SIERRA Ventures

Founders, how did you identify the market opportunity? Last month, we talked to Hu Liang, the CEO and Founder of Omniex Holdings, Inc. (which was acquired by Gemini). Omniex was an institutional operating platform for investment managers, and active traders focused on crypto assets. It was the first large-scale institutional platform that provided a complete end-to-end solution designed and built by financial service technologists. Omniex was acquired by Gemini in 2022. Hu started his career as a software engineer and then spent ten years at State Street before founding Omniex. In this interview, we talk to Hu about entrepreneurship, the future of blockchain and crypto, and more. His advice is for founders to focus on the problem in the market more so than the technology. Check out this clip; the entire podcast link is in the first comment. #founder #cypto #bitcoin #leadership #gemini #analytics #financial #etf #FTX

Last night, SIERRA hosted another Engineering and Product Leaders (EPL) dinner, which brought together technologists and product leaders from some of today's fastest-growing companies. Our EPL Council was created to foster connections among these leaders, expand the community, and promote shared learning and collaboration. We look forward to our next events this fall, including our Annual CXO Summit. Check out the link in the comments to learn more about our EPL Council.

AI agents will transform how enterprises operate. These advanced systems go beyond simple automation, combining multiple AI models with advanced reasoning to handle complex tasks and make smarter decisions at scale. Here’s why AI agents will revolutionize industries: 💡 Bigger Impact, Less Work: AI agents automate entire workflows, eliminate repetitive tasks, and free your team to focus on high-value, creative work. 💡 Multimodal Magic: Text, audio, visuals? AI agents seamlessly integrate them all to provide a unified, smarter system. 💡 Unmatched Accuracy: Built-in fact-checking and QA models ensure reliability and precision 💡 Cost Efficiency: Optimize spending by running smaller, specialized models only when needed 👀 What’s Next? We’re moving from basic tools like RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) to Multi-Agent Systems that can make complex decisions, collaborate across business functions, and scale effortlessly. This is the future of enterprise AI. SIERRA's Tim Guleri sat down with Alex Irina Sandu of the Strategy Deck to explore the evolution and future of AI Agents in the Enterprise (link to the article in the comments). #AI #Automation #Innovation #AIagents #EnterpriseAI #FutureOfWork #Tech #Growth weav.ai | Enterprise AI CopilotsSedai Peeyush Rai

Read more about our recent Series A investment in Planera, Inc. The construction planning industry, especially in commercial sectors like airports and large infrastructure projects, is poised for transformation. 🛠 Current Tools: Oracle Primavera and Microsoft Project have dominated but fall short in collaboration and visual planning. 🎯 Planera's Solution: A cloud-based platform that: - Integrates a full-functioning CPM engine. - Enables scenario planning and multi-player collaboration. - Offers role-based controls for scalability, making it ideal for large-scale projects. 🤝 Founding Team: Nitin Bhandari (CEO) – Two-time entrepreneur and former CEO of Skyfire and Zenlabs. Erik Swenson (CTO) – Co-founder of Skyfire, leading to a successful exit. Saif Lodhi - Industry expert. 30 years of experience in heavy construction ✅ Why It Matters: Planera addresses current pain points and is shaping the future of construction planning. #constructiontech #contech #ventuecapital #planera https://lnkd.in/gxN6yx76

SIERRA is excited to announce our investment in Inventive AI! We led the Seed round with Y Combinator, General Catalyst, and Soma Capital also participating. Inventive AI is an AI-driven tool for streamlining and optimizing RFP (Request for Proposal) and sales questionnaire workflows. The company was founded by Dhiren Bhatia, a serial entrepreneur who experienced the RFP pain points firsthand at his previous startup, Viewics (Acquired by Roche), and AI experts Gaurav Nemade, former PM at Google Brain’s Project LaMDA, and Vishakh Hegde, a Stanford AI researcher and author of the book 3D Deep Learning. "Dhiren, Gaurav, and Vishakh offer a unique combination of AI/ML expertise and seasoned startup scaling experience. Solving the RFP and security questionnaire problem requires technical precision and deep understanding into selling to the enterprise, which this team has.” - Mark Fernandes, Managing Partner at Sierra Ventures

SIERRA is excited to announce our Series A investment in Planera, Inc! Led by CEO Nitin Bhandari, Planera is a full CPM-based scheduling and planning platform for the construction industry. With an innovative multi-level whiteboard, Planera enables all stakeholders to create, review, and optimize schedules. SIERRA led the round with participation from Sorenson Capital, Brick & Mortar Ventures, Prudence VC and Firebolt Ventures. "Planera's innovative approach to leveraging SaaS in the construction industry is a testament to the transformative power of intelligent applications. The industry is ripe for disruption with the shift towards collaborative, cloud-based, and visually-driven solutions. Planera's team has the proven expertise and vision to lead this change and deliver immense value to general contractors." - Shashank Saxena, SIERRA Ventures Managing Partner Great write-up in TechCrunch today. https://lnkd.in/gndpmQbS

The SIERRA team had a fantastic time at the GIANTS game this week, bringing together a great group of investors from around the Bay Area. Big thanks to our friends, Joshua Geffon and Ari Haber at Fenwick & West, for hosting.

Join us tomorrow! Thursday, Aug 22nd 11 am PST / 12 pm MST / 1 pm CST / 2 pm EST https://lnkd.in/gc8cUwD2

Building a successful startup is a journey filled with valuable lessons. Here are some insights from Nikhil Gupta, CEO and Founder of ArmorCode Inc. Before building ArmorCode, Nikhil founded Avid Secure, which Sophos acquired. 📈 Think Big, Start Small, Scale Fast It’s essential to have a grand vision, but the journey begins with small, actionable steps. Embrace the “crawl, walk, run” approach. 🏁 Begin with the End in Mind Clarity is crucial. Knowing what you’re aiming for keeps you focused and aligned throughout the startup journey. 📝 Unlearn and Learn What got you here won’t necessarily get you there. Success requires continuous learning and adapting to changing circumstances. 🧠 Focus, Focus, Focus The first venture is often the toughest, and focus is what helps you push through the challenges. Nikhil’s wisdom reminds us that adaptability, clear vision, and relentless focus are key to scaling new heights in entrepreneurship. #Startups #Entrepreneurship #Leadership #Focus #GrowthMindset #ArmorCode #sierraventures

Is an accelerator the right move for your startup? If so, which one do you choose? At Sierra, we focus on Seed and A and often hear this question from founders raising for the first time. Check out this guide that lays out what questions to ask and compares top accelerators. https://lnkd.in/gdkt2tHC