We invested in Ai 6yrs ago before it was cool
Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes
I just got another startup angel investment exit 6yrs after investing (2018), which is very exciting but emotional at the same time. While I cant disclose the terms etc, it worked out for everyone involved, so I’m happy about the outcome and wish the founders, team and new company Miro (decacorn) nothing but the best!
This was my first international investment as we tried to expand our network beyond just New York. The company is based in Copenhagen, and I first met Tony (CEO) in person after he gave an amazing presentation at our investor friendsEvan’s LDV Vision Summit. The pitch and demo was basically you can draw a wireframe, take a picture and it would code it for you - 6yrs ago that was pretty magical. And it really did take years for it to take off, really only in the last few years starting to gain significant traction and achieve that hockey stick growth.
So now that it’s done, I went back to my investment memo to read what I wrote so many years ago and try to get back into my mindset based on what I thought I knew then, and what I think I know now. It was a fun and interesting thought experiment which I do for both successful and unsuccessful investments.
This is from my memo 6yrs after we invested - with the link below as well so you can read the rest.
“Jargon dominates our daily lives when every startup you meet with is using some form of AI, NLP, Machine Learning, Deep Neural Networks, Deep Learning, CNNs, LSTMs etc. Admittedly as a non-technical, I can’t personally verify most of what I’m being pitched, especially at the pre-seed/seed stage. This is when industry experts, fellow investors and pilots can be very useful.”
- Wireframes and storyboards are standard for most development processes. The ability to quickly try out a prototype and iterate I believe will lead to better UX/UI.
- So much time is spent coding different iterations of very similar designs to see which look and feel the best. By significantly cutting down that redundant work, it will free up everyone to spend more time on other aspects of the project.
https://hackernoon.com/why-we-invested-in-uizard-the-future-of-wireframe-prototyping-86ed41383d36
I was 100% right that wireframes and storyboards were and still are the future of design - though I cant prove it led to better UX/UI but I’d argue it has definitely improved over time. Especially in the last few years because of amazing startups like Figma, Canva, and Miro, combined with exponential technology improvements. Adobe stock is up 70% in the last 5yrs and I always thought they would be a potential acquirer - though they tried to buy Figma for $20B which was sadly blocked.
The coding aspect was probably the biggest leap of faith which was somewhat inevitable but no way did I ever imagine the coding/Ai capabilities we have today. I’ve watched all the sci-fi movies, Iron Man etc and yet what OpenAi, Co-pilot and numerous other platforms are capable today, is still mind blowing. I never thought something like OpenAi would launch such a consumer friendly, powerful and easy to use API that would make Ai wrappers so pervasive. That, along with the ridiculous amount of VC/enterprise billions going into Ai startups as well, really accelerated us into the future.
It’s also really nice to get a thank you as well from the founder, who all these years felt like an old school pen pal as I replied back to all his monthly investor updates. We would email back and forth every few months about lots of things.
Tony Beltramelli@TbeltramelliReplying to@Trace_Cohen
@uizard@MiroHQ@ldvcapitalMassive thanks for your support all these years Trace! 🙏
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They also just launched their AutoDesigner 2.0 which is amazingly mind blowing and cool!https://www.producthunt.com/posts/autodesigner-2-0
We have 2 other Ai investments that we bet on years ago as well - 1 stealth this year we’ll be able to announce soon. But my philosophy is if you randomly pitch me you’re Ai product, you’re NGMI - I’m just Trace Cohen, no Ai expert 😅
Turing Labs- Our only YC investment that uses Ai to help large enterprise CPG reformulate their products.
Hyperwrite/Otherside- Initially started as an email writing tool using GPT3 (old school), they’ve become a top all around writing assistant and Ai agent platform as well.
Trace Cohen@Trace_Cohen
When investors hear that a tier 1 VC is leading an Ai deal…
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