Data-Driven VC

I believe the future of Venture Capital lies in augmented decision-making. When I started my part-time Bachelor’s in Business Information Technology, my goal was to bridge emerging technologies with real-world applications—particularly in industries where automation can drive real value. ☑ Writing my thesis on AI Agents and process automation pushed me deep into this intersection. Dr. Andre Retterath’s work on data-driven VC inspired my approach. Conversations with Mike Arpaia on proxy metrics and Quentin Di Silvestro on agentic workflows shaped my thinking. 📚 For my thesis partner, Kickfund, I built prioritization frameworks together with its CEO, Wanja—optimizing portfolio management automation while balancing risk through hybrid models. 👉 One key takeaway: AI doesn’t replace human oversight. CRM systems, investment decisions, or broader AI-driven workflows—human-in-the-loop mechanisms are critical. The challenge isn’t just adopting AI. It’s rethinking workflows, upskilling teams, and embedding automation into decision-making at the core. I’ve learned a lot from industry leaders pushing the boundaries of AI in venture and highly recommend to follow: • Dr. Andre Retterath (Earlybird Venture Capital)  • Vlastimil Vodicka (Leadspicker)  • Mike Arpaia (Moonfire)  • Jerry Ye (ex-Lightspeed Venture)  • Ryan Hoover (Weekend Fund)  • Andreas Goeldi (b2venture)  • Yohei Nakajima (Untapped Capital)  • Abel Samot (Red River West)  • Pietro Casella (ex-EQT)  • Hem Wadhar (Sequoia Capital)  • Ilya Strebulaev (Stanford GSB) Venture Capital is shifting. AI enhances, but does not replace, human judgment. The real opportunity lies in this #balance.

Notes from Data-Driven VC Summit 2025 Early-stage investment has traditionally been one of the most inefficient asset classes, relying heavily on personal networks and carrying high costs for information discovery. But this is changing rapidly. The Data Driven VC summit, expertly curated by Dr. Andre Retterath is now an established annual event attended by over 500 professionals, showcases the growing adoption of data-driven approaches in venture capital. Amongst a stellar line-up of speakers, I found insights from Yohei Nakajima, Ali Almufti, CFA, Francesco Corea, PhD, Adam Shuaib, PhD, Charles Campbell Roberts, Lexi Quirk and Keshvi Radia very helpful. Two aspects of this transformation stood out: Process Automation: Automating routine tasks (e.g., email responses, CRM data entry) is driving efficiency gains. This low-hanging fruit is a great place to start. As firms adopt automation, the focus is on improving scalability, repeatability, and reducing time and cost. Data-Driven Decision Making: VCs are using data more strategically to make decisions. The goal is to remove bias, create repeatable models, and ensure consistency when evaluating large numbers of startups. The Evolution of Data-Driven VCs The pioneers of this movement started over 10 years ago, when the ecosystem lacked dedicated applications, forcing early adopters to build their own CRMs. Today, the focus is on finding the right balance between buy and build. As one speaker noted, "The most expensive line of code is the one you wrote yourself." We now have a much better data infrastructure, including the integration of various sources (1st, 2nd, and 3rd party data) for richer insights. Here, a key focus is entity resolution—matching entities across datasets—which is both critical and remains challenging for data-driven firms. Internal Tech Functions in VC firms Several speakers highlighted the importance of hiring an allrounder for the first tech role—someone who can quickly prototype and iterate. The key is to get the first 80% done before bringing in specialized engineers to complete the product. As the tech function evolves, attracting and retaining top tech talent remains a challenge. Many firms are working to define clear career paths and competency frameworks to make themselves more attractive to engineers. Interestingly, while tech talent is transitioning into the investment side, there are fewer examples of investment professionals making the reverse leap into tech. "The Most Expensive Line of Code is the One You Wrote Yourself" As VCs embrace data-driven approaches, it’s essential to distinguish between what constitutes a strategic capability and what could be more cost-effectively sourced from a vendor. At Kruncher.ai, we understand this challenge. We partner with VC firms to provide the data infrastructure that enables your tech talent to focus on finding alpha, rather than wasting time aggregating, cleaning and matching data.

The best VCs are using data from their portfolio companies to find their next big unicorn. Are you? I joined Dr. Andre Retterath, Charles Campbell Roberts, Jochen Küst, and Marek Zamecnik for a round table session at the DDVC Summit, discussing the future of portfolio intelligence. Here are my key takeaways - 1. Portfolio intelligence is getting more attention from data-driven funds - Being ‘data-driven’ used to apply exclusively to sourcing, not anymore - Ease of extracting data from documents (with AI) is a key unlock - Accuracy barrier is still a hurdle, even 95% accuracy isn’t workable - Great crossover funds like Coatue, Tiger & Ark have been applying public-style analysis to their private portfolios for a while - those ideas and best practices are permeating 2. A true Single Source of Truth is a key unresolved need for most funds - Funds want the simplicity of 1 platform but the freedom of best-of-breed solutions across the stack - Fund stacks are typically 10+ tools put together, each for very specific use cases - Many funds have a lot of tools but struggle with usage 3. Quality & consistency of data is the core underlying problem for portfolio analysis - High-variance in what metrics are reported, what they are called and how they’re defined - Delays, inconsistent timing of getting data from PortCos - Quality and consistency of reporting can actually serve as a good indicator of how well a company is doing 4. Portfolio is the feedback loop to your investment decisions - Deeper portfolio data can give you deeper insight into how great companies operate - Showing founders what works in their space, through data, is a great way to win deals and add portfolio value VCs, do you agree? Send me a request, I obsess about this space and would love to exchange notes.

As the first day of DDVC Summit is done, I cannot wait for the next batch of great content and valuable insights delivered in a casual manner. Looking forward to Day 2 🔥 Highlights of Day 1? 🌟 Yohei Nakajima walk-through guide for automating micro VCs (loved the CRM discussion too, we all've been there and still looking for the holly grail 🏆 ) 🌟 Ali Almufti, CFA priceless session on quantitative risk modelling techniques in portfolio construction and insights into how companies in venture growth stage has swelled over the years (!) 🌟 Mark Schmitz deep dive into the thought (and tech) process of an LP when picking funds to invest in. 🌟 An overall great vibes and engaging discussions on challenges and opportunities #AI poses to running #venturecapital funds.

💡 What is the future of portfolio intelligence? How can VCs leverage portfolio data? Join us at the Data-Driven VC Summit today to learn more! Dr. Andre Retterath Jochen Küst #ddvc #venturecapital

Data Driven VCs: What a joy to see VCs building their AI tools, especially inspiring were the presentations by Yohei Nakajima and Alex Patow proving that ultra-small VCs can be successful because of smart use of technology. Also, a lot of ancient #NLP problems like entity matching rearing up their ugly heads again as Meghan Byrd pointed out. Thanks for organising this, Dr. Andre Retterath! Full program here: https://lnkd.in/dqpSppX8 #ddvc #DataDrivenVC

⏱️ Only 3 days left! Join hundreds of investors from Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, BlackRock, Insight Partners, Lightspeed, SignalFire & more at the Virtual Data-Driven VC Summit 2025 starting on Monday. This 3-day summit is a crash course from 35 industry experts on data-driven decision making, portfolio intelligence and startup growth factors. Get the insider scoop on how leading VCs are building better workflows with AI and data. Participate live, ask your questions and/or watch recordings on your own time. Grab your ticket now! Registration link in the comments.

Hugely excited to be speaking about Rolodex and our AI strategy at Dawn Capital tomorrow at the Data-Driven VC Summit alongside Polina Jacka from Bain Capital Ventures and Marja Verbon from Five Arrows. Thanks for the invite again Dr. Andre Retterath!

Excited to chat about building products and integrating different data sources at the Data-Driven VC conference next week!