(First Meeting, EP.11) Investing in Artificial Intelligence at Zetta Ventures

My guest on today’s First Meeting is Ash Fontana, a Managing Director at Zetta Ventures, a venture capital firm that backs Artificial Intelligence companies with B2B business models. The firm invests in early stage companies with unique data sets and models, and rolls up their sleeves to help founders by using a playbook Zetta created specifically for AI companies. Ash started his career as an entrepreneur and investor, and before joining Zetta started and built the money side of AngelList alongside Naval Ravikant.

Our conversation covers Ash’s background, Zetta’s thesis, team, and strategy, and turns to Zetta’s sourcing, due diligence, decision making, portfolio construction, working for portfolio companies, and investment examples. Along the way, we cover the evolution of AI, assessing data sets, misperceptions about AI, competing with the tech giants, and the future of investing in the space.