Emergence is a thesis-driven, low-volume/high-touch firm that invests exclusively in B2B software founders 'shaping the way the world works.' Founded in 2003 on a contrarian bet that enterprise software would move to the cloud (Salesforce, Veeva, Box), the firm now centers its conviction on AI as the next platform shift in work — including AI infrastructure, physical-world AI, and 'AI-Native Services' companies that sell outcomes rather than seats. They make only ~5-7 investments a year so each partner can engage deeply, and they prize a unique, believable market insight paired with a vision that scales from product-market fit to massive scale.
A real, large workflow problem framed through a unique market insight the founder understands deeply — ideally one most investors won't already know. Emergence prefers opening with a surprising-but-believable fact about the market over a generic 'problem' slide.
“Start by sharing an interesting but believable fact about your market that you expect most investors won't already know.” — Set Yourself Up for Series A Pitch Success
“So if you could figure out a way to serve apps in this environment, you could enable the transformation of a $1T industry.” — The Emergence Team
“Legacy providers are ripe for disruption: their business models rely on human labor and hourly billing which can be turned on its head by AI-native vendors.” — Jake Saper
A product that delivers a genuinely new user experience or a tailored industry solution, ideally one that spreads across an organization and enables collaboration or outcomes that weren't possible before. For AI-native services, the solution must focus narrowly on one or two jobs to be done.
“We know how rare it is to find a product that spreads across an organization and enables collaboration that couldn't happen before.” — The Era Of Digital Contracts Has Arrived: Why We Invested In Ironclad
“the key to unlocking transformative demand for new software is a product offering that is tailored to the needs of an industry” — Kevin Spain
“Focus on one or two jobs to be done. Premature breadth is one of the fastest paths to Mirage PMF.” — Jake Saper
Markets large enough that a tailored product can transform a whole industry — often $1T+ vertical markets, or AI-native services attacking labor budgets (e.g., the Big 4's $200B revenue) rather than crowded software budgets.
“The commercial services market is big (by our estimates over $1 trillion in annual global revenue)” — Our Partnership with Convex: The Industry Cloud Platform for Commercial Services
“The Big 4 alone brought in $200B in revenue last year” — Jake Saper
“Every vertical services market with high-volume, repeatable workflows is a candidate for AI-native disruption: insurance claims and brokerage, fund administration, customs brokerage, revenue cycle management, KYC compliance, supply chain operations, and many more.” — Jake Saper
Concrete signs of progress and customer love — but, crucially, traction that reflects real product leverage. For AI-native services, revenue growth alone is 'Mirage PMF'; true PMF means AI is doing a material share of the work at high gross margin with superior outcomes.
“Investors are looking for concrete signs of progress, but they're also looking for a vision that carries your company from product-market fit to massive scale.” — Set Yourself Up for Series A Pitch Success
“Mirage PMF: The illusion of product-market fit created by revenue growth that's powered by human labor rather than AI leverage.” — Jake Saper
“Real PMF requires proving you can scale non-linearly relative to your costs.” — Jake Saper
“They raved about how Textio had completely changed how they write.” — Gordon Ritter
Founders with deep, often lived, domain credibility and complementary co-founders. For AI-native services, domain expertise is existential because the customer is buying trust. Emergence weights people highly because they engage as long-term partners.
“Domain credibility isn't just important; it's existential.” — The AI-Native Services Playbook
“Domain expertise is a must have. In traditional SaaS, you're selling a product. In AI-native services, you're selling yourself.” — Jake Saper
“I've seen the caliber of the people Jason and his co-founder Cai have recruited, complementing their backgrounds as a lawyer and an engineer, respectively, with seasoned SaaS leaders.” — Jake Saper
“Charlie has a unique perspective on this market as his family owns a commercial HVAC service business.” — Kevin Spain
“Growing a business takes time. So you'd better be doing it with people you like.” — Santi Subotovsky
Models aligned with delivered value — Emergence is bullish on outcomes-based pricing, especially for AI-native services where the company provides all of the value. The seat-based SaaS license is, in their view, dying as models do work directly.
“The entire technology industry is moving toward outcomes-based pricing.” — The AI-Native Services Playbook
“AI-native services are uniquely well positioned. By definition, an AINS company is providing all of the value.” — Jake Saper
“As foundation models begin to do the work directly, the seat-based license model is dying.” — Lotti Siniscalco
A defensible moat that compounds over time — Emergence favors a day-one data flywheel, brand, and switching costs from scope/depth of work. They are skeptical of companies that are 'just a services company that uses AI tools' with no compounding advantage.
“the work compounds into a durable advantage. If you're not building this flywheel from day one, you're just a services company that uses AI tools.” — The AI-Native Services Playbook
“Brand is a powerful and underappreciated moat.” — Jake Saper
“Their 'product' (humans) is very difficult to integrate AI into.” — Jake Saper
A clear platform shift that makes the company possible now and not before. Emergence's current conviction is that AI is transforming how work gets done — many of their theses (AI-native services, coaching networks) hinge on a specific recent capability inflection.
“Today, we find ourselves amidst another platform shift as AI transforms how work gets done.” — Announcing Emergence VII: A $1 Billion Commitment to Building Iconic B2B Companies
“The idea of selling a service powered primarily by AI wasn't possible until 2023.” — Jake Saper
“Companies are firing the doers before they have the AI in place to replace them. When they realize this deficit, they'll likely prefer to outsource the work vs rehire the labor.” — Lotti Siniscalco
A pitch that balances concrete progress with an ambitious, scalable vision, and answers why this company and why this founder. Emergence engages as a deep, long-term partner from the earliest days, so the ask is framed as the start of a relationship, not a transaction.
“Balancing these two things—vision and execution—is critical to an effective Series A pitch deck.” — Set Yourself Up for Series A Pitch Success
“Why is this company different? And why this the person to lead it?” — The Emergence Team
“From the earliest days of a company's journey, we've been there—not just as investors, but as true partners” — The Emergence Team
“Legacy providers are ripe for disruption: their business models rely on human labor and hourly billing which can be turned on its head by AI-native vendors.”
“As soon as I saw them demo how free-form text could 'light up' with in-line suggestions, I knew I was looking at a new user experience.”
“the key to unlocking transformative demand for new software is a product offering that is tailored to the needs of an industry”
“Growing a business takes time. So you'd better be doing it with people you like.”
“The market is no longer waiting for tools; it is demanding results.”