Theory Ventures

Theory Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm based in SF. We invest $1-25m in software companies that leverage technology discontinuities.

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

Can 90-95% of your threats really be investigated by agents? In this episode of In-Practice, our Head of AI @BEBischof spoke with @DropzoneAI's CEO & Founder Edward Wu to find out.

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

AI coding remains an attractive market for generative AI right now. @ttunguz spoke with @CNBC’s @jordannovet on why, and shared that AI could eventually represent 30–60% of all R&D spend. https://t.co/VZlnXPGcmO

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

@Lemonade_Inc's CISO Jonathan Jaffe once took on Facebook (successfully) in one of its largest privacy class action lawsuits. We asked him what he thinks about security as AI agents reshape both how enterprises run and how they're attacked.

Listen on @ttunguz's Office Hours: https://t.co/fwtwMCzYHi

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

Friends or foes? The era of status-quo coexistence between AI labs and application companies is ending, as labs move to capture more of the agent stack and increasingly threaten to compete with their customers directly.

Partner Andy Triedman unpacks why the détente has broken down, and what AI application companies need to do about it.

Read: https://t.co/ptaj8HBihR

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

@ttunguz had a great chat with @Inc's @dhfreedman on Databricks, and how AI and data platforms for enterprises have been evolving.

"Usually when a company grows this big, you see its growth rate slowing down. It’s exceptional that Databricks’ growth has been accelerating as it scales," he shared.

Read more: https://t.co/TxupfS0qyk

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

@ttunguz chatted with @CNBC's @seemacnbc to dig into the coming SpaceX IPO & buzz around a potential merger.

“Tesla has to run powerful AI systems inside a moving vehicle with tight limits on power, cooling, latency, reliability and cost. SpaceX has to think about compute in orbit, where radiation, thermal cycling, launch mass, power generation and heat rejection all become existential design constraints," he shared.

Theory is a team of engineer-first investors. It's how we see around the bend on technical moats & where infrastructure is headed.

Read more: https://t.co/kvDRErvRzl

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

In SF for the @databricks Data + AI Summit? Theory Ventures and Team8 VC are hosting a private evening for senior data, AI, and platform engineering leaders and the founders building the next generation of infrastructure.

Wed, June 17, 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Space is limited: https://t.co/O0nxB5dKJZ

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

Legacy ERPs enforce a consolidated stack, but different functions have very different needs. Finance is all about conformity to accounting standards, while ops are all about configurability for workflows. To give its customers the best of both worlds, @doss_hq has partnered with leading finance/accounting platforms - both incumbent ( @Intuit ) and startups ( @RilletHQ& @Meet_campfire ):

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

Attackers only have to be right once. Defenders have to be right every single time. Our Head of AI @BEBischof sits down with @DropzoneAI’s Edward Wu to unpack the implications of this asymmetry in cyber defense: https://t.co/x0gBzDpXdP

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

Catch our Head of AI @BEBischof advocating for a new optical interface for evaluation and prompt optimization: eyeballs.

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

Enterprises now run on AI agents. So do hackers.

Join @ttunguz for Office Hours with Jonathan Jaffe, CISO at @Lemonade_Inc, who will share what it means to build, secure, and operate AI systems when both sides are automated.

📅 Thursday, May 21st 📷 8:00 AM PDT / 11:00 AM EDT

https://t.co/ntAJ84OZUm

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

@HessianFree @motherduck @lancedb @AICouncilConf Ya that duck lookin' fly

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

From Theory, @motherduck, and @lancedb: we salute you @AICouncilConf, and the conference attendees. If you missed our boat party, we hope you’ll join us in the future.

🫡

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

In 2024, teams expected 500% efficiency gains from AI but recorded 0%. The 2026 Theory GTM Survey is live with five new hypotheses, from AI-augmented reps vs. full replacement to whether buyer-side AI is the real disruptor. Take the survey to receive our data: https://t.co/Lafz0ZncSf

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

Did your favorite dev tool get declared dead last week? Our Head of AI @BEBischof joined @DevInterrupted to cover what makes data agents work, why the industry keeps eulogizing perfectly good tools, how Theory builds operational VC software, and the origin story behind rip-grep

Listen: https://t.co/C0jSH4DNoN

[Bryan Bischof fka Dr. Donut @BEBischof]

I went on Dev Interrupted to talk to Andrew about why this year, you should be in the Inference Systems track at @AICouncilConf

This is your chance to actually learn what's going on on the other side of those API requests. This is where you can learn about what you're going to be expected to understand in 2027 as an AI practitioner.

I love the application layer, but the future is inference systems.

Catch me tomorrow at AI Council.

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

@yacinelearning @AICouncilConf @BEBischof @yaroslavvb @togethercompute Ya homie, I gotchu. Email Bryan

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

What does a CISO who once took on Facebook think about AI security?

Before becoming CISO at @Lemonade_Inc, Jonathan Jaffe was the named plaintiff in a major privacy class action against Facebook -a case that ended its Sponsored Stories ad product.

The throughline: paying close attention to where technology gets ahead of its guardrails.

Now he's focused on a new version of that question: What does it mean to build, secure, and operate AI systems when both sides are automated?

Join @ttunguz for Office Hours:

📅 Thursday, May 21st
⏰ 8:30 AM PDT / 11:30 AM EDT

https://t.co/ntAJ84OZUm

[Theory Ventures @Theoryvc]

Ever notice that so-called better models are often�� worse?

When Anthropic announced Opus 4.7, they said it was the best coding model they’ve ever released. Yet developers found 4.7 to perform far, far worse than 4.6 at coding workflows.

What’s happening here? Partner Andy Triedman unpacks this phenomenon and what labs + agent companies can do in the face of these “degrading changes.”

Read: https://t.co/MviWCLbFen