AI Isn't Just Another Investment Thesis—It's How We Work Now
Meet our latest cohort of critical AI workflows (we call them robots)
We can now give more founders feedback faster. We can support more startups in our portfolio. We can help startups adopt AI-first company building. When we explain this to other VCs, their eyes gloss over, and they either ask for help or start talking about investments with AI in the name. We’re having two different conversations. But if you're not operating with AI inside your VC firm (and startup), you're dead in the water. Full stop…
While most VCs obsess over ".AI" companies, we've spent 12 months reimagining how AI transforms venture operations themselves. This isn't about investing in AI—it's about becoming AI-native.
Meet our first cohort of critical AI workflows (we call them robots):
QUEST – Qualitative & Unbiased Evaluation Scoring Tool
A "robot score" that ranks and qualifies companies against everything we've ever seen—not for decisions, but to help us prioritize and for identifying what questions to askPULSE - Portfolio Updates Logging & Status Evaluation
Portfolio monitoring that extracts real-time data from emails and calls, comparing plans vs. progress, and considering macro factors as well as potential flags requiring more urgent attentionMATCHA – Matching Alternative Capital to High-potential Applicants
Non-dilutive capital matching system that automatically connects companies with the right alternative capital providersNOVA – Networked Opportunity & Value Alignment
Talent matching system that automatically connects people with the right opportunities within our portfolioALIGN – Automated List of Investors & Growth Narratives
Equity investor list generator that describes the growth story of the startup, describes ideal investors, and identifies top matches from the people we know and like to work with.STAR - Systematic Tool for Audit Reporting
Streamlined qualitative report generation system that analyzes portfolio company updates and produces concise summaries for each company in our funds, creating audit-ready first drafts that save our CFO valuable time during annual reporting cycles
The results? When evaluating founders, we now assess how they leverage AI in their operations. Adding AI to your pitch means nothing—show us how you're using it to grow efficiently, build moats and outpace competitors.
Stay tuned for more Third Sphere robots (marketing and founder led sales portfolio tools are in the works), the launch of our latest investment structure, and seedstrap playbook on this.