Venkatachalam: Most AI startups will not be venture-backable
Sandhya (Sonia) Venkatachalam · Redefining the AI Application Layer with Sandhya Venkatachalam of Axiom Partners | The Innovators & Investors Podcast · Mar 10, 2026 · at 35:05
Sandhya Venkatachalam of Axiom Partners explains why obvious generative AI startup ideas will fail to generate venture-scale returns.
0:00 / 0:18exact quote · 18.6s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“Especially in this era of AI, where almost anyone can start a company, and there are so many ideas that are obvious. Not All of them. In fact, most of them won't be venture backable. There'll be too much competition. The valuations are too fully priced in.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Sandhya (Sonia) Venkatachalam
Venkatachalam: In 20 years all humans will need new jobs
“In 20 years, I'm actually hoping I become an AI chatbot now, meaning I think that AI will be doing things that we can't even imagine all of us will need new jobs.”
Venkatachalam: The era of shallow, horizontal subscription SaaS is ending
“So, absolutely I think the era of horizontal, shallow software that's sold in some kind of monthly subscription is, is reaching its end.”
Venkatachalam: San Francisco startup vibrancy exceeds the dot-com boom
“It is more vibrant now than it has ever been, including in sort of the dot-com boom and ensuing bust was, which is when I first came.”
Venkatachalam: Transformational startups rarely emerge from existing software categories
“New transformational companies, by definition, rarely emerge from existing categories. So we actually find this application layer relatively uninteresting, again, from a pre-seed and seed stage venture perspective which is where, you know, we largely operate.”
Venkatachalam: Autonomous AI systems sell into labor budgets, not software budgets
“Usually when companies sell these types of systems, they are selling into labor budgets of customers, not software budgets.”
Venkatachalam: Short-Term AI Unlocks Latent Demand Rather Than Eliminating Jobs
“So in the short term, what we're seeing is there are a lot of areas where there is a shortage, especially of highly skilled labor. It's not just unskilled labor. And there are organizations that are actively looking to hire and can't find people. And this crea…”