Conference Presentation, Panel
'AI VCs with more than money' | RAISE Summit 2024 | Paris
- Martin Mikos (CEO of HackerOne) moderated a panel focused on the entrepreneurial journey in AI, featuring investors Antoine Blondeau and Bernard Liotto.
- Antoine Blondeau:
- Began his AI journey 26 years ago, building predictive text systems (ancestors of LLMs) and the technology behind Siri.
- Founded a firm in 2014 that operated 10,000 GPUs globally, scaling semantic scope through massive compute usage.
- Identified the current AI explosion as a "giant accident" with no grand plan; Google, OpenAI, and regulators were unprepared for the speed of adoption.
- Predicts a shift from usage-based or subscription models to "outcome-based" pricing as AI agents take over high-value cognitive tasks (e.g., surgery, investment banking).
- Cites a portfolio company in the US accounting sector that uses AI to automate back-end work, increasing EBITDA from 15–20% to 50%, enabling a debt-fueled roll-up of mom-and-pop firms.
- Warns that many current AI startups are building "widgets and features" rather than businesses; only those building full businesses will survive.
- Bernard Liotto:
- Founded Business Objects in 1990, raising $5M across three rounds before an IPO that provided no new capital; the company was later acquired by SAP.
- Advises entrepreneurs to target problems where the solution is "10x better," ensuring a massive addressable market.
- Seeks leadership teams with a "rebellious" attitude, obsession with quality, and strong storytelling capabilities.
- Compares the current AI wave to the cloud revolution, noting that while speed is compressed, the long-term impact will likely take 25 years to fully materialize.
- Observes that investors often underestimate long-term impact despite overestimating immediate speed of adoption.
- Shared Consensus:
- Success in AI requires balancing extreme operational speed with long-term strategic planning (5+ years) to avoid becoming a fleeting feature.
- Investors are looking for founders who can navigate rapid market evolution, with Balderton Capital developing a specific framework to assess founder capacity beyond gut feeling.
- Economic models are shifting toward high-leverage structures where automation drives exponential revenue growth with minimal headcount.
- Future Outlook:
- Antoine Blondeau projects companies reaching $100M ARR with fewer than 100 employees is imminent (citing portfolio company PhotoRoom), but remains skeptical about the "5 employees" threshold.
- Bernard Liotto anticipates seeing very small teams (fewer than 5) generating massive revenue within three years in high financial leverage sectors like cyber insurance and automated hedge funds.
- Founders are advised to focus on creating large-scale businesses rather than transient tools, as the market is currently chaotic and unprepared.