AI could redesign software stack in every application, says Sequoia’s former managing partner Doug Leone

Although AI has been around for 30 years, but this time it is for “real” and that they can become engines of assistance to humanity, Leone said.

Artificial intelligence (AI) offers the opportunity to "redo" the software stack in every application and in every vertical, Sequoia Capital’s former managing partner Doug Leone said while addressing over 60 Peak XV & Surge founders in the Silicon Valley.

Venture capital firm Peak XV is hosting over 60 founders in the US for an AI tour between February 13-16, in an attempt to take Indian startups global, Moneycontrol reported on February 12. The founders are a part of Peak XV's Surge cohorts and its early-stage portfolio, from sectors such as AI, deep-tech, software-as-a-service (SaaS), and consumer.

When companies redesign their software stack with an AI frontend in the future, some of them will do it incrementally, while others will do it from scratch, Leone told Peak XV Partners' Managing Director Shailendra Singh.

“There's a ton of opportunity and we're just scratching the surface,” Leone said in a video posted by Peak XV Partners on X (previously Twitter).

The week also marks the closing of Peak XV's early-stage programme Surge's ninth cohort.

Although AI has been around for 30 years, but this time it is for “real” and that they can become engines of assistance to humanity, he further elaborated.

“We are in the Internet in the 90s and it is real… you can't run away from it, put your head in the sand and say, oh no that's overcrowded,” Leone said.

However, Leone said founders should not risk too much as they might end up losing money. “I think AI is a 20-year thing to be invested in and played,” said the venture capitalist who led Sequoia Capital for over 25 years.

He advised founders to find out where can they get imminent and immediate returns by building the right company, market, and functional area.