Technovation with Peter High (CIO, CTO, CDO, CXO Interviews) Software to Digital Workers: Sandhya Venkatachalam on the AI Economy
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Mar 13, 2026 Sandhya Venkatachalam, Co-founder and General Partner at Axiom Partners and longtime AI product builder and investor. She explores AI shifting from tools to digital workers. She discusses building an AI-native venture firm, automating operations with agents, and where digital labor first takes hold in industries like construction, legal, and infrastructure.
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VC Firm Operates With AI Agents
- Axiom uses AI agents to run core VC workflows, not to cut costs but to operate with founder speed and agility.
- Sandhya describes an automated back office plus an internal AI lawyer that drafts term sheets and accelerates diligence overnight.
Keep Humans Overseeing Early AI Agents
- Always supervise AI outputs; Sandhya keeps human oversight and a full-time operating partner reviewing agent work.
- She reviews legal docs herself before sending and slows deployment in unfamiliar areas until confident.
Three Types Of Operating Partners
- Axiom's operating partners fall into technical, founder, and go-to-market buckets to advise portfolio companies.
- Examples include ex-OpenAI engineers, founders from RunwayML and Fireflies, and HubSpot's CMO helping pricing and ICP.