Vanessa Larco on the Future of Consumer Tech

I am excited to have Vanessa Larco, who was a Partner at NEA and is now launching a fund called Premise, where she led investments in breakthrough companies like Cleo, Rocket.Chat, Mejuri, EvidentID, Greenlight Card, Feather, and Lily AI. She also served as a board observer for high-growth startups including Robinhood, Willow Pump, and OmniSci.

In this episode, Vanessa Larco, ex-Partner at NEA and founding GP of Primis, shares her journey from product management at Microsoft and Box to becoming a leading early-stage VC. Vanessa dives into how AI is reshaping product roles, what makes the next wave of consumer tech exciting, and why she believes we're entering a new era of category-defining startups. She unpacks the traits of exceptional founders, the underrated importance of TAM, and how the VC landscape is evolving with secondaries and mega-funds, and much more!

Timestamps

[04:20] – Building and shipping at Microsoft, then moving to Xbox and gaming startups.

[06:05] – Transitioning from startups to Twilio and Box, and building mobile products.

[07:50] – Pete from NEA mentoring Vanessa and convincing her to join venture.

[09:40] – Staying at NEA for 8.5 years instead of the original 2-year plan.

[10:50] – Rohit asks about the future of product management in the AI era.

[12:00] – Vanessa shares frustrations with tedious PM tasks and hopes for automation.

[15:00] – Desire for AI to handle unstructured data like tickets, reviews, and bugs.

[16:50] – Shift in mindset: From fire drills to strategic product thinking.

[18:00] – Vanessa’s bullish view on consumer tech while others are pulling back.

[20:00] – Three historical waves in consumer tech and the emergence of a fourth wave.

[22:00] – ChatGPT and LLMs as a tech unlock leading to radical behavioral change.

[24:15] – AI transforming how consumers buy and evaluate products online.

[26:00] – Rise of personal AI agents and implications for e-commerce.

[27:30] – Democratizing concierge-level services via LLMs in sectors like travel and styling.

[29:00] – Opportunity to offer top 1% experiences at 10% of the cost.

[30:30] – TAM expansion as a key to iconic company creation.

[31:30] – Discussion on multistage funds and changing venture dynamics.

[34:00] – The role of secondaries and need for different capital bases in long private cycles.

[36:00] – Common VC mistake: Underestimating TAM in consumer startups.

[37:00] – Lessons from scaling Robinhood: faster, cheaper, easier always wins.

[39:15] – Trust as the key reason consumer fintechs fail across borders.

[41:00] – Key traits Vanessa looks for in founders: obsessive learners, storytellers, and detail-oriented.

Vanessa’s Links 

LDN– https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessalarco/

My Links 

Podcast: https://lifeselfmastery.com/itunes

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