Episode 124: The Open-Source Cloud Playbook, The Modular Future of Data and AI Infrastructure, and Meta-Learning as a VC with Casber Wang

Show Notes

• (01:56) Casber reflected on his experience growing up in China and moving to the US to pursue an undergraduate degree in business at UC Berkeley.
• (04:45) Casber recalled working on his startup Etch.ai and interning at Wish during his time at Berkeley.
• (10:03) Casber differentiated investing patterns for B2B and B2C startups.
• (12:10) Casber reflected on his investment banking experience at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and transitioning to venture capital at Sapphire Ventures.
• (17:06) Casber gave some advice for analysts who want to transition into the tech and venture industry.
• (20:06) Casber provided a high-level overview of Sapphire Ventures and its investment focus.
• (21:54) Casber recalled his early days as a new investor and his process of adding value to portfolio companies.
• (24:58) Casber dissected his investments in the Series F round of JumpCloud and the Series B round of Uptycs (in the domain of security).
• (33:03) Casber explained his investments in the Series B round of Tetrate and the Series A of Zesty (in the domain of enterprise infrastructure).
• (35:59) Casber walked through his investment in the Series D round of Dremio (in the domain of data and analytics).
• (39:09) Casber shared his advice to his portfolio companies in terms of navigating hiring decisions and growth strategy.
• (43:06) Casber unpacked the three strategies software companies can borrow from the open-source cloud playbook.
• (46:42) Casber highlighted the key trends he is most bullish on in the Open Data Ecosystem.
• (51:49) Casber emphasized the importance of interoperability in the modern data stack tooling landscape.
• (54:15) Casber painted the modular future of AI infrastructure.
• (59:44) Casber highlighted the key trends propelling the dynamic evolution of the software development lifecycle.
• (01:03:06) Casber reflected on his learning process for any new industry as an investor.
• (01:05:53) Closing segment.

Casber's Contact Info

• Sapphire Ventures Profile
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Mentioned Content

Articles

1. 3 Strategies Software Companies Can Borrow from the Open-Source Cloud Playbook (Aug 2020)
2. What is the Open Data Ecosystem and Why It's Here to Stay (April 2021)
3. The Future of AI Infrastructure is Becoming Modular: Why Best-of-Breed MLOps Solutions are Taking Off and Top Players to Watch (March 2022)
4. Evolution of the Software Development Lifecycle and the Future of DevOps (June 2022)

Books

1. "The Power Law" (by Sebastian Mallaby)
2. "Engines That Move Markets" (by Alasdair Naim)

Notes

My conversation with Casber was recorded back in late 2022. Since then, I recommend checking out these resources:

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