Sarah Smith, founder and chief executive of Eponymous Sarah Smith fundannounced the final closure of a $ 16 million fund on Thursday.
Smith started her branded fund in 2022 and is a GP solo. She said she was “stunned” by what AI can unlock for businesses such as her own, solo and the next generation. “I can’t imagine doing business in any other way now,” he said. “While I believe that building the company still requires a team effort. I believe that investing early is better to become solo.”
He appreciates how he can make quick decisions that do not require approval from the committee. She has also taken the use of AI to help her throughout this trip.
“Every day I dream of more ways to support my founders, combining my experience and network with AI,” he said.
“For example, just last week, I drove a values articulation project for one of my founders,” Smith continued. “It took two to three hours of time when it had previously got 20. When you have an Ai-Native business that can deliver 10x price at 1/10 of the year, you can increase a large portfolio with a single person.”
He said he had previously a rolling capital of $ 3 million and spent a year increasing this fund I. The fund I hope to invest in 50 companies and has already supported 17, with the average control size standing at $ 250,000. Limited partners include Pear VC, Ulu Ventures and Verdis Investment Management.
Fund I focuses mainly on newly established businesses in Stanford ecosystem (Smith is a graduate of the University). She also has research there to support her focus.
“He has produced more unicorn and exit value from any other university in the world,” he said, citing the Research done by Ilya Strebulaev This shows that 11% of the founders of Unicorn are related to Stanford. “While much of Sand Hill hereditary companies spend most of their time on SF, 45 minutes north, I double Stanford campus.”
