HomeGadgetSarah Smith launches $16M fund, says AI can 'unlock' a lot for...

Sarah Smith launches $16M fund, says AI can ‘unlock’ a lot for solo GPs like herself


Sarah Smith, founder and managing companion of the eponymous Sarah Smith Fund, introduced Thursday the ultimate closing of a $16 million Fund I. 

Smith launched her fund in 2022 after spending seven years as an investor with Bain Capital Ventures and is a solo GP. She mentioned she’s “surprised” by what AI can unlock for companies like hers, solo and subsequent technology. “I can’t think about doing enterprise every other means now,” she mentioned. “Whereas I consider firm constructing nonetheless requires a staff effort, I consider early-stage investing is finest completed solo.”

She appreciates how she will be able to make quick choices that don’t require committee approval. She’s additionally taken to utilizing AI to assist her all through this journey. 

“On daily basis I’m dreaming of extra methods to assist my founders, combining my expertise and community with AI,” she mentioned.

“For instance, simply final week, I led a values articulation undertaking for considered one of my founders,” Smith continued. “It took me two to a few hours of time when it beforehand would have taken 20. When you’ve got an AI-native agency that may ship 10x worth in 1/10 of the time, you possibly can scale up a big portfolio with only one particular person.” 

She mentioned she beforehand had a $3 million rolling fund and spent a yr elevating this Fund I. Fund I hopes to spend money on 50 firms and has already backed 17, with the common verify measurement standing at $250,000. Restricted companions embrace Pear VC, Ulu Ventures, and Verdis Funding Administration. 

Fund I focuses primarily on startups within the Stanford ecosystem (Smith is an alumnus of the college). She has analysis there, too, to again up her focus. 

“It has produced extra unicorns and exit worth than every other college on the earth,” she mentioned, citing the analysis completed by Ilya Strebulaev that exhibits that 11% of unicorn founders have an affiliation with Stanford. “Whereas a lot of the legacy Sand Hill companies spend most of their time up in SF, 45 minutes north, I’m doubling down on Stanford campus.”

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