What Does a Venture Capital Investor Really Look For? | Yael Schiff (Bessemer Venture Partners)

Description

Yael Schiff is an investor at Bessemer Venture Partners, mostly at Seed and Series A, in AI, infrastructure and cyber companies. Before that she spent five years at Via in the US, including as a GM, did an MBA, worked at McKinsey and served in 8200. In conversation with Eyal David she explains why she talks to founders "in question marks, not exclamation marks," and what she looks for in a first meeting: a unique insight she didn't know before, and above all a yes to the question "Would I work for this person?" She gives examples of companies that left the playbook: Wonderful, which reached 30 markets in 20 months by starting in non-English-speaking countries; Koi, which shipped a free product and saw it downloaded before approaching investors; and Intercom, which cannibalized its own SaaS business to become an AI company. The conversation also covers product velocity "on steroids," where AI is already changing hiring, sales and customer-meeting prep, when technology can still be a moat, mega-rounds and a longer road to IPO, fundraising milestones without a template and bootstrapping as a real option, investing in deep tech, where the opportunities are (AI infrastructure, robotics, defense and B2C), and the backlash against AI.

Key moments

1. 00:00 · Episode highlights
2. 00:38 · Intro: Yael Schiff and Bessemer
3. 02:44 · "I speak in question marks, not exclamation marks"
4. 05:07 · "Nobody knows anything": why she looks for a unique insight
5. 07:10 · The first test: "Would I work for this person?"
6. 09:20 · Wonderful and Koi: why investors look for those who don't follow the book
7. 16:07 · Speed "on steroids": ship, listen, fix
8. 21:26 · How to raise a Seed when raising is hard
9. 22:49 · Where AI is already changing hiring, sales and customer relationships
10. 26:20 · When technology can still be a moat
11. 28:02 · Intercom: hurting your own business to become an AI company
12. 33:50 · Mega-rounds and a longer road to IPO
13. 37:30 · Milestones without a template, and bootstrapping as an option
14. 40:39 · How to invest in deep tech
15. 45:27 · Where the opportunities are: infrastructure, robotics, defense and B2C
16. 49:40 · The backlash against AI: authenticity, regulation and "there will be catastrophes"