Windsurf: The Making of a Billion-Dollar AI Company

Leigh Marie Braswell, Partner at Kleiner Perkins, speaks with Molly O'Shea on the rise of AI and its impact on venture capital. We discuss KP's 21st venture fund, KP21, an $825M fund to back early stage companies, and their third select fund, KP Select III, a $1.2 billion fund to back high inflection investments. We also go deeper into key AI infrastructure trends and machine learning applications, investments in companies like Windsurf, Glean, and Ambience, and the evolution of Kleiner Perkins over its 50+ years. Learn about the firm's investment strategy, the significance of maintaining a small team, and the process of finding exceptional talent. Leigh Marie also shares her background at Scale AI and insights into creating 'talent vortexes.' A must-watch for entrepreneurs, investors, and AI enthusiasts.

Leigh Marie Braswell is a Partner at Kleiner Perkins, where she focuses on investing in infrastructure and machine learning (ML) application startups. She joined the firm in 2023 after serving as a Principal at Founders Fund. Previously, she was an early engineer and the first product manager at Scale AI, leading development for 3D annotation products used in autonomous vehicles, robotics, and AR/VR.

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Guest on X: https://x.com/ttunguz

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Introduction

00:25 $10B+ AUM: Kleiner's Legendary Generational Transformation

08:08 Windsurf: Angel Investment to Potential $3B Acquisition

18:21 Hyper-Competitive AI Landscape

25:43 ARR, Fraud, & Scams

31:52 Code-Gen Competition: Cursor, Devin, Copilot, Windsurf

35:48  Key Trends in AI Infra & ML Applications

40:13 Leigh Marie's Background & Scale AI Journey

46:17 Talent Vortexes & Investing

52:34 Seed-Strapped Companies & Growth

58:37 Poker Nights & Networking

01:03:05 Looking Forward: AI and Founders