VC Veteran Ethan Kurzweil on the Landscape for Startups Right Now

In the 2010s, we saw an incredible boom in the venture capital space, fueled in part by cheap capital as well as cheap compute. Fast forward to today, and many things look very different. We're not in the ZIRP era anymore. And computing power has become a scarce resource, particularly when it comes to AI. So how do things look different today from the perspective of a veteran venture capitalist? In this episode, recorded live in San Francisco in November, we speak to Ethan Kurzweil, a founder and managing partner at the new VC firm Chemistry. Ethan spent years at Bessemer Venture Partners, where he was involved in numerous software deals. He talks to us about his strategy for the new fund, the case for starting a small firm, what technologies excite him most right now, and the general landscape for seed-stage investing. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Key Insights:
Venture capital in 2014 versus now - 2:19
What sets Chemistry apart from other VCs - 4:01
How to think about valuation of companies in an era of AI - 9:01
How much does paying for outside tech factor into R&D - 13:51
Will incumbents in AI have a leg up? Or will newer risk-takers win big in this space? - 16:03
The current disappointments and limitations of AI - 21:05
How venture capitalists think about the incoming administration - 23:44
What would be good policy levers for the American tech industry? - 27:55
How AI could democratize tech - 29:42
Investment opportunities in second order effects of AI - 32:25
Lessons from previous AI winters - 34:04
What's coming up for prediction markets - 35:45
How Ethan identifies froth in tech - 38:45
In a future where AI is certain, what will humans still be good at? - 39:53