โจ Announcing Cowboy Ventures Consumer AI Office Hours โจ
Back by popular demand, weโre hosting office hours again on ๐ September 25th in Palo Alto , for early-stage founders building the next wave of Consumer AI products.
This is your chance for ๐ค 1:1 conversations with the Cowboy team plus investors and operators from @ForerunnerVC , @CRV , @pearvc , @sasmith4, @ww_us, and @Reddit to get feedback on your fundraising story, product strategy, or growth plan.
๐ Event Snapshot
๐ Applications: Wed, Aug 27 โ Wed, Sept 10 (decisions by Fri, Sept 12)
๐ When: Thurs, Sept 25 from 1 โ 5PM PST
๐ก Format: 45-minute small group sessions designed to cover anything from your product roadmap to fundraising.
๐ธ Mixer: Stay after for drinks and networking with investors, operators, and fellow founders
f youโre building in consumer and planning to raise venture capital, weโd love to hear from you.
๐ Apply via the link in comments
#Consumer #AI #Startups #Venture
๐ The Model Context Protocol (MCP) promises to let LLMs seamlessly connect to all our tools - from GitHub to Salesforce.
But there's a ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ด ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฝ between ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ฒ and ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐น๐ผ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐.
At Cowboy Ventures, we see 3 barriers creating major opportunities for builders โฌ๏ธ
1. ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป'๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ถ๐น๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ณ๐น๐ผ๐๐ - They generate text, not orchestrate systems.
2. ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ธ๐ - Direct backend access means prompt injection could execute actions, not just leak data.
3. ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฝ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฏ๐น๐ผ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป - JSON configs kill mainstream use.
The eventual future is AI-defined workflows - telling Claude "prepare our GTM metrics for Slack" and watching it orchestrate everything automatically. But we need to solve these challenges first. Want to learn more?
๐ to the full blog below.
๐ If you are building or have any additional thoughts, weโd love to connect: [email protected] or [email protected]
Are you an early-stage founder (havenโt raised seed yet) building an enterprise infra, developer-focused or security solution? If so, apply to join us for Office Hours: Enterprise Infra, Dev Tools & Security hosted by Cowboy Ventures on June 18th. Link here: https://t.co/M7YcBVtJ1e
Come get targeted feedback on your fundraising story, product roadmap, technical stack, go-to-market plans, or whatever topic is top of mind for you from @Cowboy partners, plus a curated group of top-notch investors and operators from @MenloVentures, @kleinerperkins , @Boldstartvc , @github , @GustoHQ , and @X .
Applications: Rolling from Thurs, May 15 to Mon, June 2 (decisions by Friday, June 6)
Event: Thurs afternoon, June 18, 2025
Location: In-person in Palo Alto, CA
Format: 45 min. kndividual sessions with Cowboy Ventures partners and partners from Kleiner Perkins, Menlo Ventures, Github Ventures, Boldstart & more; and technical experts from leading infra, dev tools & security teams.
Mixer: After office hours, hang out for drinks & networking with fellow founders, operators & investors
If youโre tackling core enterprise challenges and planning to raise venture capital, please apply!
#EnterpriseInfra #DevTools #Security #AI #VC #startups
https://t.co/dTaheCUSue
We @cowboyvc continue to be excited about AI opps in โunsexy techโ. Find a deeper dive for some areas to modernize manufacturing written by our intern @LAMediorreal
Tony Hawk *skateboarding* into #Drataverse24 like... ๐น๐ค๐คฏ
We closed out Drataverse yesterday with an incredible keynote from Tony Hawk. It was one for the books!
New pod up all about โจthe homebrew projectโจ
@amanda_robs & @tnachen talk with @Workbrew_ Founders @johndbritton & @MikeMcQuaid about building a company around the popular package managerโก๏ธ
Full episode ๐
https://t.co/LM6By3DSAM
๐ค New Cowboy Job Alert๐ค
We're looking for an awesome Associate or Senior Associate to add to our crew!
Join our fast-paced, close-knit & fun-loving team, while gaining extraordinary exposure to all facets of VCโจ
Apply below๐
https://t.co/vjs59c7njF
New Open Source Startup Podcast on making complex data RAG ready๐ช
@amanda_robs & @tnachen talk w/ @UnstructuredIO Founder @_Brian_Raymond on:
โก๏ธWhy LLMs need their own ETL
โก๏ธWhy the long tail of data matters for LLMs
โก๏ธBuilding a world-class brand
Is Google's Zanzibar white paper the right approach to authorization? ๐
Co-hosts @amanda_robs & @tnachen talk with @authzed CEO @JacobMoshenko about their decision to build around Zanzibar, why they brand themselves as a database, their Hacker News launch & more!
Catch Cowboy's @aileenlee at Bloomberg Tech Summit covering where we see opportunity in AI, the exit environment and much more alongside @kirstenagreen, Adeyami Ajao, and @tsgiles https://t.co/LgMMgACd3c
Do financial transactions need a specialized database ๐ค?
Our co-hosts @amanda_robs & @tnachen talk with @TigerBeetleDB Founder @jorandirkgreef & dig into:
โก๏ธGeneral purpose vs specialized DBs
โก๏ธOpen source vs source available
โก๏ธTheir unique take on monetization
Time series databases have historically been focused on limited data types
Our latest @OssStartup Podcast from @amanda_robs & @tnachen interviews @rerundotio CEO @NikolausWest on the need for multimodal time series databases ๐ช
Join Cowboy's @aileenlee at #BloombergTech on May 9th in SF for a discussion on all things AI, the startup landscape, and much more alongside Base10's Ade Ajao, @kirstengreen, and @tsgiles
https://t.co/Kt0krugIqI