I’ve been attending Unleash pretty much since the event started (thanks Marc), and it is always fun to go back and connect with the tribe. I’ve now passed the competition judging baton to our colleague Audrey. I’m looking forward to introducing her to the Unleash community. It will also be super to see some many of our portfolio companies at the event, such as Kombo, Origin Benefits, OysterHR, datascalehr, Figures, Palette, and Techwolf. Apologies if I’ve left a few off.
We are holding an evening event together with several other VCs, Rubio, Eurazeo, Endeit, Edenred Ventures and Educapital. Check out the details below. I’ll also be at the Venero Investor dinner on Monday evening.
https://luma.com/clidxnx7?pk=g-y8TMVvfWzHy6um4
This year is also something of a family event in that Charlotte is moderating the HR reinvention stage. Details here.
What’s on my mind
There will be a lot of noise at the event, pundits will proclaim revolutions and game changers, and many 20 year old products will magically metamorphosize into AI-first incarnations. It’s really hard for HR leaders and their teams to navigate the miasma. I’ve studied AI, had experience as an analyst, led a massive product team, and I find it challenging to find what’s important and profound. It’s my job to find the next great companies, and while it is fascinating, it isn’t straight forward. We’ve seen at least 50 recruitment tech plays in the couple of months, for instance, but not written a cheque yet. At the same time, I’ve never been more excited about our space. It is the best time ever to be building.
I’m looking for evidence of AI in production, not just POC.
I’m looking for founders that are fundamentally rethinking significant elements of how work gets done. As an example, I spent a couple of hours with the Origin Benefits team this week, the combination of deep experience, profound technical chops and a bold vision to reshape the benefits industry is very compelling. It’s our next rocketship.
I remain convinced we will not get AGI in my lifetime, but AI will get better everyday. For instance voice is now a genuinely viable UX for a limited number of use cases. Start ups are able to build faster and better than those of even 2-3 years ago. There are no shortage of problems with work to solve.
I’m curious to see how HR leaders are thinking about how work gets done, and on that I’d urge HR leaders who are trying to figure out how AI might impact work to pop by the Techwolf stand and check out the Workforce Intelligence Product.
This year I hope to attend more sessions from HR leaders, and get a better sense of what’s working for them. Deploying software in production is hard.
If you are at the event, do ping me for a catch up. At some point I’ll do a “walk the event floor” with Audrey and some of our founders, so do say hello.
This song had many covers, and it was used as the theme tune for the UK Office. It often comes into my head when I drive to Heathrow as I did today. The Stereophonics version is lovely. They have a new album too.