Episode #16: Investing in AI – The New Metrics, Milestones, and Playbooks for AI-driven Startups

Jocelyn Goldfein, Managing Director at Zetta Venture Partners, joined the Fund81 podcast to share her approach to investing in artificial intelligence (AI). With the cost of creating software continuing to decline, Zetta believes that the companies of the future will need to build more than just great software to thrive. Zetta invests in AI software that learns from data to analyze, predict, and prescribe outcomes. This is what Zetta defines as the fourth era of computing: the computation of huge volumes – zettabytes – of data on distributed systems and the development of software that can learn from this data.

Jocelyn’s career as an engineering leader ranges from early-stage startups to high-growth years at Facebook and VMware. During her tenure at Facebook, she helped convert News Feed to machine learning and spearheaded the transition to a ‘mobile first’ product organization. As an early engineer at VMware, she built core virtualization technology and ultimately established and ran VMware’s Desktop Business Unit, a $150 million line of business. Jocelyn also held engineering and leadership roles at startups Datify, MessageOne, and Trilogy/pcOrder. 

As an angel investor, she’s backed over 20 startups with an emphasis on infrastructure and AI. She serves on several boards, including Harvey Mudd College, and is a visiting lecturer at Stanford University, where she received her BS in Computer Science. 

This interview combined with Zetta’s other content is the most insightful information I’ve seen on this topic. It’s really worth a look.  

More Content from Zetta Venture Partners
Investing in Artificial Intelligence
Why SaaS is Not a Fit for VC and How AI Compounds Competitive Advantage
Growing Up in the Intelligence Era
Data Is Not the New Oil
Measuring AI Startups by the Right Yardstick
Sourcing with Zetta’s Jocelyn Goldfein

Enjoy.