Sydecar”) has acted as a financial sponsor within this Origins podcast. Sapphire Ventures, LLC (“Sapphire”) is not affiliated with or invested in Sydecar.

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Welcome to Origins

1:46 Living & Breathing AI

8:58 AI As Both Solo & Social

16:13 What Does It Mean to be AI Native?

23:19 How Do Our Brains Need to Adapt to AI?

31:37 How AI Immersion Has Changed Sarah’s Investment Strategy

37:56 Looking For AI Frontier Companies & the Businesses Around Them

Origins is produced by Sapphire Ventures in partnership with⁠⁠ Pod People.⁠

Nothing presented herein is intended to constitute investment advice, and under no circumstances should any information provided herein be used or considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund managed by Sapphire Ventures, LLC (“Sapphire”). Any offer or solicitation of securities by Sapphire may only be made in accordance with the current offering documents for a managed Fund in which Sapphire is an advisor. Additionally, Sapphire does not solicit or make its services available to the public; such offerings may only be provided to accredited investors and qualified purchasers defined within the Securities Act of 1933 and the Investment Company Act of 1940. Information provided reflects Sapphire Ventures’ views as of a particular time. Such views are subject to change at any point and Sapphire Ventures shall not be obligated to provide notice of any change. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual events, results or the actual experience may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in these statements. While Sapphire Ventures has used reasonable efforts to obtain information from reliable sources, Sapphire makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of third party information presented herein. Nothing presented herein may be relied upon as a guarantee or assurance as to the future success of any particular investment opportunity or strategy. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

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