VC10X - Investing, Venture Capital, Asset Management, Family Office, Wealth Management

Has the AI funding boom peaked?

Many investors expected higher interest rates, rising infrastructure costs, and questions around AI monetization to slow venture capital activity.

Instead, the opposite is happening.

New AI unicorns continue to emerge, with billions of dollars flowing into AI infrastructure, enterprise software, robotics, and cybersecurity.

In this episode, we break down where venture capital is placing its biggest bets—and what that means for the next phase of the AI economy.

⭐ Sponsored by Podcast10x - Podcasting agency for VCs - https://podcast10x.com

Key topics we explore:

– Why AI funding remains incredibly strong despite macro uncertainty
– The startups attracting the largest funding rounds across AI infrastructure, enterprise AI, robotics, and cybersecurity
– Why investors are backing companies like Thinking Machines Lab, Glean, Harvey, Figure AI, and Skild AI
– How venture capital is shifting from foundation models to the broader AI ecosystem
– What today's private market funding says about tomorrow's public market opportunities
– Why infrastructure, automation, and enterprise software could become the next major AI winners

The bigger question:

Are we witnessing another venture capital bubble, or are investors funding the next generation of category-defining AI companies?

For investors, following where the smartest venture capital is flowing can provide an early signal of where long-term value is being created.

LINKS

Prashant Choubey - ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/choubeysahab⁠

Subscribe to VC10X newsletter - ⁠https://vc10x.beehiiv.com⁠

Subscribe on YouTube - ⁠https://youtube.com/@VC10X⁠

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Subscribe on Spotify - ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/7F7KEhXNhTx1bKTBFgzv3k?si=WgQ4ozMiQJ-6nowj6wBgqQ⁠

VC10X website - ⁠https://vc10x.com⁠

For sponsorship queries reach out to prashantchoubey3@gmail.com

This channel is for asset managers, allocators, and investors who want analysis that holds up—not headlines dressed as insight.

Subscribe for weekly data-driven breakdowns of the forces reshaping capital markets.

#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #VentureCapital #Startups #EnterpriseAI #Robotics #Cybersecurity #Infrastructure #Investing #VC10X

David Hornik is the Founding Partner of Lobby Capital, an early-stage venture firm built on concentrated, conviction-driven investing. Before founding Lobby, he spent 20 years as a General Partner at August Capital, where he was the earliest investor in Splunk and backed companies like WePay, Bill.com, and Fastly.

⭐ Sponsored by Podcast10x - Podcasting agency for VCs - https://podcast10x.com

In this episode we cover:

→ Why three out of four VC firms couldn't raise a fund last year — and why Lobby Capital did
→ 2000 vs. today: the one structural difference that makes this AI cycle harder to navigate
→ Dancing among giants — what it takes for startups to survive next to Google, Meta, and Microsoft
→ The two deals that got away: LinkedIn, Uber, and the lessons that came out of missing them
→ Why Lobby Capital passed on Airbnb's Series A — and has never used a formal voting system since
→ Splunk and big data — betting on a problem nobody else was talking about in 2004
→ The exit landscape: mega IPOs, a record M&A market, and why liquidity may not reach everyone

Links:

Lobby Capital: https://lobby.vc
Connect with David on X: davidhornik
Connect with Prashant: https://linkedin.com/in/choubeysahab
Subscribe to VC10X newsletter - https://vc10x.beehiiv.com
Subscribe on YouTube - https://youtube.com/@VC10X
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vc10x-investing-venture-capital-asset-management-private/id1632806986
Subscribe on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7F7KEhXNhTx1bKTBFgzv3k?si=WgQ4ozMiQJ-6nowj6wBgqQ
VC10X website - https://vc10x.com

Timestamps:(00:00) - Preview

(00:48) - Guest Introduction: David Hornik, Founding Partner at Lobby Capital

(02:32) - Fundraising for Lobby Fund Two in a Tough LP Market

(03:57) - Key Learnings from Fundraising: Fund One vs. Fund Two

(05:45) - Comparing the Current Market to the 2000 Dot-Com Bubble

(09:15) - The Current Sentiment-Driven Correction in AI Markets

(10:27) - On Irrational Valuations and the "SaaS-pocalypse"

(13:05) - Strategies for Startups: Finding a Proprietary Position

(15:17) - Why Lobby Capital Avoids Late-Stage Special Opportunity Funds

(16:45) - Learning from Passing on LinkedIn and Uber

(21:23) - The Importance of Being Valuation Sensitive

(24:15) - Backing Unconventional Founders and the Airbnb Miss

(27:41) - The Splunk Investment: Solving a Real, Unseen Problem

(30:16) - Lobby Capital's Conviction-Driven Model Without Formal Voting

(32:45) - Building Psychological Safety with Founders Remotely

(35:30) - The Current Exit Landscape: A Tale of Two Cities

(39:03) - The Playbook for Supporting an Overwhelmed Founder

(42:02) - Contrarian Take: The Real Opportunity is in Empowering Humans

(43:45) - Rapid Fire Round Begins

(43:58) - Investment Focus: Great People Solving Problems with Software

(44:28) - Typical Investment Stage: First Professional Money In

(44:45) - Why Lobby Capital Always Leads Rounds

(45:42) - Typical Initial Check Size

(46:08) - How Founders Can Get in Touch

(46:32) - Where to Follow David and a Tribute to Om Malik

Reports that Meta is selling excess AI compute sparked an important question across the investment community:

Is this the first sign that AI demand is slowing?

Or is the market reading too much into a normal part of operating hyperscale infrastructure?

In this episode, we separate headlines from fundamentals and examine what Meta's move could actually mean for the broader AI investment thesis.

⭐ Sponsored by Podcast10x - Podcasting agency for VCs - https://podcast10x.com

Key topics we explore:

– Why Meta may be selling excess compute capacity
– Does this signal weakening AI demand or simply better capital allocation?
– How hyperscalers think about infrastructure utilization
– What this means for Nvidia, Micron, and the broader AI supply chain
– Why compute utilization is becoming just as important as compute capacity
– The key indicators investors should monitor to assess the health of the AI buildout

The bigger question:

Is Meta's decision an early warning sign for the AI infrastructure boom, or evidence that the industry is entering a more mature phase where optimizing compute matters as much as building it?

For investors, understanding the difference between excess capacity and weakening demand is critical to evaluating the next phase of the AI race.

LINKS

Prashant Choubey - ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/choubeysahab⁠

Subscribe to VC10X newsletter - ⁠https://vc10x.beehiiv.com⁠

Subscribe on YouTube - ⁠https://youtube.com/@VC10X⁠

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vc10x-investing-venture-capital-asset-management-private/id1632806986⁠

Subscribe on Spotify - ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/7F7KEhXNhTx1bKTBFgzv3k?si=WgQ4ozMiQJ-6nowj6wBgqQ⁠

VC10X website - ⁠https://vc10x.com⁠

For sponsorship queries reach out to prashantchoubey3@gmail.com

This channel is for asset managers, allocators, and investors who want analysis that holds up — not headlines dressed as insight.

Subscribe for weekly data-driven breakdowns of the forces reshaping capital markets.

#Meta #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Datacenter #Nvidia #Micron #Semiconductors #CloudComputing #Investing #Stocks #TechStocks #VC10X #Infrastructure #CapitalMarkets #Finance #VentureCapital #WallStreet #BigTech

What does it take to back a technical founder before there's a product, a customer, or a dollar of revenue?

Ashmeet Sidana has been doing exactly that — and he's been oversubscribed on every fund he's ever raised.

Ashmeet is the Founder and Managing Partner of Engineering Capital, a seed-stage venture fund he runs as a solo GP in the Bay Area. A Stanford-trained engineer and former product leader at VMware, he brings one of the sharpest technical lenses in early-stage venture.

⭐ Sponsored by Podcast10x - Podcasting agency for VCs - https://podcast10x.com

In this episode we cover:

→ Why software still holds 63,000x more opportunity than hardware
→ Data as the new asbestos — and the AI slop contamination loop
→ Data sovereignty and the rise of isolated global cloud regions
→ Big tech's structural blind spots and the Gandhi model for startups
→ Backing technical founders at day zero, before product or revenue
→ Why running a fund alone is a structural advantage, not a risk
→ The VMware lesson every AI infrastructure founder needs to hear

Links:

Engineering Capital: engineeringcapital.com

Connect with Ashmeet on X: ashmeetsidana

Connect with Prashant: https://linkedin.com/in/choubeysahab

Subscribe to VC10X newsletter - ⁠https://vc10x.beehiiv.com⁠

Subscribe on YouTube - ⁠https://youtube.com/@VC10X ⁠

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vc10x-investing-venture-capital-asset-management-private/id1632806986⁠

Subscribe on Spotify - ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/7F7KEhXNhTx1bKTBFgzv3k?si=WgQ4ozMiQJ-6nowj6wBgqQ⁠

VC10X website - ⁠https://vc10x.com

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Preview

(01:22) - Introduction to Guest Ashmeet Sidana & Episode Overview

(03:00) - The Interconnect Layer Bottleneck in LLM Training

(04:52) - Physical Limitations: From Silicon Availability to Megawatt Capacity

(06:01) - Powering Data Centers: Consistent vs. Intermittent Energy Sources

(08:21) - The Case for Software: Unlocking 63,000x Performance Gains

(11:12) - Data Sovereignty and the Rise of Independent Cloud Regions

(13:19) - How Engineering Architectures Must Evolve to Handle "AI Slop"

(16:57) - Can AI Be Used to Detect AI-Generated Slop?

(18:26) - What Happens When a New AI Architecture Replaces the Transformer?

(20:19) - Startup Opportunities Arising from the Legacy CPU Stack

(21:48) - How Startups Can Compete with Big Tech's Infinite CapEx

(25:34) - Identifying Big Tech's Structural Blind Spots in the AI Cycle

(28:22) - Early Signals of Commercial Instinct in Technical Founders

(29:47) - How to Pressure Test a Founder's "Technical Insight" at Day Zero

(31:45) - The Solo GP Advantage: Turning Key Man Risk into Structural Alignment

(34:51) - Transitioning from an Operator to a Venture Capitalist

(36:34) - Managing the Workload as a Solo GP

(39:30) - Why AI Startups Struggle to Find a Specific Niche like VMware's Server Consolidation

(41:17) - Rapid-Fire Round: Investment Thesis

(42:40) - Rapid-Fire Round: How Founders Can Get in Touch

(43:05) - Rapid-Fire Round: Where to Follow Ashmeet Sidana

Micron just delivered one of the most important earnings reports of the AI era.

The company reported record fiscal Q3 results and issued a blowout forecast for the next quarter, sending the stock sharply higher.

But the real story wasn't the earnings beat.

It was management's commentary that memory shortages could persist beyond 2027 as AI demand continues to outstrip supply.

In this episode, we break down what Micron's latest earnings tell us about the broader AI infrastructure buildout — and why the implications extend far beyond a single semiconductor company.

⭐ Sponsored by Podcast10x - Podcasting agency for VCs - https://podcast10x.com

Key topics we explore:

– Why Micron's results are a critical signal for the entire AI ecosystem
– How memory has become one of the biggest bottlenecks in AI infrastructure
– Why HBM demand is exploding alongside AI training and inference
– What persistent memory shortages could mean for the industry
– Why the AI investment theme may be broader than just Nvidia
– Whether current margins and valuations are sustainable
– The biggest risks investors should be watching

The bigger question:

Are Micron's results evidence that AI is entering a multi-year infrastructure supercycle?

Or are investors extrapolating today's shortages and demand too far into the future?

For investors, Micron's earnings may be one of the clearest indicators yet of how strong underlying AI demand remains — and where the next opportunities in the AI stack may emerge.

LINKS

Prashant Choubey - ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/choubeysahab⁠

Subscribe to VC10X newsletter - ⁠https://vc10x.beehiiv.com⁠

Subscribe on YouTube - ⁠https://youtube.com/@VC10X⁠

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vc10x-investing-venture-capital-asset-management-private/id1632806986⁠

Subscribe on Spotify - ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/7F7KEhXNhTx1bKTBFgzv3k?si=WgQ4ozMiQJ-6nowj6wBgqQ⁠

VC10X website - ⁠https://vc10x.com⁠

For sponsorship queries reach out to prashantchoubey3@gmail.com

This channel is for asset managers, allocators, and investors who want analysis that holds up — not headlines dressed as insight.

Subscribe for weekly data-driven breakdowns of the forces reshaping capital markets.

#Micron #MU #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Semiconductors #Nvidia #HBM #Datacenter #Investing #Stocks #TechStocks #VC10X #OpenAI #Anthropic #Google #Microsoft #WallStreet #Finance #VentureCapital #Markets