Zeynep Yavuz-Willson, Partner at General Catalyst: GC is an early stage investor and AI transformation firm
Scaling EuropeShow Notes
General Catalyst has built one of the most active investment theses in Europe around artificial intelligence transforming massive service industries like law, property management, accounting, and insurance. Their portfolio features companies tackling this shift from different angles, including Legora selling software directly to law firms and Dwelly scaling through hands-on growth in real estate.
Zeynep Yavuz-Willson is a Partner at General Catalyst, where she focuses on early-stage investing across Europe. Before venture she worked in private equity and operating roles, and she says learning from founders is still her favourite part of the job.
The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk
Sponsors:
SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/
Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk
Lovable: https://lovable.dev/
Parloa: https://www.parloa.com/
Conveo: https://conveo.ai/
NatWest: https://www.natwest.com/
WWT: https://www.wwt.com/
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction 1:06 - Why General Catalyst is betting on AI transforming services 4:04 - Why Dwelly was worth the risk despite being burned before 8:39 - Which other service industries General Catalyst is watching 11:08 - Why customer trust is becoming the real advantage in AI 13:50 - The rest of the AI stack, open source and data 20:35 - Why concentrated industries adopt AI faster than fragmented ones 26:31 - How General Catalyst's capital model is changing 28:51 - Is General Catalyst still a venture firm 30:46 - How the venture industry has changed since 2020
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