Inside $17B Index Ventures: Anthropic, Wiz, Datadog & the Future of AI

Shardul Shah, Partner at $17B Index Ventures, joins Sourcery from the firm's NYC office to discuss its investments in Anthropic, Wiz, Datadog, Simile, Parallel, and the next generation of AI companies.

Shardul joined Index in 2008 and has backed some of the most important companies in cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity, including Wiz, acquired by Google for $32B.

We discuss why startup valuations will keep rising, how Index invests in founders before they even have a business plan, the firm's approach to conviction and concentration, the future of cybersecurity in an agent-to-agent world, and the evolving IPO and M&A markets.

Shardul also shares how Index invested over $250M in Wiz, why the firm has historically underestimated its biggest winners, and how it identifies the next generation of category-defining founders.

Shardul Shah: https://x.com/shardul_shah

Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea

Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy

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(00:00) Shardul Shah, Partner at Index Ventures

(00:54) How venture has changed in the last 5 years

(04:00) Index's biggest investments

(05:35) What Index looks for when backing founders

(08:41) Will AI replace venture capital?

(09:17) What’s durable when AI moves this fast?

(11:35) Why Index doesn't worry about valuations

(15:12) "We're no longer an underdog"

(16:33) The hardest part of winning deals

(18:25) The founder who proved his investor wrong

(21:13) The lessons behind saying no and thinking bigger

(26:10) Inside Flapping Airplanes

(26:47) Did Wiz sell too early?

(30:56) How much money do startups really need?

(33:55) Concentration vs diversification

(35:43) Why venture fund cycles are getting shorter

(37:13) The changing IPO and M&A environment

(39:41) What 3 decades of returns look like

(41:25) The person behind Shardul's biggest decisions