VC Jennifer Neundorfer explains how founders can stand out in a crowded AI market

January Ventures co-founder Jennifer Neundorfer stopped by Equity’s podcast during TechCrunch Disrupt to discuss raising capital in this AI-powered marketplace.

Founders and investors are obsessed with AI, and even Neundorfer said her company is looking at ways to use AI to make their jobs more efficient, such as helping with market due diligence and competition. As for companies being built, it has a preference for founders who want to create something completely new.

“What I tend to get excited about is when I see someone using artificial intelligence to do something that’s not 10 times better. It’s actually to create a whole new experience or workflow or behavior,” he said. “That’s what we’re looking at. Less of the incremental changes and more completely new behaviors.”

That’s becoming increasingly difficult for founders because fatigue, he said, has set in as more AI ideas start to sound the same.

“What I think founders excel at is when they can communicate to investors why what they’re doing is really different from the dozens of other startups that are doing this and why they’re the team to go after this,” he said.

Whether we’re in a so-called AI bubble or not, Neundorfer says a market correction is probably coming, and many of the companies getting windfalls from investors now may not survive. Winners will navigate this moment by creating “truly category-defining companies,” charting where technology is going next. “Founders who can stay ahead of that curve, build on the edge of what’s possible today and build for what’s coming,” he said. “Founders who are able to really read the market and understand what their customer wants, rather than just building what’s possible. Those are the founders who will have an advantage.”

Elsewhere in the pod, she talked about her life before the venture, where she worked at YouTube and 21^St Century Fox.

“So much of what I did was meeting people who had great technology,” she recalls of her 21-year-old days.^St Century Fox. Meeting and discussing technology with people was the part of the job that gave her the most joy and helped her realize how much she would likely enjoy working with early-stage founders.

But the learning curve was steep when he decided to switch to investing. In the early days, he said he would constantly check in with the founders and give detailed information about their companies.

“That’s appropriate for some situations, but it’s really about the relationship with the founder, supporting not only the burden of the business, but also supporting them as an individual,” he said.

Now, they are comfortable at work. He serves as a mentor for various organizations, including Techstars, and has made more than 50 investments at January Ventures, according to PitchBook, earning some exits in between.

Throughout the conversation, Neundorfer talked about the changing venture capital market, funding levels for minorities and women, and entrepreneurial markets outside of San Francisco that are experiencing success. Her biggest piece of advice to different founders right now actually applies to a lot of founders building in this climate: ignore the noise and focus on building a good company.

“Anything else becomes something they can’t control and the worry isn’t worth it.”