Seed to Series C: What VCs actually want from AI startups

Equity

TechCrunch

Founders, Silicon Valley, Finance, Ipo, Vc, Technology, Business News, Startups, Business, Venture Capital, News, Stock Market, Entrepreneurship, Techcrunch

4.2 • 365 Ratings

🗓️ 19 June 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

AI investments hit $110 billion in 2024, and the funding landscape in 2025 is more competitive than ever. For early-stage startups, that means more money in the market but also more pressure to stand out. At TechCrunch Sessions: AI, Rebecca Bellan sat down with three experienced investors: Jill Chase, Partner at CapitalG; Kanu Gulati, Partner at Khosla Ventures; and Sara Ittelson, Partner at Accel. They broke down what they are really looking for when evaluating AI startups from seed through Series C. Their message to founders? Forget the perfect pitch. Focus on building trust, surviving the hype cycle, and being ready for copycats the moment you find product-market fit. Listen to the full episode of Equity to hear about: Why VCs say founders are over-indexing on pitch decks instead of relationships What it takes to go up against big incumbents without getting crushed Why consumer focus (and speed) still win, even in B2B AI How agents and automation are already reshaping the startup playbook Equity will be back Friday with our weekly news roundup, so stay tuned. Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here. Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Exclusively on Disney Plus.
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0:17.0	When that shows zero, this restaurant ceases operations.
0:21.8	FX is the bear.
0:22.8	New season streaming June 26th exclusively on Disney Plus.
0:27.3	18 plus subscription required, Teas and Cs apply. Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch's flagship podcast about the business of startups.
0:45.9	I'm Rebecca Balan, and this is the episode where we bring on industry experts to help us explore a trend in the tech world and dive deep.
0:52.8	This week, I'm bringing you three experts from an on-stage interview at TechCrunch's
0:56.4	first AI sessions in Berkeley.
0:58.6	I chatted with three VCs about what they want to see in AI startups, from Seed to Series C.
1:03.9	My panelists were Jill Chase from Capital G, Kanu Goladi from Kozla Ventures, and Sarah Idelson
1:09.1	at Excel, and they brought a lively discussion with
1:11.9	plenty of useful insights for founders playing in the AI space. We discussed the challenge of
1:16.5	competing with incumbents, how agents will impact the workforce, the importance of consumer
1:20.9	focus, and the need for startups to adapt quickly. Take a listen. You've mentioned before that you kind of back phenomenal founders, right?
1:30.6	But for a lot of early stage founders, maybe they're young, maybe they don't have a pedigree,
1:33.7	maybe they didn't come from big tech.
1:34.9	Like, how do you know if they're phenomenal or not?
1:37.3	I mean, probably my advice would be to talk to venture capitalist or if you're thinking
	...

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