Jeffrey: AI app founders must be "wild experimentalists," not tech purists
Corey Jeffrey · Building High-Growth Tech Ventures in the AI Era with Kory Jeffrey of Inovia Capital · Aug 27, 2026 · at 14:33
Corey Jeffrey of Inovia Capital explains how he evaluates application-layer AI startups versus base model companies.
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“The profile of a founder at the application layer is a wild experimentalist, right? So you need somebody who's like right at the jagged edge of what's possible, who is not in love with their technology. Because their technology today is changing constantly underneath them. And they actually don't control a lot of it, right? So they need to be able to move really quickly on quicksand and then constantly be sort of getting things out to their customer and their end customer in that sort of value bucket to see whether they can win. Because at some point, The cost of copying is so low, right? That you're going to win on market share and go to market and brand”
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