Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Paul Eremenko, Co-founder and CEO at P-1 AI, says the right ratio isn't one engineer supervising ten AI agents. The goal is minimal disruption with measurable acceleration.
#AI #engineering #startups
Paul Eremenko, Co-founder and CEO at P-1 AI, says the right ratio isn't one engineer supervising ten AI agents. The goal is minimal disruption with measurable acceleration.
#AI #engineering #startups




![Inside the Math That Decides Which VCs Write Billion-Dollar Checks | Michael Hochberg (Periplous)
Michael Hochberg is a semiconductor entrepreneur, Caltech-trained physicist, and network investor with Village Global. Hes founder and president of Periplous LLC, and has built and scaled hardware and deep tech companies through multiple market cycles. Max Kilberg is an Investment Partner at Village Global.
In this excerpt, Michael breaks down the bifurcation happening in venture right now, mega funds like Thrive, Andreessen, and Sequoia raising massive quantums of capital to chase billion-dollar checks, while early-stage investing stays as artisanal and relationship-driven as ever. He and Max dig into why every stage of investing has effectively compressed into seed-style decision-making, how mega funds justify writing both billion-dollar and hundred-million-dollar checks inside the same firm, and why the exit math VCs are chasing has shifted from a few-hundred-X outcome to hunting for hundred-billion-dollar companies. The conversation closes on Michaels contrarian belief that most traditional startup moats, like customer lock-in and data flywheels, are eroding fast, and that speed and talent are becoming the only defensibility that still holds up.
This is an excerpt from our full conversation with Max Kilberg and Michael Hochberg. Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/LTfrV4tEdms
[00:00] Whats happening in venture that isnt obvious from outside
[01:22] The compression of every stage into seed investing
[02:13] How mega funds bridge billion-dollar and early-stage deals
[03:19] The exodus of young investors into operating roles
[04:29] Why founders used to avoid capital-intensive ideas
[05:21] Why capital intensity has become the dominant narrative
[06:57] From hundred-X outcomes to hundred-billion-dollar hunting
[08:17] Why bigger funds need bigger outcomes
[09:59] Im a no-moats-exist believer
[10:41] Do brand, scale, and network-effect moats still exist?
[11:54] Closing thoughts Inside the Math That Decides Which VCs Write Billion-Dollar Checks | Michael Hochberg (Periplous)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WwNxs0mC0GY/mqdefault.jpg)





