Looking back at my January 2023 post about "The Great Reset," I'm struck by both what I got right and what none of us saw coming. Yes, I along with most everyone else predicted the return to fundamentals, the emphasis on unit economics, and the rationalization of valuations. What I didn't fully grasp was that we weren't just resetting - we were standing at the precipice of a complete reinvention. The "bumpy ride" I predicted turned out to be more of a violent shakeout followed by an explosive renaissance. The venture capital industry didn't just correct; it metamorphosed.

Have you seen it? The knowing glances exchanged between veterans of the dot-com era as they watch valuations soar beyond reason. Circular deals proliferate along with promises of revolutionary change to justify the astronomical spending. We’ve seen this moving before - and we remember how it ended. Yet this time, everyone insists, it’s different… 

The latest wave of AI innovations - from Model Context Protocol (MCP) to advanced agentic systems - is ushering in what we might call the "post-big data" era. This doesn't mean data is becoming less important. Quite the opposite. Data is becoming so seamlessly integrated into intelligent systems that the traditional boundaries between collection, processing, and action are dissolving. Businesses are no longer building bigger data warehouses—they're constructing smarter reasoning networks where multiple AI agents collaborate on complex problems.

As if early-stage companies didn’t have enough to contend with coming out of the COVID-induced hangover of the last two-plus years, the Trump administration’s 2025 reciprocal tariff regime and its abrupt pause have dropped a proverbial turd in the punchbowl. While hardware companies braced for part-deux of the 2018 Chinese tariff program, software stocks were hammered. And the market has yet to factor in the 2^nd and 3^rd order effects these tariffs unleashed. 

As we enter 2025, the venture capital landscape continues its reset, shaped by the transformative impact of artificial intelligence and the lessons learned from the market conditions of 2024. In this blog post, I examine the emerging trends and key takeaways that I believe will define the year ahead for both investors and startup founders.

In the fast-paced world of startups, a new era is upon us—a return to the "grinder" CEO. This is not the passive figurehead basking in the glory of on-camera media interviews, guided Ayahuasca trips and unicorn valuations - while letting teams handle the dirty work. No, this is the CEO who rolls up their sleeves, digs into the trenches, and hustles harder than anyone else on the team.