Sidana: Bay Area will remain tech's hub for the next generation
Ashmeet Sidana · Why Rule-Breaking Is the Only Rule in Venture Capital | Ashmeet Sidana, Engineering Capital · Mar 26, 2026 · at 1:14:54
Ashmeet Sidana of Engineering Capital discusses how the AI wave has preserved the Bay Area's dominance and its longer-term risks.
0:00 / 0:14exact quote · 14.3s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“But AI was a stroke of luck, because again, it happened over here and now it is again the heart of that, and for the next generation, it will be there, but it is not preordained that the generation after that has to be here, and so that is a risk”
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 Ashmeet Sidana
Sidana: The x86 computing architecture is effectively dead
“These days I'm primarily focused on AI. Cybersecurity, data, and then I have a small practice in an area that I'm calling the depth of the x-ray six. So because the x-ray six architecture is now effectively dead that's going to create some opportunities, and I…”
Sidana: LP risk is higher in venture partnerships than in solo GPs
“Obviously your risk is much higher in a partnership. In a partnership, by definition, there is someone who is a good investor and someone who's a little bit less good investor. So you're getting an average. So as it is, you're getting slightly lower. And then …”
Sidana: Venture returns are maximized by writing the largest check upfront
“And by definition, you maximize carry or you maximize multiple by making your largest investment first. And so that is very much the strategy of engineering capital. The first check is always the largest.”
Sidana: AI is the first cycle disrupting every tech stack layer
“The second thing that has happened with AI is that for the first time, we have the entire technical stack being innovated on at the same time. This has never happened before. So, you know, in the PC era, all the innovation was the PC. In the mini era, all the …”
Sidana: Kubernetes is not how AI inference and training workloads deploy
“We had Kubernetes in the cloud, but Kubernetes is not how you deploy your AI imprints and your AI training workloads.”
Sidana: Technical founders fail by 'playing house' rather than finding traction
“One of the very common failure modes of founders, especially technical founders, is what I call playing house. What I mean by playing house is that in any company, and this is related to that prioritization point, in any company, there's a large amount of work…”