Episode summary
This VC Firm Is Being Run by AI Agents
How I Invest With David Weisburd
· · Hosts: David Weisburd · Guests: Nikhil Trivedi
Summary
Footwork has rebuilt its venture process around AI agents rather than layering AI onto existing workflows. Nikhil Trivedi says the firm moved from ad hoc use of ChatGPT and Claude, to local agents, and now to cloud-based systems backed by a central Postgres database so the agents are always on, updating the pipeline, briefing investors, and tracking firm-wide context in the background. He says Footwork still keeps Affinity, but humans rarely touch it directly because the agents populate and maintain the CRM.
Trivedi argues that AI is already changing venture’s labor stack. At Footwork, agents handle pieces of the find, decide, win, help, exit, and firm-building loop, while an internal AI lead manages the systems and shares learnings across the team. He expects the analyst role and much of the back office to shrink, but believes the most durable human edge will remain judgment and relationships.
The discussion also centers on founder selection, LP fundraising, and public writing. Trivedi says the trait he values most is a founder’s slope of learning, and he credits his newsletter with sharpening his thinking, boosting sourcing, and helping fundraising. He also says exceptional companies deserve exceptions, even if that means bending fund-construction rules.
Key takeaways
- Nikhil Trivedi says Footwork is building an AI-native firm from the ground up, with agents updating CRM data and briefing partners before meetings.
- He says AI already helps across the venture workflow, especially sourcing, internal knowledge retrieval, and pipeline management.
- Trivedi says the most important founder trait is learning speed, because venture is moving too quickly for static judgment.
- He expects analyst work and much of venture back-office operations to be automated, shrinking the number of people needed to run a firm.
- Trivedi says relationships and human judgment will be the last durable advantages in venture investing.
- He says writing the newsletter The Next Big Thing sharpened his thinking and helped sourcing, brand, and fundraising.
Notable quotes
“An AI-native firm is where the humans in the firm don't even look at the CRM because that's updated agentically”
“The gene, the trait in founders that we look for more than ever is their slope of learning”
“Exceptional companies deserve exceptions”
How the episode opens
What does it mean to be an AI-native venture capital firm?
What it means to be AI-native is that you're not just sticking AI into the firm's existing processes, hoping that something's going to change. It's actually thinking about the whole firm from the ground up with AI at the core. And so, as one example of this that's quite basic, right?
A non-AI-native venture firm, in my opinion, is a firm that still has humans who are actually looking at the CRM every day to figure out what's in the deal pipeline. An AI-native firm is where the humans in the firm don't even look at the CRM because that's updated agentically, it's happening in the background, and where things are being done for you proactively through the use of AI. And so, I think that's the amazing opportunity that firms like us have right now, which is to rethink our entire processes with AI from the ground up.
We're recording right now. It's 1:30 on a Tuesday. How have you used AI today?
Let's take the prep doc that you sent over before this podcast. I think I got it from you late last night. I took a quick look at it.
When I woke up today to take a look at the doc again, I had a number of bullet point suggestions based on to talk through your talking points based on our agents having gone and looked at all the context in our firm, the conversations we've had about being an AI-native firm, the logs of what our agents have been doing over the past couple weeks. And so, I had bullet points prepped for me with very little input from myself based on our use of AI. And so, that's just one way I I it today.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ai-native venture capital
- autonomous investment agents
- ai for sourcing and diligence
- portfolio management automation
- vc adoption of internal ai systems
Companies and tickers mentioned
- LSCC
- Footwork
- Canva
- ClassDojo
- Frame.io
- Athelas
- GPTZero
- Watershed
- Lattice
- The Farmer's Dog
- Brigit
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
Watch the episode
Watch “This VC Firm Is Being Run by AI Agents” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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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.
