In this insightful episode of The Innovators & Investors Podcast hosted by Kristian Marquez, Yash Hemaraj, General Partner at BGV, shares deep expertise on early-stage venture capital investing in enterprise AI startups. Yash discusses BGV’s investment thesis, emphasizing human-centric AI that augments enterprise workflows with ethical guardrails and human oversight.

He sheds light on the firm’s rigorous evaluation criteria, including market potential, team composition, technology, and business models, highlighting the importance of founders with domain expertise and complementary skill sets. Yash also covers his personal journey from engineering to venture capital, and how his operator experience influences his hands-on approach to partnering with founders—making multiple facets of their growth “10% easier.”

The episode dives into practical advice for first-time founders on fundraising strategies, building strong networks, raising minimum viable capital, and managing product-market fit alongside business metrics. Yash explains how BGV supports startups with advisory networks, playbooks, and over 120 corporate relationships to accelerate innovation and scale. Listeners will benefit from detailed discussions on AI’s role in various industries, managing risks like AI hallucinations through system design, and balancing loss operations with strategic growth toward profitability.

This episode offers a comprehensive blueprint for founders and investors aiming to navigate the evolving enterprise AI landscape with a long-term, relationship-driven mindset.

Learn more about Yash's work at https://benhamouglobalventures.com/

Connect with Yash on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/yhemaraj/

Think you'd be a great guest on the show? Apply at https://finstratmgmt.com/innovators-investors-podcast/

Want to learn more about Kristian Marquez's work? Check out his website at https://finstratmgmt.com