Looking forward to seeing folks today at the Cerebral Valley coworking session, I’ll swing by around 430pm. A few trends I’ve been seeing at AI startup events in SF and Palo Alto (I go to 3 a week): 1. I hear of Computer vision being on a few roadmaps as this is how AI (GenAI) will see and connect with the world. 2. Numerous enterprise AI startups are collating disparate data sources for analysis and predictive modeling. 3. Niche use cases of AI for consumer productivity for every type of persona, some are clinching proprietary data as a moat. 4. LLM APIs are already table stakes, advanced teams don’t want to get commoditized, “GPT wrappers” are already out of style. 5. Many companies are being built by moonlighting employees who are on salary at FAANG companies, seek Angel round. 6. Some founders realize a scalable business model is also needed to win: network effects, viral effects, data effects, and more. 7. VCs are forming networks and informing each other on which startup shows potential and which are growing. 8. Most believe there is a very short window to be in front of this market: 12-36 months depending on the sector. 9. SF is the capital of AI; it looks like Palo Alto may be the second city in the region; we should know by Fall.

You nailed it 🙂 Ad 8) that’s also why most founders (at least those whom I met in person) build to exit, not to go from 0 to 1. I’ve been to San Francisco this spring and also wrapped up my first conclusions on how networking in the city works and how you can network effectively as a fresh founder: https://nataliabielczyk.substack.com/p/if-you-are-going-to-san-francisco

Thank you.