Common threads through 25 years of VC investing

AI startups fail because founders obsess over models, not company building. Harrison Miller, early Amazon GM and former Summit Partners Managing Director who deployed $40B into 550+ tech companies, explains why execution, not algorithms, determines survival. He breaks down Amazon’s near-collapse and the $60M toy inventory crisis that birthed Marketplace, shares a framework for assessing true unit economics before scale, and details talent evaluation systems that minimize variance and sustain growth in bubble environments.