Founders and Funders: Mike Vernal

Last night, we packed the room at Pilot HQ with a crowd of AI founders, investors, and operators for a rare inside look at what top VCs are thinking in this next wave of company-building.

Our guest: Mike Vernal, Partner at Conviction and former Sequoia partner behind breakout names like Notion, Rippling, Verkada, and Clay. He joined Pilot co-founder & executive chair Waseem Daher for an unfiltered conversation on timing, defensibility, speed of execution—and what it takes to actually win in AI today.

If you’re building in AI and you weren’t in the room, here’s a taste of what you missed (and why you’ll want to grab a seat next time).

Key Takeaways for AI Founders

1. “Why Now?” is everything.
The best startups couldn’t have existed two years ago—AI is the generational shift unlocking those opportunities today.

2. Speed is the real moat.
Forget perfecting your deck. The best early-stage teams don’t move fast—they move at “a turn per day” pace. The founders who win are those who can out-iterate everyone else. In Mike’s words: “What if you could have 86 product cycles in a quarter? That’s how you cheat.”

3. Proprietary data ≠ defensibility anymore.
In a world where models improve weekly, what used to be defensible (like custom datasets) may no longer hold. The new moats? Deep customer insight, velocity, and relentless iteration. You either build up from technical advantage—or down from customer obsession. Everything else is noise.

4. The best products feel obvious in hindsight.
Vernal highlighted companies like Open Evidence and Harvey—AI-native, vertical-specific, and solving real pain with products doctors and lawyers can’t stop using. These aren’t “GPT wrappers.” They’re tools people genuinely need, with usage to prove it.

5. Traction trumps pedigree.
No Stanford degree? No YC badge? Doesn’t matter. Build something people want. Vernal shared: “The cost of building something valuable has collapsed. One founder, no technical background, $5M in ARR—all because he shipped.”

Bonus Wisdom You Won’t Get on Twitter

• The best investor relationships feel like hiring a VP. Choose your lead the same way you’d hire an exec: on chemistry, not just valuation.
  
  
• Underpricing is a trap. Once you have product-market fit, charge more than you’re comfortable with. You’re not running a nonprofit.
  
  
• The bar is high for consumers. “There have been three breakout consumer apps in the last decade. If you want to be #4, your insight better be sharp.”

Don’t Miss the Next One

Pilot’s AI Chat series is designed to give real insight—not just soundbites. Our last two guests, Mark Goldberg (Chemistry) and now Mike Vernal (Conviction), both brought the heat. And the community of founders in the room? Equally impressive.

If you’re building something ambitious in AI or healthtech and want in, join our next one here.

This isn’t your average panel. It’s the room where next-gen companies connect.

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