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Sarah Smith, founder and managing associate of the eponymous Sarah Smith Fund, introduced Thursday the ultimate closing of a $16 million Fund I.
Smith launched her fund in 2022 after spending seven years as an investor with Bain Capital Ventures and is a solo GP. She stated she’s “surprised” by what AI can unlock for corporations like hers, solo and subsequent technology. “I can’t think about doing enterprise every other manner now,” she stated. “Whereas I imagine firm constructing nonetheless requires a crew effort, I imagine early-stage investing is greatest executed solo.”
She appreciates how she will be able to make quick selections that don’t require committee approval. She’s additionally taken to utilizing AI to assist her all through this journey.
“Every single day I’m dreaming of extra methods to help my founders, combining my expertise and community with AI,” she stated.
“For instance, simply final week, I led a values articulation venture for one in all my founders,” Smith continued. “It took me two to a few hours of time when it beforehand would have taken 20. When you have got an AI-native agency that may ship 10x worth in 1/10 of the time, you may scale up a big portfolio with only one particular person.”
She stated she beforehand had a $3 million rolling fund and spent a yr elevating this Fund I. Fund I hopes to put money into 50 corporations and has already backed 17, with the typical verify dimension standing at $250,000. Restricted companions embody Pear VC, Ulu Ventures, and Verdis Funding Administration.
Fund I focuses primarily on startups within the Stanford ecosystem (Smith is an alumnus of the college). She has analysis there, too, to again up her focus.
“It has produced extra unicorns and exit worth than every other college on the planet,” she stated, citing the analysis executed by Ilya Strebulaev that reveals that 11% of unicorn founders have an affiliation with Stanford. “Whereas a lot of the legacy Sand Hill corporations spend most of their time up in SF, 45 minutes north, I’m doubling down on Stanford campus.”
