In Lightning Round IX, 1752vc's signature pitch competition, judges Avag Simonyan, Keith Yoder, and Vinnie Shahzad get brutally practical about what makes them lean in and what sends them running.

Hundreds of founders apply. Only five make the final stage. First you hear from the judges: their investment philosophies and the real filters they use to evaluate pre-seed, seed, and Series A startups in an AI-saturated market where speed, data, and story matter more than ever. Then the finalists pitch live for a shot at $100K and a fast track into 1752vc's Accelerate.

MEET THE JUDGES

Avag Simonyan | Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Triple S Ventures

An Armenian founder and LA-based venture leader who has backed AI, biotech, health tech, and quantum startups. He breaks down why early-stage investors bet on bold, agile founders with deep domain knowledge and a clear painkiller, not a feature.

Keith Yoder | Director of Business Development & Sr. Associate, Innovent Capital Group

Works with companies from early stage to Series A and shares what traction looks like before revenue and why repeatable sales beat one lucky intro.

Vinnie Shahzad | VP of Startup Banking, Silicon Valley Bank | Co-Founder & Executive Director, Bruin Angels

Explains why story clarity is a moat, how to think about fundraising reality, and why investors reward founders who understand their stage.

THE FINALISTS

▸ Wizium AI | Andrew Botnev
Agentic operating system that runs commerce for sellers, from sourcing to marketplace ops.

▸ Tener AI | Nick Nagatkin
AI recruiter that hires on references and behavioral signals, end to end in 10 days.

▸ Adomo | Sharmin Ali
Security platform for enterprise AI agents.

▸ AskIt | Lotan Magal
Simulates human decisions to predict consumer behavior before you spend.

▸ Neural Wave | Chayan Bhattacharyay
Automates the doctor's clinical workflow inside the EHR.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✔ Why charging customers early matters more than friends-and-family praise
✔ How investors separate real traction from vanity metrics
✔ What makes a pitch deck feel credible in the AI era
✔ Why moats now come from domain expertise, proprietary data, and more
✔ The red flags that instantly kill investor interest
✔ How to think about pivots, capital efficiency, and market timing

The conversation gets especially sharp around AI: where the real opportunities still are, how to avoid building something the next model update can copy, and why the winners are teams that turn capital into repeatable growth. The judges pressure-test each founder live on pricing, distribution, human-in-the-loop systems, and whether the problem is painful enough to deserve a business.

Perfect for founders, operators, and investors who want the unfiltered version of what actually gets funded in 2026.

CHAPTERS

00:33 Welcome to the Lightning Round Pitch Competition
01:03 Judge introduction: Avag Simonyan on founder-product fit
06:10 Judge introduction: Keith Yoder on traction and early-stage investing
09:32 Judge introduction: Vinnie Shahzad on storytelling and startup banking
11:49 Why universities produce strong founder pipelines
15:33 Fundraising: market size, investor fit, and getting the meeting
20:14 What traction really means: paid customers and repeatable sales
29:25 Where investors see opportunity in AI, proptech, biotech, and healthtech
34:01 Building a competitive moat in the AI era
43:09 Pitch red flags: misleading claims and misaligned founding teams
45:02 Finalist pitches begin
45:20 Wizium AI: agentic commerce for online sellers
51:33 Tener.ai: AI-powered recruiting infrastructure
1:02:46 Adomo: governance and security for enterprise AI agents
1:13:15 Neural Wave: automating clinical workflows for physicians
1:21:22 AskIt: synthetic consumer research and virtual customer audiences
1:28:31 Judges score the finalists
1:28:50 Winner announced: AskIt
1:29:18 Judges' feedback and closing remarks

Thanks to our sponsors and partners: Ramp, Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, and Innovent Capital.

🔗 APPLY FOR THE NEXT LIGHTNING ROUND
https://www.1752.vc/lightning-round

🔗 1752vc
https://www.1752.vc

If this was useful, like, subscribe, and share it with a founder who's raising. Think you've got what it takes? Apply for the next Lightning Round at the link above.

#PitchCompetition #VentureCapital #Fundraising #AIStartups #Founders #1752vc

New VC Unfiltered Episode — Live from Lightning Round VIII

This episode of VC Unfiltered was recorded live at Lightning Round VIII, where four high-potential startups pitched technologies pushing the edge of AI and applied innovation.

Featured companies include:

a2a cloud: A governed runtime for autonomous agents that adds identity, scoped permissions, and signed receipts so every agent action in production can be audited and replayed.

Contrax AI: An AI platform purpose-built for federal DLA/DIBBS contracting that surfaces winnable solicitations, auto-compiles bids, and prices them to win.

Prilog: Self-healing software that turns production incidents into ready-to-review fix PRs automatically, cutting hours of debugging down to minutes.

KINDRED: Agentic regulatory intelligence that turns medical-device data into defensible, citation-backed regulatory filings using a reasoning engine built on a lawyer-encoded regulatory graph.

The episode also includes perspectives from experienced investors and operators:

Kunal Phalak — Vice President, WestBridge Capital.

Invests in early- to growth-stage AI. A founder-turned-investor since 2018, focused on vertical AI, Voice AI, and enterprise automation. Wharton MBA; IIT Bombay EE.

Zachary Betts — General Partner, Zandia Ventures.

SF Bay Area family-office investor-operator. 25+ years advising seed-to-growth startups across healthcare, medical devices, and AI, all built for measurable human and planetary impact.

Keith Yoder — Director of BD and Senior Associate, Innovent Capital.

Director of Business Development and Senior Investment Associate at Innovent Capital, the family office of serial entrepreneur Brett Markinson, backing early-stage technology companies.

Stay through the final pitch showdown to see which startup takes the top prize.

If you're building, investing, or tracking where early-stage innovation is heading, this episode offers a front-row view of what founders are working on right now.

Listen to VC Unfiltered on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your pods!

04:16 - Investor insights on founder qualities and market understanding
08:31 - Evaluating pitch decks and realistic market sizing (TAM SAM SOM)
12:35 - Assessing AI-native platforms and technology moats
18:32 - Importance of distribution, team, and strategic partnerships
20:53 - Networking tips for founders and persistence advice
28:21 - Current AI adoption curve and enterprise use cases
34:00 - AI usage in startups and human-AI collaboration
42:01 - AI market potential and emerging specialization trends
45:50 - What investors look for in founders before writing a check
52:26 - Finalist pitch: a2a Cloud - multi-agent orchestration and governance
01:02:21 - Finalist pitch: Contrax AI - federal defense bidding automation
01:13:57 - Finalist pitch: Prilog - AI remediation platform for software bugs
01:22:48 - Finalist pitch: Kindred - regulatory filings automation for medical devices
01:35:57 - Announcement of winner and closing remarks from judges and hosts


#startup #venturecapital

New VC Unfiltered Episode — Live from Lightning Round VII

This episode of VC Unfiltered was recorded live at Lightning Round VII, where four high-potential startups pitched technologies pushing the edge of AI and applied innovation.

Featured companies include:

TeroAI — The first AI geospatial data terminal that makes any location query instantly actionable for anyone.

Allocraft AI — An automated fund-diligence copilot for allocators evaluating alternative investment managers.

Wise AI — Remote camera-based vitals that turn any telehealth visit or homecare check-in into a full medical exam.

UBiosis Health — An autonomous AI nurse that turns the time between doctor visits into proactive, revenue-generating chronic care.

The episode also includes perspectives from experienced investors and operators:

Erik Jefferson, Chief Investment Officer at Flagship Harbor Advisors

Amy Harmon, Investor at Innovent Capital Group

Ra'ad Siraj, technology and data executive

Pearl Collings, tech CEO and advisor

Stay through the final pitch showdown to see which startup takes the top prize.

If you're building, investing, or tracking where early-stage innovation is heading, this episode offers a front-row view of what founders are working on right now.

Listen to VC Unfiltered on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your pods!

00:34 - Welcome to 1752 VC Lightning Round Pitch Competition
01:35 - Judges Introduction
04:10 - Panel Discussion: AI and SaaS Landscape
07:34 - Business Models and Market Trends in AI
11:28 - Risks of Unauthorized AI Usage in Enterprise (Shadow AI)
13:21 - AI Impact on Labor and Automation Potential
17:50 - Debate on AI-native vs Integrated SaaS Models
19:23 - Shift from Seat-based to Value-based SaaS Approach
21:00 - Investor Expectations and Startup Validation Trends
26:44 - Sponsor Presentation: Ramp Finance Automation Platform
32:03 - Pitch Competition Introduction and Format
32:38 - Startup Pitch: Wise AI
39:12 - Q&A for Wise AI
41:30 - Startup Pitch: Allocraft AI
47:07 - Q&A for Allocraft AI
51:37 - Startup Pitch: Tero AI
58:58 - Q&A for Tero AI
01:02:20 - Startup Pitch: UBiosis Health
01:10:22 - Q&A for UBiosis Health
01:13:56 - Competition Results and Closing Remarks

#startup #venturecapital