Venture Capitalist Sarah Guo’s Surprising Bet on Unsexy AI

Bold Names

The Wall Street Journal

Technology

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What's next for artificial intelligence beyond autonomous agents and next-gen language models? Sarah Guo, the founder of venture capital firm Conviction, is a rising star among Silicon Valley investors. She says the next big wave of AI innovation could transform the business world. What is she looking for in investment opportunities? And why does Guo say enterprise software is prime for transformation in the AI era? She speaks to WSJ’s Christopher Mims and Tim Higgins on the latest episode of the Bold Names podcast. Check Out Past Episodes: ‘Businesses Don’t Like Uncertainty’: How Cisco Is Navigating AI and Trump 2.0 Humanoid Robot Startups Are Hot. This AI Expert Cuts Through the Hype. Reid Hoffman Says AI Isn’t an ‘Arms Race,’ but America Needs to Win Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and the AI ‘Fantasy Land’ Let us know what you think of the show. Email us at [email protected] Sign up for the WSJ's free Technology newsletter. Read Christopher Mims’s Keywords column. Read Tim Higgins’s column. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Autopilot Order.
0:01.6	Noun, informal.
0:02.9	The strong urge felt at the ordering kiosk or drive-through
0:05.6	that takes over the entire body and mind
0:07.7	and results in a person ordering a Big Mac without even having to think.
0:11.5	Related phrases.
0:12.5	Looks like I've ordered a Big Mac again.
0:14.6	The Autopilot Order at McDonald's.
0:17.7	Serves from 11am, subject to availability.
0:20.1	Hey, Mims, if you had to predict the next big thing in AI, could you?
0:24.8	Hmm. Killer robots? Homework helpers?
0:28.4	Movies made entirely regenerative AI. I'm losing track of the tens of billions of dollars
0:33.7	that giants like Open AI are raising to replace us.
0:36.9	Well, predicting the next big thing in AI, that's basically the job of today's guest.
0:42.6	She's making some big bets on founders that are looking to transform industries.
0:47.4	And she's part of a new generation of Silicon Valley investors.
0:51.5	That's next.
0:55.9	One of the busiest names right now in Silicon Valley investing is Saragua.
1:01.3	She's got a bold name resume, having worked at Goldman Sachs and then venture capital firm
1:07.2	Greylock. In 2022, she set out to raise money to start her own fund called
1:12.2	conviction, which makes early stage investments in tech startups. That puts her on the front
1:18.4	lines navigating what is a confusing time for the future of startups and artificial intelligence.
	...

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