Ann Bordetsky, partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA), joins us in this episode to discuss how AI is creating new business categories and transforming the tech industry. Ann shares her journey through the tech world, her role in supporting startups, and the keys to building successful businesses today. She highlights the importance of understanding market trends and customer needs to innovate and stay ahead. Listen to Ann's unique experiences and get valuable advice for entrepreneurs and investors keen on navigating the evolving landscape of tech with AI. This episode is ideal for anyone curious about technology, startups, and innovation in business. About VSC Ventures: VSC Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund led by Jay Kapoor and Vijay Chattha where we invest in early-stage startups and support our founders with hands-on PR, storytelling, and go-to-market work with help from our award-winning PR agency, VSC. Our fund has invested alongside Lowercarbon, NEA, Uncork Capital, Left Lane, Alley Corp, Obvious Ventures, Third Sphere, and other leading early-stage funds. Through our weekly conversations on our show CLIMB by VSC, we're excited to share our work with innovative companies like Paintjet, Glacier, Concrete.AI, Presso, ⁠⁠Ample⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Actual⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Sesame Solar⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Synop⁠⁠, ⁠and Vibrant Planet⁠⁠ in addition to highlighting companies and leading voices across the early stage ecosystem. Chapters: 1. 0:00 - Introduction and Overview of Category Creation 2. 6:09 - The Role of First Movers in Market Evolution 3. 12:15 - Attributes of a Successful Category-Creating Founder 4. 18:25 - Depth and Vision in Pitching Ideas 5. 24:50 - Validating New Categories 6. 30:55 - The Impact of AI on Small and Medium Businesses 7. 37:05 - Lessons from Mobile Era and Patience in Investing 8. 43:43 - Democratizing Creative Tooling with AI 9. 49:46 - Supporting Female Founders 10. 56:13 - Final Thoughts and Advice for Founders Pitching to Investors