Saam Motamedi

Selecting the right preconditions

Starting a business is one of the most difficult things you can do. It’s incredibly hard to build a business from scratch and be an entrepreneur. That’s why it’s imperative that the preconditions for your company are right. People underestimate how much time they should spend on idea selection. You’re going to spend a decade or more fully absorbed in your company, so selecting preconditions correctly means that when you win, you win big. 

The intelligent future

Right now we’re in the early innings of a very important computing shift to intelligent software. All the rules get rewritten, and everything is up for grabs. There’s a ton of opportunity, and the companies that will succeed are the ones that define their trajectories properly and stake their claims strategically.

I’ve been working with AI since its earliest days, dating back to my time at Stanford. Even in those early days, I saw the potential for AI to kickstart a new paradigm for building companies. When I graduated, I helped build RelateIQ, which was one of the first attempts at creating enterprise-scale applied AI software. That’s why I’m looking to partner with founders on day one, particularly those that are taking advantage of this transformational moment. I know the importance of collaborating early to help founders turn their ideas into the next generation of industry-defining companies.

Aspire to be the first call for founders

I’m available to support founders around the clock. Whether it’s a marathon whiteboard session to help define the earliest stages of your company or a late-night dinner with an engineer I’m helping you hire, I am there. The companies we partner with have the potential to change their industries, so I’ll always be on call to support them. It’s a privileged role to be in, and I take that responsibility very seriously. 

Our investment in Abnormal AI, a cloud email security platform, is a great example of this. It was incubated at Greylock’s offices in 2018. We launched them out of stealth and led their Series A. Evan (Abnormal’s co-founder) and I have worked closely ever since. I’m always there when he needs me, even if it means jumping to a dinner to close a high value candidate, or hopping on a call at midnight. 

Customer-obsessed and highly technical 

I love backing founders who are both highly technical and commercially oriented. A founder can be rough around the edges or short on experience, but if they have that combination of skills, they have the potential to be exceptional entrepreneurs.

I recently met a group of brilliant PhD students building Cresta, a generative AI company focused on call centers. They had the chops to pull off the tech. And while they didn’t know much about enterprise sales or the customers they were targeting, they were hungry to learn. So they embedded in a call center, where they got to see how employees worked and lived, and what they struggled with. The experience helped the team build a great product, and launched the company on the next leg of a successful journey. They’re a great example of the kind of founder I’m looking to partner with.