2024

My dad once told me, “The world completely changes every 20 years”.

We stand at a precipice, where certain technologies (robotics, DNA sequencing, AI), become inevitable. These leaps will be on the scale of general purpose transformation of the past, like the steam engineer or electricity. 

The timing is unique. If you look at the developments over the last few centuries, there were peaks and troughs, with the 1900s being a highlight of multiple breakthroughs happening concurrently. Today, we also face multiple macro trends from cobots, to gene therapies and LLMs. These waves will support each other, to bring about unprecedented prosperity in terms of potential market capitalization and revenue growth.

With great change, comes great risk around cybersecurity, authorizations and enablement. But this problem is also an opportunity. It is a chance for the right player, who deeply understands Enterprises, but is also in touch with the beating heart of Silicon Valley, to move faster than the competition.

I have spent a decade thinking through digital transformation , accessing asymmetric data and putting it to work to build efficiencies. I’ve been lucky to learn from the best, like Parker Conrad (Rippling) to Jim Goez (Sequoia) and Sam Blond (Zenefits, then Founders Fund). 

Finally, I’ve learned from my dad (physics in Moscow, then Stanford) to think in first principles and from my brother (serial entrepreneur) to rigorously test product market fit. 

I’m convinced that Venture is both the vehicle to bring about this world vision and the way to make money from it.

Yuri