Ashley Stirrup

Thinking about the recent comments from Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, how he thinks the end is near for traditonal SaaS-based companies using CRUD-based applications has got me thinking about AI. The world of SaaS and proptech is on the cusp of a massive transformation. We're standing at the crossroads of innovation and automation, where AI isn't just a tool, it’s becoming the backbone of how businesses operate. The traditional SaaS model, built on simple data inputs and outputs, will give way to something far more dynamic. Imagine AI agents seamlessly navigating vast repositories of data, handling complex operations, and delivering insights at speeds we never thought possible. But here’s the thing, this isn’t just about making systems smarter. It’s about what this change means for us as people. There’s a risk lurking in all this automation. As AI systems begin to "talk" to each other, as they churn out data and make decisions, we could find ourselves lost in a sea of noise. Information overload could become our new reality, with AI creating so much "efficiency" that it actually complicates things. And in that chaos, something critical might get lost: the human connection. Think about it. With AI doing so much, will we crave the simplicity of person-to-person interaction? Will we yearn for moments where a handshake or a conversation holds more value than an algorithmic recommendation? I believe we will. This is especially true in industries like proptech, where trust, relationships, and emotional intelligence are essential. A seamless AI-driven experience is great but it’s the human touch that makes someone feel seen, heard, and valued. The same is true for how we connect with customers. Sure, AI can churn out marketing content faster and cheaper than ever. But what happens when everything starts to feel the same, cold, calculated, and impersonal? The brands that will thrive are the ones that choose to put heart into their messaging, that focus on telling real, relatable stories that resonate on a human level. At the end of the day, AI isn’t here to replace us, it’s here to empower us. It’s a tool to help us work smarter, not strip away our creativity or our connection to one another. If we lean too heavily on automation, we risk losing the very things that make us human: our ingenuity, our ability to innovate, and our capacity to connect. AI should aid and amplify what we create, not to take over. Embrace it as a partner in progress, not a replacement. Because at the heart of all this technology lies something far more powerful, us. And it’s our creativity, our relationships, and our humanity that will ultimately shape the future. What are your thoughts? #saas #proptech #ai #aiagents

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PE - How to Use AI to Unlock Growth in Portfolio Companies All PE firms and portfolio companies should be thinking about unlocking GTM and growth via AI (i.e. not merely ChatGPT or other LLMs but actually implementing apps that are "AI Agents"). 1. What are "AI Agents"? - AI agents are autonomous systems powered by ML and natural language processing, designed to perform tasks with minimal human intervention - They can interpret data, determine the workflow & direction (i.e. make decisions), and execute actions across various functions, continuously improving through self-learning 2. Examples of using AI Agents in PE portfolio companies: - For Sales: AI agents handle lead qualification, respond to inquiries, book meetings, and provide personalized product recommendations, ensuring no opportunities are missed - For Marketing: Generate campaign briefs, segment audiences, create tailored content, and analyze performance to optimize outreach efforts - For Customer Success & Support: Provide 24/7 support, resolve customer issues autonomously, escalate complex cases to human agents with full context, and ensure consistent, brand-aligned responses 3. How PE portfolio companies benefit: - Efficiency: Automate repetitive tasks, enabling teams to focus on high-value activities - Scalability: Handle growing customer volumes without increasing headcount - Personalization: Deliver tailored experiences using real-time data insights - $ Cost Savings: Reduce operational costs by streamlining workflows 4. Business Impact for PE Portfolio Companies: - Accelerate GTM Execution: Faster lead conversion, better customer retention, and enhanced marketing ROI - Improve Metrics: Boost Customer NPS, CSAT, and efficiency - Enable Growth: Scale operations seamlessly while improving team productivity. 5. How PE Firms Must Think About Adoption - Define clear portfolio objectives to use AI agents (not just LLMs) - Ensure integration with existing CRM and data systems - Prioritize high-quality data and ongoing performance monitoring - Use AI agents to complement existing GTM teams, focusing them on automation ------------------ #pe #privateequity #investing #ai

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118 VCs (one hundred eighteen!) are gathering in San Diego next week - to meet with 30 SD startups. But it's so MUCH bigger than just those 30 co's. It brings VCs back - when they see quality companies. It helps those who are next-in-line and adjacent. It enables us to send deal flow all year 'round. It attracts talent and other companies. It inspires entrepreneurship. Connect is working for SD. Together, we're building the best damn innovation ecosystem on the planet. Year over year. Five.Ten.Thirty.

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Having a Cars and Capital event tomorrow in Southern California with Oren Klaff. If you want to join message me. https://lnkd.in/gDQ4D39u Oren Klaff Bridger Pennington #InvestorEvent #FamilyOffice #InvestmentOpportunity #CarlsbadEvent #PrivateEquity #WealthManagement #InvestmentConference #CapitalRaising #NetworkingEvent #IndustryLeaders #FinancialGrowth #InvestorsMeetup #WealthBuilding #BusinessGrowth #InvestmentForum

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🚀 Launch day! Very excited to share that you can now programmatically access resource-level cost data through the Vantage API! This API allows customers to access hundreds of supported resources (i.e. S3 Buckets, EBS Volumes, EC2 instances, etc.) across 8 different providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. Some really interesting aspects about this API: - You can use Vantage Query Language (VQL) for ad-hoc filtering of resources. So if you wanted to enumerate over all resources that had a particular cost allocation tag, that's supported out of the box (including Virtual Tags). - This API also supports management of Resource Reports. So if you had a Resource Report for all unattached EBS volumes that are over a certain cost threshold you can hit that Resource Report endpoint to see all the latest resources that meet that criteria on an ongoing basis. - We've integrated with hundreds of List/Describe APIs across all the providers to not only provide cost information in the API but also metadata from the service APIs themselves. Using that same EBS example above, this allows for you to see other attributes like iops or volume size with the cost data in a singular API. Extensibility through the API has always been part of the core ethos of Vantage from the very beginning. Over the last four years we've invested in having near-full coverage of all features available via the API and Terraform. This new resource API opens up an entirely new set of use-cases and future integrations that are going to be very interesting so....stay tuned. #finops #boom https://lnkd.in/eaq8hd2Y

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Ascend just released this new interview about why I love investing in Seattle/Pacific Northwest (PNW) startups at Ubiquity Ventures. Ascend is the most active pre-seed investor in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle, Portland, and more) and is run by Kirby Winfield. Thanks to Ascend's Nate Bek for the interview! Check it out the full interview: https://lnkd.in/giU2Wy3V A few snippets of what I said: ⭐️ On investing in Seattle (vs the Bay Area) "Companies like Auth0, Esper, Remitly, and others have demonstrated that they can start, grow, and thrive in Seattle. This is thanks to the continuous growth of hometown giants like Amazon and Microsoft, whose employees might outgrow the cultures at those companies." ⭐️ Why I fell in love with VC "First is about following new trends, nerding out on technologies, and getting inspired by new ideas .. resonates with the nerd engineer and the 5-year-old in me that used to love reading about new technologies ... [Next is] the innards of how companies are run, being in those pivotal meetings and discussions that change the direction of a company. These hard conversations about pivots, understanding metrics, and trying to separate the storytelling around startups from internal operations. That was the meat of building an exciting startup, which is quite different from just nerding out on cool new technologies. " And thank you to all the Pacific Northwest startups I've been privileged to invest in and work with: Eugenio P. and Jon Gelsey at Auth0 by Okta, Yadhu Gopalan at Esper, Fredrik Rydén at Olis Robotics, Claire Watts at ThruWave Inc., Adam Schoenfeld & Aviel Ginzburg at Simply Measured, Milkana Brace at Jargon, Yuriy Bulygin & Alex Bazhaniuk at Eclypsium, Inc. #seattle #seattletech #pacificnorthwest #pnwtech #portland

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The Forbes 2024 Cloud 100 List is live ☁ Congrats to all the honorees – the world's top 100 private cloud companies –including the 3 healthcare and life sciences companies featured this year: • Benchling - biotech R&D platform • Komodo Health - healthcare data analytics • Abridge - AI for clinical documentation For more on how AI is colliding with cloud computing, check out Bessemer Venture Partners's 2024 Cloud 100 report. Personally I'm focused on advancements in multi-modal AI, as applied to biomedical applications (Trend 3!): https://lnkd.in/euzurvQV

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🚀 In April of 2023, Vantage launched beta support for OpenAI. It's been one of the most popular and fastest-adopted providers we've added support for. However, the APIs we were leveraging for beta support were a bit shaky and only intermittently available from the OpenAI side. We've been *eagerly* awaiting OpenAI to launch more robust billing and usage APIs and as of 22 days ago, they have delivered! As a result, I'm really excited to share our General Availability support for OpenAI on Vantage. Our team was able to very quickly execute on adopting the newly available APIs and now have progressed OpenAI to General Availability on Vantage which is available to all users across all tiers, including the free tier. Read the full launch blog post with all the details here: https://lnkd.in/e7f7yNYE #finops

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In vertical SaaS, the very best companies landed with a product solving a specific, burning pain point that horizontal solutions solved badly and then became broad product suites over time (ServiceTitan, Veeva Systems, Doximity, etc). My partner Gordon Ritter calls this “layering the cake”. In vertical AI, the landing wedges are much more brittle. While the painpoints they solve are very real (and often unaddressable by SaaS alone), they’re also much more likely to commodotize in the near term as the tech advances. 👀 Therefore, the need to layer the cake in vertical AI is much more urgent than in vertical SaaS. 👀 The best vertical AI CEOs not only recognize the dynamic, but talk about it openly. Helps those around them keep up the speed of innovation and their eyes on the bigger prize.

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Instacart is a market leader when it comes to leveraging AI tools to boost productivity at work. I had an amazing conversation with JJ Zhuang, Instacart’s Chief Architect, who has shepherded over 50 AI-driven initiatives to market across the org. We explored what catapulted Instacart to the forefront of AI integration, supporting radically diverse use cases across various functional areas. One striking insight (echoed by Ethan Mollick and others elsewhere) is that you often don't need specialized tools for specialized work. Frontier models like GPT-4 can seamlessly adapt to a wide range of functions and use cases. They're not just for engineers; they're incredibly versatile tools used by marketing, comms, and legal teams. From generating code to proofreading and ideation, GPT-4 empowers every department to leverage AI for enhanced productivity and innovation. By integrating LLM’s like GPT-4 into their workflows, teams can streamline processes, automate repetitive tasks, and unlock bandwidth for new creative possibilities. How can you harness the power of AI in your own work to boost productivity? Share your thoughts below 👇 Want to hear more insights from JJ? Check out the full podcast episode by clicking the link in the comments.

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Interesting notes from Intuit's recent webinar on LLMs. What evaluation processes do you deploy? at tasq.ai our approach is to integrate the AI models with diverse, global human guidance, to support #responsibleai faster and near real time.

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When change is the only the constant, the ability to be "in" the turbulence without letting it overtake you is vital for success. This guide from Wharton offers some excellent advice for navigating uncertainty by strategically managing workloads and priorities. It stresses the importance of maintaining a sustainable pace, making for breaks in the action and rest. Most notably, it suggests creating a list of "anti-goals" that encourages you identify what you can reasonably accomplish and avoid stretching yourself beyond your limits. #Leadership #ChangeManagement #Wellbeing

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Team San Diego! I though you may find this as surprising as I did...we are not alone. Read this quick article from Jon Prentice's (Silicon Valley Bank) interview with with James Newell (Voyager Capital), published in GeekWire on Seattle's innovation ecosystem....they lament the SAME issues as we do in San Diego: * Lack of angel investors, (Especially, it calls out, given the local giant tech co's) * "We need low-conviction check writers." * Lack of "cachet associated with being an angel investor" - We have similar efforts (as described in the article) to drum up angel activity: NuFund Venture Group and, Interlock Capital (read the article and you'll see why the Interlock effort is tops as relates to "paying back into the ecosystem") Connect.org strives to 'connect' innovative companies with investors of all types (angel, VC, PE...) - just see "Innovation Day". Their Springboard program provides another great way for experienced entrepreneurs to give back through mentorship...as for the companies going through Springboard: "Ask for advice, and you often get $$" Your thoughts on the article or San Diego innovation ecosystem? https://lnkd.in/gfwq6mfq

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Founderville believes one of the most significant opportunities is emerging in legacy system applications. We look for manual tasks to leverage AI for efficient automation. Rather than chasing massive TAM, which will be addressed by larger VCs, we focus on smaller market domains that won't be chased as hard. Think of "boring" processes that require human intervention or manualized tasks. Those are opportunities. Keep your eyes open if you have deep domain expertise in a non-automated and fragmented industry. #entrepreneurs #venturecapital #startups #saas

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Some additional charts on the aggregate hyperscaler data from Q1. The charts below show 1) The aggregate net new ARR added on q quarterly basis. Q1 is always a seasonal low 2) The YoY growth in net new ARR in Q1. Q1 '23 was the "bottom" with AWS actually adding negative net new ARR (ie they shrunk), so the YoY comp is the "easiest" for the aggregate bucket.

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🌟 Satya Nadella predicts AI Agents will profoundly disrupt SaaS and Business Applications. In this new era, vendors face three choices: 1️⃣ Do nothing: A path leading to an inevitable decline. 2️⃣ Build in-house with generic LLM Agents: High investment, uncertain outcomes, and significant risk. 3️⃣ Adopt purpose-built AI Agents: A strategic move to drive revenue growth by 2–10x and stay ahead of the curve. At Semantic Brain, we transform traditional SaaS and Business Applications into Proactive, Hyper-Personalized Services—unlocking smarter, faster, and more tailored customer experiences. 🔗 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gjrFYC2B 🎥 Watch Satya Nadella's insights here: https://lnkd.in/gH6ms8KS

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Last night's Technology Association of Oregon panel discussion on raising capital for AI ventures was full of interesting takeaways. The event brought together leading PNW VCs, CEOs, and funders to share their perspectives and best practices. Here's what you need to know: ➡ The AI/ML space is rapidly evolving, presenting huge opportunities for startups tackling real business problems. VCs are actively seeking out the most ambitious and disruptive companies in this domain. ➡ Having an "unfair advantage" is key - whether that's proprietary data sets, unique domain expertise, or unparalleled access to customers. AI ventures need strong differentiation to stand out. ➡ Build relationships early with VCs, even before you're ready to raise. Their insights and connections can accelerate your journey. The PNW venture ecosystem is highly collaborative and accessible. ➡ Don't be deterred by the perceived lack of local funding. Great companies with compelling visions will get funded, period. Leverage the PNW's strengths in developer/engineering talent. ➡ Recognize and proactively address the potential downsides of AI - from data privacy to model bias. Building responsibly is both an obligation and an opportunity. ➡ Move fast, be bold. Raising capital is always hard, but fortune favors the brave in this space. With the right team, tech and traction, you can build a world-changing business here in the PNW. Thanks to the fantastic panelists Diane Fraiman (Voyager Capital), Geoff Harris (Flying Fish), Jon Maroney (OVF), Chris Sestito (Hidden Layer), Jon Turow (Madrona) for sharing their insights, and to Kristy Edwards for moderating!

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Over the last two decades SaaS has dominated and reshaped industries. And I believe we are on the verge of a significant shift in 2025, with autonomy taking center stage in industries like aerospace, defense, manufacturing, and robotics. Industries such as oil & gas, HVAC, and water treatment are grappling with massive retirements, creating critical labor gaps. It’s clear that the next generation of engineers must be equipped to handle autonomous systems, analyze sensor data, and manage advanced control systems. Industries are increasingly adopting AI-powered autonomous systems, the integration of physical hardware with intelligent software has become not just important but essential. Fields like robotic teleoperation and AI-driven industrial automation are unlocking exciting opportunities that demand specialized technical skills. There is an absolute need for engineers with expertise in mechanical, electrical, and control engineering. To meet the rising demand for “full-stack hardware engineers,” these disciplines must not only grow but evolve to equip professionals with the skills to seamlessly integrate hardware and software, driving the future of innovation and automation. For this, I believe the education industry must step up and lead the way: K12 schools should introduce students to robotics, coding, and hands-on design projects early on. By doing so, they can inspire students to explore diverse career paths, ranging from high-tech trades to advanced engineering role. Universities should offer interdisciplinary programs that integrate hardware and software disciplines. They should also partner with companies to create apprenticeship opportunities, providing students with invaluable, real-world, hands-on experience. EdTech companies have a vital role to play. They should develop tools like virtual labs for robotics, sensor integration, and PCB design, giving students opportunities to learn by doing. Additionally, I encourage them to create short courses and certifications to help professionals transition into these high-demand roles. We also need to invest in workforce development programs to reskill mid-career professional and tap into the strengths of community colleges to train technicians and skilled workers. Supporting apprenticeship models is critical for hands-on approach that makes on-the-job training accessible and effective for building technical expertise.

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Why Buying Your First Business is the hardest & Financing The Fear is Being seen as too risky by lenders and investors. The Solution: Prepare a solid business plan with detailed financial projections. Work with a financial advisor to enhance your credibility. Consider alternative financing options like SBA loans or seller financing.

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