A founder used an AI agent to handle a multi-step due diligence request. The agent accessed the PostHog analytics platform, pulled a list of active users, formatted it into a Google Sheet, and then emailed selected users to ask if they'll serve as references, completing the task in minutes.

To win deals without an established brand, VCs can provide tangible value upfront. Sending founders a detailed, AI-generated report on their market, competitors, and website maturity before the first meeting demonstrates insight, builds credibility, and frames the VC as a valuable product partner.

To manage the overwhelming pace of AI advancements, the Minimax team built an internal AI agent. This tool automatically tracks new articles, papers, and blogs, then dispatches, summarizes, and analyzes them. This "internal researcher" filters the information firehose for the human team.

Traditional VC reliance on "differentiated networks" is obsolete as data sources and professional networks are now commodities. To compete, modern VCs must replace this outdated advantage with proprietary intelligence platforms that algorithmically source deals and identify the right signals for where to focus time.

Instead of only investing in tech, Sequoia builds it. The firm employs as many developers as investors to create proprietary tools. This includes an AI system that summarizes business plans, analyzes team quality, and maps competitive dynamics, giving partners an immediate, data-rich overview of opportunities.

Agentic AI is most advanced in software engineering because code provides a constrained, text-based, and verifiable environment. AI agents can now operate for hours, understanding codebases and fixing errors. This iterative reasoning process is a direct preview of how AI will eventually perform long-running, complex investment research tasks.

An AI-native VC firm operates like a product company, developing in-house intelligence platforms to amplify human judgment. This is a fundamental shift from simply using tools like Affinity or Harmonics, creating a defensible operational advantage in sourcing, screening, and winning deals.

Venture capital firms are leveraging AI tools like Google's NotebookLM to process deal flow. They ingest investment memos and legal documents to analyze them against their investment thesis and even simulate a preliminary legal review.

Beyond automating data collection, investment firms can use AI to generate novel analytical frameworks. By asking AI to find new ways to plot and interpret data inputs, the team moves from rote data entry to higher-level analysis, using the technology as a creative and strategic partner.