Episode summary
How to Find the Next $1 Trillion Startup Before Anyone Else
How I Invest With David Weisburd
· · 28 min · Hosts: David Weisburd · Guests: Yuri Sagilov
Summary
General Catalyst’s seed strategy is built on the idea that the earliest investments reveal the next major market themes, deepen founder relationships, and can still generate the best venture returns even at $43 billion in assets under management. Yuri Sagilov argues that seed is where firms meet founders “living in the future,” and that the best way to see new categories is to back exceptional founders before the market understands them. He points to Stripe, Andre, Circle, and the firm’s early work in defense as examples of seed relationships that shaped later conviction.
Sagilov also says seed should be run as a generalist practice, not a sector fund, because the next generation of startups always changes faster than a narrow thesis can. He explains why General Catalyst intentionally removed signaling risk by telling founders it will buy ownership up front at seed, target about 10%, and not cherry-pick the best companies at Series A.
The conversation broadened into how private markets may evolve if more capital concentrates in a handful of enormous companies. Sagilov expects that if companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX can stay private longer, venture capital could keep more of the upside that has historically migrated to public markets, while founders gain more optionality around IPO timing.
Key takeaways
- Yuri Sagilov says General Catalyst treats seed as the “heart of the business” because it creates founder relationships and exposes the firm to new categories first.
- Sagilov argues seed should be a generalist strategy, not a sector fund, because the next venture themes cannot be predicted 24 months in advance.
- General Catalyst says it will buy roughly 10% ownership at seed and skip leading its own companies’ Series A rounds to eliminate signaling risk.
- Sagilov believes the largest private-company outcomes show there is still room for standalone startups even when AI labs move into the same product areas.
- He expects more capital to stay in private markets, which could let companies like SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI remain private longer and raise additional rounds.
Notable quotes
“The reason AI is a wave today is because of Open AI. If SpaceX was not successful, there would be no space industry today”
“The best thing that you can do is meet the best founders early and see the world through their eyes and let them guide you to where the opportunities are”
“we blanket said that we will not cherrypick any of our best companies at Series A”
How the episode opens
The reason AI is a wave today is because of Open AI. If SpaceX was not successful, there would be no space industry today. The best thing that you can do is meet the best founders early and see the world through their eyes and let them guide you to where the opportunities are.
General Catalyst today has $43 billion under management. Why in the world would you guys be investing in the seed stage? I think it's a very common question actually for a fund our size.
But I think that there's two pieces to that question and a little bit of framing that's helpful. At the end of the day, we actually think of ourselves very much as an early stage fund. I think our DNA despite our scale at this point is early stage.
Some of the best most well-known investments that we've ever done are actually seed investments or started as seed relationships. Stripe, Andre, Mccor, Circle, like every single one of those was a seed investment first. And so we really believe that seed is the heart of the business regardless of like the capital or the aum.
The reason we think seed is so important, there's actually a multitude of reasons. I think the very first reason is that seed is where you form the deepest relationships with founders. is really the mo like if you're the first and true believer they're going to remember that for the rest of their lives and so whether it's 10 years later 15 years later the person that wrote you the very first check is someone that you remember forever.
The second thing is we fundamentally think that seed has some of the best returns in venture. It is the lowest entry point from a cost of capital perspective.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- seed investing
- venture capital ownership
- ai-native founders
- generalist venture strategy
- private markets
Companies and tickers mentioned
- General Catalyst
- Wayfinder Ventures
- Anduril
Watch the episode
Watch “How to Find the Next $1 Trillion Startup Before Anyone Else” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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Peter Thiel's 27-Year Partner on the AI Bubble, the Venture Capital Crisis, and the PayPal Mafia -
Why Venture Is Eating Public Markets, Picking Great VCs, and the AI Boom w/Brijesh Jeevarathnam
How I Invest With David Weisburd, this episode and its artwork belong to David Weisburd. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
