Brad Bender

Project Vend reads less like a capability story and more like a governability story. Phase two improved because institutional scaffolding (tools, procedures, role separation) reduced predictable judgment failures—persuasion, compliance blind spots, boundary confusion, values drift. The board-level question isn’t “can an agent run a business?” but “what governance primitives must exist before we delegate authority.” Until incentives, escalation rights, and refusal boundaries are structurally enforced—not merely prompted—agents remain high-performing managers, not autonomous executives.

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We hosted Bret Taylor (Chair of OpenAI and Co‑Founder of Sierra) in San Francisco for a live taping of The Verge’s Decoder with Alex Heath. I had the privilege of co‑moderating a closed‑door roundtable on agentic AI and the future of enterprise software with industry leaders and investors. The discussion was candid on what’s working, what’s stalling AI at scale, and what leaders do next. Key themes: – AI tech is ready; organizations aren’t. Trust, governance, and culture are the real unlocks. – Agentic AI is exploding in internal use. In revenue‑critical customer workflows, leaders are far more cautious. – SaaS pricing models are under real pressure as AI reshapes value; buyers want more control, not surprises. – Auditability, transparency, and human‑in‑the‑loop design are non‑negotiable for agentic trust. – Executives and teams must become AI orchestrators. Upskilling is now a leadership responsibility. The Decoder conversation with Bret and Alex is live here: https://lnkd.in/gNjWuutD Grateful to Bret Taylor, Alex Heath, OpenAI, Sierra, and our AlixPartners team for making it happen.

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We chose a good subject for our march Autotech Council meeting, and after this year's CES, it seems even more obvious. Our meeting on the AI Defined Vehicle will show how it's a natural next step after the Software Defined Vehicle phase that we've been in Tesla launched the Model S in 2012. Now, most carmakers have SDVs. It's time to layer on the AI in user-facing roles, and in invisible functions managing the vehicle.

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Even the most skeptical voices are starting to acknowledge the value of LLM generated code. Not as a replacement for deep expertise, but as a practical tool for acceleration, exploration, and iteration. When someone as famously disciplined about code quality as Linus Torvalds publicly acknowledges that AI generated code can be useful, it signals a shift worth paying attention to. The takeaway is not that AI writes better software than humans, but that good engineers are learning where and how these tools create leverage. https://lnkd.in/eFbNFqYN

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Seattle VC panels are not exactly known for being spicy, which is why my AMA with Brooke and Rolanda at AI House last night was so refreshing. We got into the questions founders are too embarrassed to ask out loud. How do VCs actually decide behind closed doors? What counts as traction when you have zero revenue? Is enterprise SaaS dead? Do Seattle founders actually have a shot against the Bay Area? A few takeaways that stood out: ✅ Associates can't get to yes without a partner sponsor — but partners often can't reach deals without associate diligence. Arm them with the facts to fight for you internally. ✅ Expect 50-70 investor conversations before a term sheet. Send your deck a day early but assume nobody read it 😎 ✅ Enterprise SaaS isn't dead, but it's shifting from seat-based to usage and outcome-based pricing. Large orgs still need governed software. ✅ Traction isn't just revenue. How excited are your customers? Would they advocate for you? Paying pilots with automatic, KPI-specific conversion > free trials, every time. ✅ Learning slope > starting background. The strongest founders they've backed adapted fast — not started perfect. Brooke and Rolanda WILL take a second meeting even if you whiff the first one! ✅ Seattle has fantastic enterprise buyers and founders with sales relationships into them. But the equity-vs-cash culture gap is real, and hiring against big tech is still hard. What made it different was how candid Brooke and Rolanda were about what actually happens after your pitch ends, aka the internal deal dynamics most founders never see. Shoutout to the room full of 100+ early-stage founders who went against the Seattle grain and asked hard questions live to the VCs. That energy is what makes AI House work. Huge thanks to Brooke B. (FUSE) and Rolanda Fu (Madrona) for keeping it real! More AMAs like this coming. Tag a founder who we should invite for the next one! #AIHouse (photo credit to Jonathan G. Blanco 🛠)

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💭 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗜 Ruchir Sharma's Financial Times piece is insightful and on point—the U.S. economy has turned into a single, massive bet on AI. AI is now the default fix for everything—productivity, growth, and global competitiveness. Markets are pricing in perfection, with a handful of AI-proxy stocks driving >80% of the S&P 500 gains. I am long on AI’s transformative potential; however, when one technology becomes the primary growth engine for an entire economy, the concentration risk is real. 💠 The upside: faster adoption, cross-sector innovation, and genuine productivity gains. 💠 The risk: over-dependence, inflated expectations, and fragile optionality if AI ROI lags behind the hype. Leaders and investors need to balance conviction with caution—building real capabilities and growth & productivity engines, not just narratives. #AIacceleration #DigitalTransformation #Innovation #FutureOfWork

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In the San Francisco Bay Area, founders are relentless about growing and scaling their companies. They spot opportunity, scale through uncertainty, and create companies that redefine industries. Recently, we gathered a group of founders and tech leaders to discuss the intersection of company growth and long-term personal success. Eric S. Yuan, Founder and CEO of Zoom Communications, shared the inspiring story behind his company’s growth and eventual IPO. Eric reiterated that the founders who create the most impact don’t just plan for an exit – they prepare for what comes after. Too often, personal wealth planning lags company growth, and that gap can become costly at the most pivotal moments. The rest of the evening was focused on closing that gap. Our colleagues in Goldman Sachs Investment Banking, Pawan Tewari and Nick Giovanni, shared a candid outlook for M&A and IPOs in this environment, along with important steps founders should take to prepare for a strategic exit. We ended with a conversation around the key considerations for maximizing founders’ personal outcomes. Pre-transaction planning isn’t defensive - it’s opportunistic. Your company’s exit strategy and your family’s long-term planning work should not be done in isolation. When investment banking and private wealth work in sync, founders can cohesively optimize outcomes on all sides of the equation. To learn more about the practical “do’s and don'ts” for founders, we are happy to share our ‘Goldman guide’ for navigating wealth planning, business exists, and IPOs: https://lnkd.in/ewhEGjV3. Thank you, Eric, and to all the founders who joined us at The Battery in SF. On behalf of Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management and Investment Banking, we look forward to the next conversation.

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