Kevin Hartz: AI branding lacks genuine innovation, larger VC funds exhibit arrogance, and the startup landscape is shifting towards younger founders | Uncapped with Jack Altman

Venture capital's shift towards younger founders signals a tech industry evolution amid bubble concerns.

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Add us on Google by Editorial Team May. 12, 2026

Key takeaways

• The trend of AI branding among companies often lacks genuine innovation.
• Larger venture capital funds tend to exhibit arrogance regarding potential returns.
• Fee structures in venture capital significantly influence firm behavior.
• Venture capital firms change behavior as they grow larger.
• An abundance of capital in the market leads to increased rookie mistakes among founders.
• The tech industry may be heading towards a significant bubble.
• Despite bubble concerns, promising companies are emerging with innovative technologies.
• The startup landscape is seeing younger founders and rising valuations.
• Younger founders are rewriting the rules in the startup environment.
• Seed-stage investing is increasingly focused on younger, innovative founders.
• The dynamics between large and small venture capital firms impact investment strategies.
• The evolution of startup funding is influenced by AI and entrepreneurial changes.
• Traditional startup skills are evolving with new technologies.
• The current market environment affects oversight and startup performance.
• Historical tech bubbles provide context for current market predictions.

Guest intro

Kevin Hartz is a co-founder and General Partner at A*, an early-stage venture capital firm managing $1B in assets under management. He previously co-founded Eventbrite (NYSE: EB) and Xoom, the latter of which IPO’d in 2013 and was acquired by PayPal for $1.1B. His notable seed and early-stage investments include PayPal, Airbnb, Pinterest, Reddit, Anduril, and Palantir.

The superficiality of AI branding

• The current trend of AI-focused branding often lacks depth in engineering efforts.

• I think the issue is we all know is if you can vibe code an app in a matter of minutes and why do you need so many engineers what’s the value of the workflows that you’ve built.

  — Kevin Hartz

• Understanding the saturation of AI branding is crucial for recognizing genuine innovation.
• The superficiality of AI branding raises questions about the actual value of engineering.
• The need for deeper value in engineering is a significant concern in the tech landscape.
• Companies may focus more on branding than on substantial technological advancements.
• The tech industry must prioritize genuine innovation over superficial branding.
• The trend reflects a broader issue of prioritizing appearance over substance.

Dynamics in venture capital

• Larger venture capital funds often exhibit arrogance about potential returns.

• Bigger funds are super arrogant to think that they can have big returns directionally speaking because you know you own x percent of a company how big can the companies be what returns are you getting.

  — Kevin Hartz

• The competitive dynamics between large and small VC firms impact strategies.
• Fee structures in venture capital significantly influence firm behavior.

• If the fees were like instead of two and twenty if it was like capped and it couldn’t go past a certain amount like let’s say like after a billion there were no more fees you think vcs would behave way differently absolutely without a doubt.

  — Kevin Hartz

• As venture capital firms grow, their behavior changes significantly.

• I’ve seen funds go from small to large and the behavior absolutely change.

  — Kevin Hartz

• The industry must consider how fund size impacts decision-making and strategies.

Market conditions and startup performance

• The abundance of capital leads to increased rookie mistakes among founders.

• The amount of capital in the market does mean that you don’t have as much kind of help in oversight and I’ve seen more mistakes be it rookie mistakes being made in this environment that just shouldn’t have happened.

  — Kevin Hartz

• The current market environment affects oversight and startup performance.
• Market conditions link capital availability to a decline in oversight.
• The startup ecosystem must address the impact of market conditions on performance.
• Increased capital does not always equate to better oversight or fewer mistakes.
• Founders must navigate the challenges of abundant capital and limited oversight.
• The market environment demands careful consideration of investment strategies.

The potential tech bubble

• The tech industry may be heading towards a significant bubble.

• I’d like to think that we’re headed to the mother of all bubbles… if you think of the eighties and the personal computer and what came out of that era or the nineties in the internet… we’re seeing right now is immensely exciting.

  — Kevin Hartz

• Historical tech bubbles provide context for current market predictions.
• Despite bubble concerns, promising companies are emerging with innovative technologies.

• There’s a lot of extremely interesting companies… getting to a 100,000,000 of revenue with like happy customers and crazy new technology faster than ever.

  — Kevin Hartz

• The potential for innovation exists amidst market risks.
• The tech industry must balance optimism with caution in the face of bubble predictions.
• Understanding historical tech trends is crucial for navigating current market conditions.

Shifts in the startup landscape

• The startup landscape is seeing younger founders and rising valuations.

• A great series A used to be 100 posts, now they’re happening at 250. Series B’s used to happen with real traction at a few $100,000,000 valuation, they’re 500,000,000, 1,000,000,000. Everything has changed particularly as large funds have gone earlier.

  — Kevin Hartz

• Younger founders are rewriting the rules in the startup environment.

• Who cares if you know how to build a saas product or sell a saas product or hire a traditional enterprise go to market team? This is new for everyone; we’re all rewriting the rules as we build these companies in real time.

  — Kevin Hartz

• The evolution of startup funding is influenced by AI and entrepreneurial changes.
• Traditional startup skills are evolving with new technologies.
• The startup ecosystem is undergoing significant changes with younger founders.
• The industry must adapt to the shifting dynamics in startup funding and innovation.

The rise of younger founders

• Seed-stage investing is increasingly focused on younger, innovative founders.

• We’re talking about durability and the world is changing what other attributes aside from just young founders have certain advantages now… more and more of our founders are skewing younger and younger.

  — Kevin Hartz

• The current trends in startup founding demographics impact seed-stage investment.
• Younger founders are increasingly capable and innovative in the startup ecosystem.
• The industry must recognize the advantages young founders bring to the table.
• The rise of younger founders reflects a broader trend in the entrepreneurial landscape.
• The startup ecosystem must support the growth and development of young founders.
• The shift towards younger founders presents new opportunities and challenges for investors.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.