Ep. 1: Imagine Claude 14 — Why Do You Still Exist? | Nic Poulos, Euclid Ventures

Nic Poulos asks every vertical AI founder the same question: "Imagine Claude 14 — it does everything seamlessly. Why do you still exist?" With $611B wiped from SaaS market caps in 2026, that's no longer a thought experiment. Nic is the Founder and GP at Euclid Ventures, a pre-seed fund focused on vertical AI, and has been writing first checks into vertical software for 15 years across Bowery Capital, Fifth Wall, and now Euclid. We break down his authoring layer thesis, why he thinks speed isn't a moat, the quiet death of founder-VC alignment, and where contrarian alpha actually lives at pre-seed.Chapters:(0:00) Introduction — welcome to the first DPI episode(1:02) Nic's journey from AOL Ventures to founding Euclid(3:06) Why vertical AI is the next evolution of vertical SaaS(5:18) Evaluating deals at inception stage with zero traction(8:25) How AI is reshaping founder profiles and geographic gravity(16:20) The authoring layer thesis — owning where the workflow begins(22:32) Will horizontal LLMs eat vertical AI?(29:03) Why speed is not a moat(50:56) Consensus investing and where contrarian alpha lives(1:00:22) Biggest founder mistakes in the first 12 months(1:07:22) The quiet death of founder-VC alignment(1:11:25) Is SaaS really dead?Where to find Nic:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/npoulos/Euclid Ventures: https://www.euclid.vc/Where to find Vignesh/Brendon:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vravikumar1LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendonschmidt/Sierra Ventures: www.sierraventures.com