20VC: Why We Are in a Bubble & Now is Frothier Than 2021 | Why $1M ARR is a BS Milestone for Series A | Why Seed Pricing is Rational & Large Seed Rounds Have Less Risk | Why Many AI Apps Have BS Revenue & Are Not Sustainable with Saam Motamedi @ Greylock

Saam Motamedi is a General Partner at Greylock, where he has led investments in Abnormal Security (incubated at Greylock), Apiiro Security and Opal Security, as well as AI companies like Adept, Braintrst, Cresta, Predibase, Snorkel, and more. Before Greylock, Saam founded Guru Labs, a machine learning-driven fintech startup, and worked in product management at RelateIQ, one of the first applied AI software companies.

In Today’s Conversation We Discuss:

1. Seed Today is Frothier than 2021:

• How does Saam evaluate the seed market today?

• With seed pricing being so high, how does he reflect on his own price sensitivity? When does he say too much and does not do it?

• Despite seed pricing being higher than ever before, why does Saam believe it is rational?

• How has the competition at seed changed in the last few years?

2. Series B and Growth are not a Viable Asset Class Today:

• Why does Saam believe that you cannot make money at Series B today?

• Why has pricing gone through the roof? Who is the new competition?

• When does it make sense to “play the game on the field” vs say this is BS and do something else?

• What would need to happen in the public markets for Series B to be a viable asset class again?

3. Markets vs Founders: The Billion Dollar Mistake and Lessons:

• How does Saam prioritise between founder vs market?

• What have been Saam’s biggest lessons when it comes to market sizing and timing?

• What is Saam’s biggest miss? How did it change his approach and company evaluation?

• Which other VC would Saam most like to swap portfolios with? Why them?

4. Saam Motamedi: AMA:

• What does Saam know now that he wishes he had known when he got into VC?

• Saam has had a meteoric rise in Greylock, what advice does Saam have for those younger investors look to really scale within a firm?

• Sourcing, selecting and servicing: Where is he best? Where is he worst?

• Why does Saam believe that most VCs do not add value?