Investor who hasn't Changed His Thesis in 5 Funds & Saw the AI Wave Before ChatGPT | Ashmeet Sidana, Engineering Capital

What does it look like to run the same playbook across five venture funds?That is the bet Ashmeet Sidana has made at Engineering Capital. From Fund One to Fund Five, he has written the first check into founders solving problems with Technical insight.His portfolio includes Rubrik, now a public company, SignalFx which was acquired by Splunk for $1 billion, and CodeRabbit, last valued at $550 million. Ashmeet runs Engineering Capital as a solo GP and the fund has been oversubscribed since Fund One.Ashmeet says that the most common way technical founders fail is by “playing house.” Founders who build beautifully organized systems and clean processes, but don’t obsessively seek product market fit. His view is that founders should ruthlessly prioritize finding PMF above everything else.Ashmeet is an investor who has seen enough cycles to know what actually compounds, and is still early-stage enough to care about the details that most people have moved past.00:00 – Trailer01:15 – Where does Engineering Capital place its bets?10:07 – How the VC landscape has evolved11:20 – Are technical founders the norm in AI?16:23 – Why the name Engineering Capital?16:50 – What every VC looks for in a founder21:34 – Why Founders Choose Your Term Sheet26:26 – Rule of 1-2 in-person meetings daily with founders31:42 – Does AI give younger founders an edge?32:59 – Founders must ruthlessly prioritize35:58 – The trap of “playing house”37:40 – PMF can change overnight, Ex: Facebook40:13 – 1 in 10 companies fail due to lack of PMF43:17 – The most valuable skill a founder can have44:19 – Why have a Chief Engineer at a VC firm?45:44 – The job of every CEO is to learn46:09 – Solo founders are much riskier48:15 – An accidental entry into VC49:52 – Solo GP: risks and rewards53:34 – $250M across funds54:43 – Why solo GPs work better in the US58:25 – Where Ashmeet’s portfolio companies are located01:00:57 – Be very careful of vanity metrics01:02:15 – Vibe coding will change the face of software01:03:36 – Don’t chase trends in how companies are built01:05:58 – $100M ARR is the outcome of a strong package01:06:35 – How affordable is Bay Area for young founders?01:11:32 – AlexNet, not ChatGPT, was the real AI inflection point01:12:57 – US Public Companies Are Down 50% in 40 years-------------India’s talent has built the world’s tech—now it’s time to lead it.This mission goes beyond startups. It’s about shifting the center of gravity in global tech to include the brilliance rising from India.What is Neon Fund?We invest in seed and early-stage founders from India and the diaspora building world-class Enterprise AI companies. We bring capital, conviction, and a community that’s done it before.Subscribe for real founder stories, investor perspectives, economist breakdowns, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we’re doing it all at Neon.-------------Check us out on:Website: https://neon.fund/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theneonshoww/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneon/Twitter: https://x.com/TheNeonShowwConnect with Siddhartha on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7-------------This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.Send us Fan Mail