How Top VCs Pick Winners In 2026 | Cassie Young, General Partner @ Primary Venture Partners
About this episode
Cassie Young discusses the future of venture capital and the challenges facing AI startups in the tech industry.
Cassie Young, Partner at Primary Venture Partners, joins the show to break down their contrarian $625 million seed fund and the reality of the coming gross retention apocalypse for tech companies. The conversation outlines why classical venture logic is breaking and how AI-native CRMs are plotting to steal enterprise market share from legacy giants like Salesforce. The group also details why the $6 trillion white-collar labor pool is the real target for emerging AI workflows rather than traditional software budgets. Expect a direct discussion on the myth of the zero CAC CEO, the evolving definition of the jaw-dropping customer experience, and the specific signals Primary looks for when writing checks to early-stage go-to-market founders building the next wave of B2B SaaS products. Key Takeaways -Primary Ventures just raised a massive $625 million seed fund by challenging traditional venture capital models, as Cassie explains, "The conventional wisdom at seed is to stay small. We fundamentally disagree with that." But don't worry: Cassie explains why they believe their approach is the right one. -Cassie warns that a retention reckoning is inevitable for AI startups noting, "I…
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