Just got out of a partner meeting with 3 top-tier VCs.
Here’s what they’re really thinking about AI startups right now.
Short version?
🤞The gold rush is over.
🪮Now they want picks, shovels, and cash flow.
Here’s what came out of the room—unfiltered:
1. “We’re drowning in wrappers.”
Everyone’s pitching an LLM layer with a sexy UI.
But most have zero retention, no moats, and fragile margins.
If OpenAI ships your roadmap in their next release, you're done.
2. “We’re looking for real workflow ownership.”
Founders who deeply understand a specific, painful, expensive use case—and wedge into it with AI as a 10x unlock, not just a buzzword.
Think:
— AI that shortens sales cycles
— AI that cuts payroll costs
— AI that eliminates compliance risk
Not “AI that writes tweets.”
3. “Infra fatigue is setting in.”
Infra plays are sexy—until they’re commoditized.
If you’re building infra, you need deep tech defensibility and a built-in GTM wedge (dev comms, plugin ecosystems, etc.).
4. “We want revenue, not just razzle.”
No one cares about your demo anymore.
They want paying customers, usage growth, and retention curves that don’t nosedive after day 3.
5. “Boring is the new hot.”
The loudest decks are getting ignored.
The quiet ones—solving dusty problems in healthcare, logistics, procurement, etc.—are getting partner-level attention.
VCs aren’t anti-AI.
They’re anti-hype.
They’ve seen too many founders chase the model, not the market.
So if you’re building in AI in 2025—don’t lead with the tech.
Lead with the pain, the wedge, and the money flow.
That’s what gets funded now.
If you are one send your pitch to ifundindia@gmail.com
