Building Together: Reflections From Our LP Meeting

Our Limited Partner meeting is always an energizing moment for me and the team at Mayfield . 

Last week, we gathered with our LPs and founders. This year’s theme was Building Together: The Future of AI.

The last two years have been a masterclass in rapid change. AI has evolved faster than almost anyone predicted. But what excites me most isn't the technology. It's what people are building with AI in the Collaborative Intelligence era. 

Let founders tell the story

This year, we had nine founders present what they’re building. Not us talking about them. They got to share their vision directly. 

Our LPs love hearing from the actual builders. So we brought together founders from our portfolio – some still in stealth – to share what they’re building across the stack, from infrastructure to agents: 

• Silicon photonics for AI datacenters
• AI agentic platform for enterprise revenue teams
• GenAI B2B attribution, search, and ads platform
• Generalist intelligent robots for physical AI
• AI-first agent experience platform
• AI inference and agentic infrastructure platform
• Diffusion large language models for text and code
• CRISPR platform for treating the widest range of diseases
• High-performance and low-power infrastructure for AI and blockchain compute

These founders are reimagining industries and changing how we work, live, and play. 

Why this format works:

• For LPs: You hear their passion, understand their technical depth and expertise, and see why Mayfield backed them. Just the raw story of what they’re building.
• For founders: This is different from a pitch deck. You see what other founders are building and realize you’re not alone in this company-building journey. And honestly, the energy in that room was contagious. 

In the daily grind of company-building, it's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. But when you pause and see what these founders are creating, you feel it: we’re part of a once-in-a-generation opportunity. 

Which of these AI categories excites you the most? Let me know in the comments. 

Staying true to our roots

At Mayfield, we remain committed to doing what we do best - early-stage VC. Here’s what that means – we keep our fund sizes right-sized to create alpha for our LPs and don’t get carried away in raising mega funds. We follow a budget-based management fee model because we strive to be in alignment with our LPs; we make money after they have made money. At the same time, we’re proud to deliver solid liquidity time and time again, when there are talks about a liquidity crisis in the venture industry. 

This discipline is rare, but it’s what allows us to stay focused on what matters most. 

The Mayfield way: People-first

Great venture capital firms are guided by values and operating principles that are independent of market conditions. We call our approach the Mayfield Way, and our motto is People-first. We live by it every day! This means combining radical candor with being loyal to a fault when we interact with entrepreneurs. It means working and collaborating together as a team, rowing in the same direction.

Being People First also means being a responsible member of the community. We give back through conscious capital programs, committing 1% of our fees and carry to philanthropic efforts - including illumyn Impact and Neythri.org , supporting women entrepreneurs, to our Mayfield Fellows program at University of California, Santa Cruz and Stanford University , now in its 30th year.  

Gratitude to our community

To our LPs: Thank you for trusting and believing in Mayfield. You recognize that our team-based approach and disciplined investment strategy lead to better outcomes.

To Joe Montana and Sal Khan : Thank you for sharing your wisdom and inspiring everyone in the room. A few takeaways: Stay cool under pressure. Confidence and composure come from preparation. A winning team culture comes from never settling – keep striving for perfection and demanding excellence. And when you’re building something, you need a dose of delusional optimism. 

To our founders: Thank you for choosing Mayfield as your partner. You inspire us daily, and we're honored to be part of your company-building journey. Shout out to our presenting founders: Ankur Singla Abhijit Mitra Bill Gross Chris Andrew Tarun Raisoni Stefano Ermon Trevor Martin and Rajiv K. .

To my team: Thank you for holding a relentlessly high bar. Your commitment to excellence makes Mayfield great.

📷: Branden Keller