Sameer Dholakia is a Partner @ Bessemer, the first that has just raised $5.75BN across a $1.75BN seed fund and $4BN growth fund. Sameer has led investments into the likes of Anthropic, Fireworks and Legora to name a few. Prior to venture, Sameer was the CEO of SendGrid, taking it from $30M in ARR to over $200M.
AGENDA:
04:55 Why This Is a Supercycle Like Never Before
07:40 Why We Backed Anthropic to Compete With the Hyperscalers
10:05 Why Anthropic Was One of Bessemer's Most Contentious Deals
11:05 Why Open Models Don't Destroy the Market for Closed Models
16:45 Does Price Matter in AI—and Which Metric Really Determines Value?
19:45 How Much Should Consumer Businesses Be Discounted for Their Revenue Quality?
20:20 Why Today's Gross Margins Matter Less Than You Think
23:00 Competition Hasn't Changed—but the Capital Behind It Has
24:00 Why Capital Is a Moat Today
25:55 Is "Triple, Triple, Double, Double" Dead?
28:00 Can You Still Succeed With a Small Seed Fund?
29:45 Who Wins and Who Loses in the Future of Venture Capital?
32:15 Why Founders Shouldn't Hate Being an "Option Bet"
34:35 Why Signalling Risk Doesn't Worry Me
51:55 Why Companies Will Stay Private Longer—and Why the IPO Window Could Reopen by 2028
56:00 How Should Retail Investors Participate in Venture Capital?
57:25 How Fireworks Could Become a $250 Billion Business
01:02:35 Why Bessemer Is Confident It Can Deliver 5x Returns on $5.75 Billion