Venrock

Build the Future
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@brobertsvc @vcsurferdad @nickbeim @bobkocher @Nimish1316 @rnbracken @ethanjb @gan3sh

[Venrock @Venrock]

🎙In biotech, the biggest calls often come years before the data. On Running Through Walls, @Nimish1316 speaks with @CogentBio CEO Andy Robbins about targeted therapies, AI in drug development, and building with patients in mind: https://t.co/sPCZ221s9s

[Venrock @Venrock]

🎙In our latest Running Through Walls episode, @SmithRx_PBM CEO Jake Frenz and Venrock’s Siobhan Nolan Mangini dig into what it takes to rebuild a drug ecosystem with patients at the center. Tune in to hear more: https://t.co/BUhrFT6fBM

[Venrock @Venrock]

.@BRobertsVC joined the @healthtechnerds podcast to discuss Venrock's thesis in seeding @KeloniaTx, which was recently acquired by Eli Lilly for up to $7B. Check out the episode here (Bryan joins at 36:08):  https://t.co/1XOTjiubLh

[Ivan Poupyrev @ipoupyrev]

Great panel at @StartupGrind with @ethanjb from @venrock on being the first Physical AI company.

Hard part: most people won't believe you or understand it.

The best decision: getting the @PhysicalAI handle early. Documented proof matters when everyone jumps on the bandwagon.

[Adam Feuerstein ✡️ @adamfeuerstein]

Our Readout LOUD interview with @BRobertsVC about Kelonia and $LLY in print form.
https://t.co/DsfGxwcvS3 via @statnews

[Venrock @Venrock]

We're excited to announce that Mariana Mihalusova and Phil DiGiacomo have been promoted to partner. They’ve both made meaningful contributions across our biotech and life sciences portfolio, and we’re excited for their continued success at Venrock. https://t.co/2c52esjLyK

[Venrock @Venrock]

🎙On an episode of Running Through Walls, @bobkocher sits down with @BStulberg to talk about his new book, The Way of Excellence. If you’re on the precipice of chasing something big, tune in for invaluable tips for success while finding joy along the way: https://t.co/U94ArsyJug

[Venrock @Venrock]

@FutureJurvetson @SJobs_Stories 7.6% of Apple for $500K was terrific…holding even longer (40 years?) would have been (nearly) priceless. h/t to Hank Smith for making the investment for Venrock.

[Venrock @Venrock]

@sequoia 7.6% of Apple for $500K was terrific…holding even longer (40 years?) would have been (nearly) priceless.

[Venrock @Venrock]

🎙We’re back with a conversation between one of the greatest minds in AI research @MelMitchell1 of the @sfiscience and @ethanjb. Tune in for perspectives on AI capabilities, performance benchmarks, and the path forward that’s grounded in evidence: https://t.co/UpaLMl508p

[Venrock @Venrock]

AI in healthcare - revolution or evolution? On May 6, @BRobertsVC will join @AmiParekh10, @Bob_Wachter and Jonathan Chen at the @cwclub to tackle that question head-on. Find tickets and more information here: https://t.co/RDOk5tFrOP

[Venrock @Venrock]

🎙Our latest episode of Running Through Walls is a special live recording from our recent AI in healthcare event where Siobhan Nolan Mangini sat down with author and @UCSF physician @Bob_Wachter for a fireside chat about his new book A Giant Leap. https://t.co/VYrVDDtnkI

[Venrock @Venrock]

🎙We invest in teams we believe will drive their mission forward through any storm and @astronomerio did just that. CEO @petedejoy joined @ethanjb on Running Through Walls to talk resilience, leadership, and how their technology empowers data engineers: https://t.co/yVmYa4vS7D

[Venrock @Venrock]

🎙We’ve known how to control blood pressure for decades, yet the U.S. has barely moved the needle. @bobkocher turned to two experts – @Farzad_MD and Sunny Kishore – to break down prevention, incentives, and where AI really fits in healthcare: https://t.co/EeDLiEv9EI

[David Weisburd 🚀 @DWeisburd]

𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐝.

They’ll fail because they never had a moat.

Let me explain.

In my recent conversation with Nick Beim, one point kept resurfacing—quietly, but decisively:
General intelligence is becoming cheap.
Context is not.

That’s the central mistake most founders (and investors) are making.

They’re racing to build horizontal AI— models, copilots, wrappers, “smart” features.

And wondering why differentiation evaporates.

Here’s the paradox:
The smarter AI gets, the less valuable intelligence alone becomes.

Let that sink in.

What actually compounds isn’t the model.
It’s where the model lives.

In workflows.
In regulated environments.
Inside messy, human, high-stakes decisions.

That’s why vertical AI matters.

Not because it’s sexier.
But because it’s harder.

Horizontal platforms want to win everything.
But they can’t:
• They don’t own the data
• They don’t sit inside the workflow
• They don’t have trust or relationships
• And they can’t absorb infinite edge cases

That friction is the moat.

Here’s the reframing most people miss:
Moats don’t come from intelligence.
They come from context + distribution + trust.

An AI that understands your business,
your incentives,
your constraints
will outperform a “smarter” model every time.

Practical takeaway for founders and investors:
If your AI product can be replicated by a prompt,
you don’t have a business.
If your advantage disappears when the API price drops,
you don’t have leverage.

But if your product is embedded in decisions people can’t afford to get wrong?

That’s where asymmetry lives.

Thank you Patrick Ewers for the kind introduction!

We’d like to thank @AlphaSenseInc for sponsoring this episode!

#AI #Startups #Investing #Leadership #Founders

[Venrock @Venrock]

🎙Venrock’s @VCsurferDAD got so many questions about @INRIX's Innovation Week, he asked @BryanMi to come on Running Through Walls for a master class. Tune in to hear how INRIX architects these internal hackathons to foster true innovation. https://t.co/kU5Kgg316L

[Venrock @Venrock]

In a special episode of Running Through Walls, CTO of the Department of Navy Justin Fanelli joins @mhitzig to unpack the results of our Beyond the Battlefield survey. https://t.co/i5MHqsBuAF

[Venrock @Venrock]

📣In our inaugural Beyond the Battlefield defense tech survey, @NickBeim and @mhitzig have captured the sentiment of the defense community as it exists today, and created a baseline we can track over time. Check out the results here: https://t.co/WwONBmUE51

[Venrock @Venrock]

🎙On our latest episode of Running Through Walls, @bobkocher chats with Ezekiel Emanuel about his NYT bestselling new book, Eat Your Ice Cream. Tune in to get a deeper dive on six simple (and actually enjoyable!) rules for living a long and a healthy life: https://t.co/UJEPg9EiyK

[Venrock @Venrock]

🎙In our latest Running Through Walls conversation, @mhitzig speaks with Josh Araujo and Scott Sanders of @ForterraDrive about how they rebuilt the company into a warfighter-first leader in autonomy. Tune in here: https://t.co/sofaUY5d7B