True Ventures

The playbook changed faster than the company. For Gather, the product was working. The challenge was getting it in front of the right people. So instead of following a traditional SaaS go-to-market motion, Mayank Mehta and his team built their own AI-powered growth engine in a weekend.

“There are two emotions a venture capitalist can project onto a founder: fear or safety,” shares Puneet Agarwal, partner at True Ventures. Startups are built in uncertainty. Founders are constantly making decisions with imperfect information, taking risks, and pushing forward without guarantees.

The most important technology shifts don’t feel incremental. They open up entirely new ways to experience the world. Darshan Shankar, founder and CEO of Bigscreen, shares what drew him into VR in its earliest days: not improving what already existed, but exploring something fundamentally new.

Some of the most interesting companies get funded before the world knows what they are yet. That’s the space Puneet Agarwal was speaking to at Startup Grind Conference, where he joined Anish Acharya and Frédérique Dame for a conversation "How VCs Actually Decide at Seed", moderated by Marina Temkin.

Imagine an AI employee who tells you exactly what to expect and account for at each stage of your company's lifecycle. Ben Broca joined the team at TBPN earlier this week for a lightning round, explaining how Polsia enables entrepreneurs in every sector to build their businesses more effectively.

“I never expect founders to have all the answers. I do expect high conviction and a really low ego.” – True's @jcal7.bsky.social on Fund/Build/Scale. After 20 years, the pattern is clear: we back missionaries, not mercenaries. Founders building for the long game—people others want to follow.

As AI agents evolve, one question keeps surfacing: Are we re-engineering our processes to make agents work better or to make humans work better? Maybe, ultimately, those are the same thing. At #ConnectedStack, @levie.bsky.social (CEO, Box) explored this with @puneetagarwal.bsky.social (True)

“Agents are tapping into spend that software never could.” At #ConnectedStack, @puneetagarwal.bsky.social + @levie.bsky.social unpack why AI shifts the economics of labor — and why the old “per seat” model doesn’t fit anymore. connectedstack.ai

In a world flooded with AI hype, trust might be the real moat. At #ConnectedStack, Paul Smith (@anthropic.com) and Garrett Lord (@joinhandshake.bsky.social) unpacked why finance, healthcare, and other regulated sectors are leading enterprise adoption of Claude. “We can’t ever, ever let them down.”

Hear directly from @julzwalk.bsky.social and @mikaelalipsky.bsky.social about the True Ventures Fellowship program. Applications are open now! Link in bio to apply.

At #ConnectedStack, @anthropic.com’s new CCO Paul Smith joined @joinhandshake.bsky.social CEO Garrett Lord. Up for discussion: 👉 Why join Anthropic as CCO now? 👉 What does this signal about enterprise adoption + scale? 👉 What does it really take to win enterprise AI?

At Connected Stack, True’s @puneetagarwal.bsky.social asked @levie.bsky.social the big question: Is SaaS dead? Aaron's answer: No. Agents still need ⬇️ 🔹 Context (data, instructions, objectives) 🔹 Guardrails (workflows, checkpoints, permissions)

The future of enterprise AI is being built here — connected, collaborative, together.👇 The energy at Connected Stack was unforgettable. ⚡️ Not speculation. Execution. This isn’t noise. This is signal.

That vision comes to life at #ConnectedStack, happening Sept 10 in San Francisco. Full announcement → buff.ly/pX1AMYb Explore the agenda → connectedstack.ai

Enterprise AI isn’t “coming.” It’s here. Don’t watch from the sidelines. Be in the room: connectedstack.ai Agenda sneak peek: 🔥 Security paradox: bigger attack surface, bigger defense 💰 Pricing: what’s actually working? 🤖 Agents: hype or SaaS 2.0? ⚡ Trust: from lab to customer #ConnectedStack

The next decade of enterprise AI is being defined now. Meet the people building it. Sept 10 in SF: Connected Stack. Hear from founders of 11x, Arcade, Baseten, Chronosphereio, Cresta, Decagon, Deeptrust, Exa, @joinhandshake.bsky.social, @letta.com, Nectar, Nooks @semgrep.com, Veza—and more to come.

Founders Austin Petersmith and Dave Newman are part of our growing community of AI builders reshaping work from the ground up. With Howie, they’re tackling one of the most universal frictions: scheduling. Hear from Austin and Dave on what thoughtful, human-centered AI can—and should—look like.

True Investor and Executive in Residence @clarencebethea.bsky.social and Gildform Founder Karissma Yve talk sector intersection, 3D printing jewelry, and brand resonance as Karissma builds a company that gives jewelry designers a new way to bring their ideas to life.

We first backed True Founder @juliebornstein.bsky.social in 2019 when she built a social commerce platform for personalized shopping. Now we’re continuing to support her journey with Daydream—a new shopping platform that removes search friction and helps people discover what they want to wear.

@rshanreddy.bsky.social of team True and @nbaschez.bsky.social, the brilliant mind behind AI writing editor Lex, talk design principles, incremental work that bring new product features to life quickly, and how writing itself acts as a powerful design tool for shaping ideas, products, and strategy.

Dorina Buehrle, CRO of @uptime.industries, shares how Lemony is changing the AI infrastructure game. Read more about Lemony’s ‘AI-in-a-box’ in @techcrunch.com: techcrunch.com/2025/06/11/u...

Ashley Mayer of Coalition discusses the power and purpose of founder-led storytelling as early-stage startups go to market and seek to differentiate themselves among other hungry competitors.

Joel Lewenstein of Anthropic reminds us that experimentation requires humility as we all push the boundaries of what’s possible in building companies and redesigning the makeup of our teams. “We’re all flashlights in the dark together.”

What does the future of design look like? True’s @jeff.veen.com and @anthropic.com’s Joel Lewenstein talk evolving roles and the ubiquitous merging of design, development, and AI.

At the core of design, it’s about understanding people and unlocking their desires. Joel Lewenstein of @anthropic.com on why designers are key to solving the human mystery ⤵

Meet Ivan Zolotukhin, founder of Pallie: a friendly AI companion designed to help you improve your wellbeing, manage stress, reduce loneliness, and get you moving more.

Hear about True's investing approach and @clarencebethea.bsky.social's take on picking the right VC on The Pitch Black Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

For any Founder tempted to skip a 1:1 with a report for what feels like higher priority, consider what @amyerrett.bsky.social shares here ⬇️

True's Rohit Sharma talks AI agents, incumbents & faulty metrics during his talk at #FounderCamp2025 alongside @puneetagarwal.bsky.social. This camp focused acutely on embracing AI's full potential. If you’re building an enterprise #AI company, learn more & pitch us: trueventures.com/pitching-you...

During True Founder Camp last week, @kevinrose.bsky.social gave our community a sneak peek of the surreal comeback of rebooting social news site Digg alongside Reddit Co-founder @alexisohanian.bsky.social and new Digg CEO @justinmezzell.bsky.social. #foundercamp2025 #digg

That’s a wrap on #FounderCamp2025! Thank you to all the True Founders from around the world who joined us in Ojai for an incredible week together. The answer’s in the room.

It’s a True tradition. Let the victor take all. #FounderCamp2025

This year was our 18th Founder Camp, where we invite True Founders from our community to step away from the day-to-day operations of leading their companies to connect with one another and ask the questions that keep them up at night. Christiaan Vorkink of Team True reflects on the event’s history.

@clarencebethea.bsky.social and @gusco.bsky.social — our partner focused on public policy for emerging technologies — talk pace of AI policy and how to unpack its uncertainty as founders build AI-native companies. More on shaping new AI policy in the U.S. from Gus: trueventures.com/blog/a-way-f...

@kevinrose.bsky.social is now a full-time Partner at True. Tune into his 60 seconds with @clarencebethea.bsky.social to hear what he looks for in a founder, why he joined as Partner, and more.

It’s 60 seconds with our new Partner @mikemontano.bsky.social! What he looks for in a pitch, the importance of founder updates, how he describes True, and more with @clarencebethea.bsky.social ⤵

True Co-founder @jcal7.bsky.social reflects on 2024. More at www.linkedin.com/posts/joncal...

Below, Dr. Kenny Brown talks about the oral health-heart health connection. More on Feno's smart, AI-powered toothbrush in @cnet.com: www.cnet.com/tech/service...

AskFlux.ai Co-founder Ted Julian shares the premise for building a codebase insight agent with Adrianna Gugel and team. This True co' uses AI to gather reports from a suite of code analysis tools, filter through them, and return actionable results.