Angel invest in deep industry AI verticals
The most viable path for angel investing in AI is targeting deep, off-the-beaten-path industry verticals with proprietary datasets and complex workflows.
The argument
Gurley argued that startups must stay far away from the immediate product roadmap of major foundation model players like OpenAI. Success lies in automating specific, local industry workflows (e.g., waste management or real estate logistics) that are too niche for big tech to prioritize.
The thesis, stress-tested
✓ What validates it
- ✓Niche vertical AI startups successfully raising Series A rounds from institutional VCs
- ✓Sustained customer adoption of specialized workflow automation software
▸ Risks discussed
- ▸Non-AI deals face a near-total lack of follow-on institutional funding
- ▸Rapidly advancing general models could eventually commoditize niche workflows
Hear it yourself
"I think if I were doing angel investments, I'd try and find him an intersection of people that are super curious and are playing with all these AI tools, but bring a perspective from a particular industry that gives them an advantage in that area where they could simultaneously be maybe the smartest user of AI in their genre."
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