AI, Infra vs Apps & Spotting Red Herrings with Akash Bajwa, Principal @ Earlybird

Akash Bajwa, Principal at Earlybird VC, one of Europe’s longest-standing early-stage funds.

Akash shares his journey into venture and how he helped launch Earlybird’s London office, now a core hub for the firm. We dive into the state of AI investing, how to distinguish enduring companies from short-term hype, and what traits define the next wave of outlier founders.

With experience backing companies like Briefcase (AI for accountants) and Spatial (3D generative AI), Akash offers a deep and practical perspective on both infrastructure and application-layer AI—and how to evaluate founder-market fit in the era of LLMs.

In this episode, we discuss:

• 🧠 What “the art of early-stage” really means at Earlybird

• 🤖 AI-native founders vs experienced SaaS veterans – who wins?

• 💡 Infra vs apps – where to invest, and how to spot defensibility

• 🚀 Why velocity and learning rate matter more than credentials

• ⚠️ Red herrings in AI and why some infra startups vanish overnight

• 🛠️ From vector DBs to prompt tooling – what survives when labs move fast

• 🔎 Deep dive on recent Earlybird investments including Briefcase and Spatial

• 💬 Why go-to-market insight is more valuable than tech alone

• 🔮 How to underwrite GenAI founders in an environment that’s changing monthly

Whether you're building at the frontier of AI, trying to raise your seed round, or navigating a product roadmap in a fast-moving category, this conversation offers frameworks you’ll want to revisit.

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Have a great Wednesday, The Riding Unicorns team