Consumer-driven AI, DPI, founder preferences, and building a venture firm like a startup

In this episode of VC Mastermind, Jacob Mullins sits down with Vanessa Larco, Founder and Partner at Premise and formerly a Partner at NEA, to discuss how seed investing is changing in the age of AI. Vanessa shares her path from product and operating roles at Microsoft, Twilio, and Box into venture capital, how her product background shaped her investing judgment, and why she ultimately left NEA to build a new firm from the ground up.

Vanessa and Jacob dig into the structural shifts reshaping early-stage venture: why founder preferences have changed, how emerging seed managers are increasingly winning against multi-stage platforms, and why the SVB collapse created a lasting lesson for founders about whether they truly matter to the investors on their cap table. Vanessa also makes the case that pre-seed and seed funds may have a surprising liquidity advantage, with more natural opportunities to sell small portions of ownership into later rounds without creating the same negative signal that later-stage funds might face.

 The conversation also explores AI’s impact on both company formation and venture firm formation. Vanessa argues that consumer adoption often pulls new technology into the enterprise, just as mobile and cloud did before, and that AI-native products are now forcing similar bottom-up change. She also shares what she learned from NEA about founder quality, diligence rigor, memos, and the apprenticeship nature of venture — and why she and her co-founder are building Premise with the mindset of startup founders, not just asset managers. 

Key Takeaways

•  Why product judgment can be both an edge and a blind spot for early-stage investors 
•  How founder preferences at seed have shifted away from defaulting to multi-stage funds 
•  Why the SVB collapse changed how founders think about investor commitment 
•  How seed funds may generate DPI earlier by selling small portions in later rounds 
•  Why AI is creating a new consumer-to-enterprise adoption cycle 
•  What large venture firms teach investors about founder quality and diligence discipline 
•  Why venture remains an apprenticeship craft despite more data, software, and AI 
•  How to choose a fund co-founder with the seriousness of choosing a life partner 
•  What younger VCs should do now if they eventually want to start their own firm

Chapters
00:00 — Introduction
 00:26 — Vanessa’s Path from Product to Venture
 05:13 — The Product Investor’s Edge and Blind Spot
 12:20 — Leaving NEA to Build Premise
 14:38 — Why Founder Preferences Are Changing
 19:05 — Is Seed More Liquid Than Later-Stage Venture?
 24:42 — Why Memos Still Matter
 29:23 — Why AI Makes Everything Up for Grabs
 35:38 — Choosing a Fund Partner Like a Spouse
 41:32 — Advice for Future Fund Founders

Guest: Vanessa Larco
Founder and Partner, Premise
Former Partner, NEA
Former product and operating leader at Microsoft, Twilio, Box, and other technology companies

Host: Jacob Mullins
Founder, GPGPT & VC Mastermind
Managing Director, Shasta Ventures

Presented by GPGPT
VC Mastermind is presented by GPGPT — the AI platform for venture capital and private equity professionals. GPGPT thinks like a GP, not a database. Try it at GPGPT.com.