{"id":307818,"date":"2025-04-08T05:40:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T12:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/?p=307818"},"modified":"2025-04-01T10:57:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T17:57:14","slug":"building-and-scaling-an-ai-company-in-2025-what-top-vcs-really-want-to-see-with-zetta-glasswing-and-b-capital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/building-and-scaling-an-ai-company-in-2025-what-top-vcs-really-want-to-see-with-zetta-glasswing-and-b-capital\/","title":{"rendered":"Building and Scaling an AI Company in 2025: What Top VCs Really Want to See with Zetta, Glasswing and B Capital"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\">A deep dive with three leading AI investors who collectively manage billions in venture capital and have backed some of the most innovative companies in artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"text-lg font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-1.5\">The Expert Panel<\/h3>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\"><strong>Karen Paige, General Partner at B Capital<\/strong> Karen brings deep operational and investment expertise to B Capital, where she focuses on enterprise software and AI investments. B Capital manages over $6B in assets and has backed category-defining companies across enterprise software, fintech, and healthcare.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\"><strong>Rudina Seseri, Managing Partner at Glasswing Ventures<\/strong> As founder and Managing Partner of Glasswing Ventures, Rudina leads investments in early-stage AI and Frontier Tech companies, with a particular focus on Enterprise and cybersecurity markets. She brings over two decades of experience in technology venture capital and has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Women in Business.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\"><strong>Joselyn Goldfein, Managing Director at Zeta Venture Partners<\/strong> Joselyn is a technologist-turned-investor who leads AI and data infrastructure investments at Zeta Venture Partners, focusing on inception through seed stage startups. Previously a Director of Engineering at Facebook and VP of Engineering at VMware, she brings deep technical expertise to evaluating early-stage AI companies.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Mastering Growth in AI Era: Stand Out, Acquire Customers, Raise VC with Zetta, Glasswing, B Capital\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0Dz4-2Ocsd0?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/www.saastr.com\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">The State of AI Adoption: Mind Share vs. Wallet Share<\/h2>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\">Let&#8217;s be real &#8211; there&#8217;s a massive gap between AI hype and actual enterprise adoption. While 50% of enterprises have dabbled in AI projects, most are still playing around the edges rather than transforming their core business. Here&#8217;s what&#8217;s really happening:<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"text-lg font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-1.5\">The Great AI Experiment<\/h3>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\">Every boardroom is talking about AI. Public company earnings calls are peppered with AI mentions. But when you look under the hood, what you find is mostly experiments and POCs. One top-five global bank&#8217;s chief data officer admitted they had 150 GenAI projects in the lab &#8211; but zero in production. That tells you everything you need to know about where we are in the adoption curve.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"text-lg font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-1.5\">Why Enterprises Are Hesitating<\/h3>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\">Despite the FOMO driving interest, enterprises are gun-shy about major AI investments for several key reasons:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Unknown risks around data and compliance<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Complexity of implementation<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">High costs of data infrastructure<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Talent gaps in AI\/ML<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">What This Means for AI Founders<\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"text-lg font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-1.5\">The Infrastructure Trap<\/h3>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\">2023 was the year of demos. 2024 needs to be the year of production deployment. But here&#8217;s the challenge &#8211; we&#8217;re seeing too many founders fall into what I call the &#8220;infrastructure trap.&#8221; They&#8217;re building glorified wrappers around OpenAI&#8217;s APIs and calling themselves AI companies. That&#8217;s not going to cut it.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"text-lg font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-1.5\">Where the Real Opportunity Lives<\/h3>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\">The biggest opportunities right now are in what I call &#8220;AI applications as a service&#8221; (AIaaS). These are purpose-built applications that:<\/p>\n<ol class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-decimal space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Solve specific departmental problems<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Target users 1-2 levels below the C-suite<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Drive measurable ROI<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Deploy through bottom-up adoption<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><iframe title=\"Join SaaStr Annual 2025: Must-Attend Event for SaaS Growth &amp; Scaling l May 13-15, San Francisco Bay\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SFrql-8V_P0?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/www.saastr.com\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.saastrannual.com\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-307376 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-22-at-9.13.14%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=918%2C196&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"918\" height=\"196\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-22-at-9.13.14%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=918&amp;quality=70&amp;ssl=1 918w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-22-at-9.13.14%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=600%2C128&amp;quality=70&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-22-at-9.13.14%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C164&amp;quality=70&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-22-at-9.13.14%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=480%2C102&amp;quality=70&amp;ssl=1 480w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 918px) 100vw, 918px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 918px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 918\/196;\" \/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-307376\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-22-at-9.13.14%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=918%2C196&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"918\" height=\"196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-22-at-9.13.14%E2%80%AFAM.png?w=918&amp;quality=70&amp;ssl=1 918w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-22-at-9.13.14%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=600%2C128&amp;quality=70&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-22-at-9.13.14%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=768%2C164&amp;quality=70&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-22-at-9.13.14%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=480%2C102&amp;quality=70&amp;ssl=1 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 918px) 100vw, 918px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">The Three Keys to Building a Defensible AI Company<\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"text-lg font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-1.5\">1. The Data Moat<\/h3>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\">Your data strategy needs to go beyond just having a lot of data. The most successful AI companies we&#8217;re seeing are building moats through:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Unique data sources (e.g., wet lab data in life sciences)<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Superior data curation and annotation<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Narrow vertical focus leading to higher quality data<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Network effects that improve with scale<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"text-lg font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-1.5\">2. The Distribution Play<\/h3>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\">Don&#8217;t try to go head-to-head with incumbents just because you have AI. They have distribution and mountains of data. Instead:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Find greenfield opportunities where AI enables previously impossible solutions<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Build new workflows rather than just AI-enabling existing ones<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Target departments or functions where bottom-up adoption can flourish<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"text-lg font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-1.5\">3. The ROI Story<\/h3>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\">The winners in AI will be able to articulate crystal clear ROI. Take FeatureByte &#8211; they can tell prospects: &#8220;This process normally takes 6 months and $2M per dataset. We can do it in X time for Y cost.&#8221; That&#8217;s the level of clarity you need.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">Go-to-Market Strategies That Actually Work<\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"text-lg font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-1.5\">The PLG Motion in AI<\/h3>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\">Product-led growth isn&#8217;t dead in AI &#8211; it&#8217;s evolving. The most successful motions we&#8217;re seeing:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Target individual practitioners first (e.g., developers, data scientists)<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Focus on immediate productivity gains<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Make onboarding frictionless<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Build viral loops into core product use<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"text-lg font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-1.5\">The Vertical Approach<\/h3>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\">Specialization is winning, especially above the infrastructure layer. Companies like Laiva have become the go-to platform in life sciences by:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Deeply understanding vertical-specific workflows<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Building purpose-built AI for industry use cases<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Creating two-sided marketplace effects<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Driving high annual retention through workflow lock-in<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">What VCs Are Really Looking For<\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"text-lg font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-1.5\">The MVP Question<\/h3>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\">The definition of MVP in AI is situational. You need to understand:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Required accuracy levels for your use case<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Acceptable error rates<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Time to value<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Implementation complexity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"text-lg font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-1.5\">The Platform Vision<\/h3>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\">While you need to start focused, VCs want to see:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Clear expansion paths<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Network effect potential<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Data accumulation advantages<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Logical adjacent markets<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">The New Metrics That Matter<\/h2>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\">Traditional SaaS metrics matter, but AI companies need to show:<\/p>\n<ol class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-decimal space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Data advantage metrics\n<ul class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Unique data points<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Annotation quality<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Model improvement rates<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Usage depth metrics\n<ul class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Time saved<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Error reduction<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Process automation rates<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Economic metrics\n<ul class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Cost per inference<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Margin expansion with scale<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Data acquisition costs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-200 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">Key Takeaways for Founders<\/h2>\n<ol class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-decimal space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><strong>Don&#8217;t build infrastructure<\/strong> unless you have a truly novel approach. The market is saturated.<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><strong>Focus on specific problems<\/strong> rather than general-purpose AI. The more focused, the better.<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><strong>Build for production<\/strong>, not demos. 2024 is about getting real deployments.<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><strong>Think about governance<\/strong> early. Enterprises need it to scale AI.<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><strong>Create clear ROI stories<\/strong> backed by data. The days of selling AI on potential are ending.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p class=\"whitespace-pre-wrap break-words\">The next great AI companies won&#8217;t win just because they use AI. They&#8217;ll win because they solve real problems in ways that weren&#8217;t possible before, with clear ROI and defendable advantages. Focus there, and you&#8217;ll have a much better shot at both customer adoption and VC dollars.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Mastering Growth in AI Era: Stand Out, Acquire Customers, Raise VC with Zetta, Glasswing, B Capital\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0Dz4-2Ocsd0?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/www.saastr.com\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A deep dive with three leading AI investors who collectively manage billions in venture capital and have backed some of the most innovative companies in artificial intelligence. The Expert Panel Karen Paige, General Partner at B Capital Karen brings deep operational and investment expertise to B Capital, where she focuses on enterprise software and AI&#8230; <br \/><a class=\"more-link fade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/building-and-scaling-an-ai-company-in-2025-what-top-vcs-really-want-to-see-with-zetta-glasswing-and-b-capital\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":307819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[]},"categories":[24898,31,24987],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-307818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-blog-posts","category-saastr-ai"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/zetta-scaled.jpg?fit=1000%2C563&quality=70&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5oib2-1i4O","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-22-at-9.13.14\u202fAM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307818"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":307821,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307818\/revisions\/307821"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}