Vanessa Larco on the Future of Consumer Tech

I am excited to have Vanessa Larco, who was a Partner at NEA and is now launching a fund called Premise, where she led investments in breakthrough companies like Cleo, Rocket.Chat, Mejuri, EvidentID, Greenlight Card, Feather, and Lily AI. She also served as a board observer for high-growth startups including Robinhood, Willow Pump, and OmniSci. In this episode, Vanessa Larco, ex-Partner at NEA and founding GP of Primis, shares her journey from product management at Microsoft and Box to becoming a leading early-stage VC. Vanessa dives into how AI is reshaping product roles, what makes the next wave of consumer tech exciting, and why she believes we're entering a new era of category-defining startups. She unpacks the traits of exceptional founders, the underrated importance of TAM, and how the VC landscape is evolving with secondaries and mega-funds, and much more! Timestamps [04:20] – Building and shipping at Microsoft, then moving to Xbox and gaming startups. [06:05] – Transitioning from startups to Twilio and Box, and building mobile products. [07:50] – Pete from NEA mentoring Vanessa and convincing her to join venture. [09:40] – Staying at NEA for 8.5 years instead of the original 2-year plan. [10:50] – Rohit asks about the future of product management in the AI era. [12:00] – Vanessa shares frustrations with tedious PM tasks and hopes for automation. [15:00] – Desire for AI to handle unstructured data like tickets, reviews, and bugs. [16:50] – Shift in mindset: From fire drills to strategic product thinking. [18:00] – Vanessa’s bullish view on consumer tech while others are pulling back. [20:00] – Three historical waves in consumer tech and the emergence of a fourth wave. [22:00] – ChatGPT and LLMs as a tech unlock leading to radical behavioral change. [24:15] – AI transforming how consumers buy and evaluate products online. [26:00] – Rise of personal AI agents and implications for e-commerce. [27:30] – Democratizing concierge-level services via LLMs in sectors like travel and styling. [29:00] – Opportunity to offer top 1% experiences at 10% of the cost. [30:30] – TAM expansion as a key to iconic company creation. [31:30] – Discussion on multistage funds and changing venture dynamics. [34:00] – The role of secondaries and need for different capital bases in long private cycles. [36:00] – Common VC mistake: Underestimating TAM in consumer startups. [37:00] – Lessons from scaling Robinhood: faster, cheaper, easier always wins. [39:15] – Trust as the key reason consumer fintechs fail across borders. [41:00] – Key traits Vanessa looks for in founders: obsessive learners, storytellers, and detail-oriented. Vanessa’s Links  LDN– https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessalarco/ My Links  Podcast: https://lifeselfmastery.com/itunes Newsletter: https://partner-grow.beehiiv.com/subscribe YouTube:  youtube.com/lifeselfmastery Twitter: https://twitter.com/rohitmal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohit857/ Agency: https://bit.ly/41YuNnx