Conviction
Conviction Partners is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm founded in 2022 by Sarah Guo that invests $1-25M checks in AI-native startups, operating a concentrated 27-company portfolio across infrastructure, applications, and foundation models, supported by branded community programs (Embed, Mixture of Experts, Commit) and media properties.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2022
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Conviction does
Conviction Partners is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm founded in October 2022 by Sarah Guo, shortly after her departure from Greylock. The firm invests exclusively in AI-native ("Software 3.0") companies with checks of $1 million to $25 million, positioning itself as often the first institutional investor in concentrated, high-conviction bets. Over its first three years, Conviction built a portfolio of 27 startups spanning AI infrastructure (Baseten, Cartesia), vertical applications (Harvey for legal, Latent for healthcare, Sunday for home robotics, Onyx for AI security, RunSybil and Corridor for cybersecurity), foundation models (Mistral, Thinking Machines Lab), and inference hardware (Fractile), with six "crown jewel" companies collectively valued at $62 billion by mid-2026.
The firm's core technology is its investment platform: a coordinated stack of branded community programs and media properties that surround the fund with operational leverage. These include Embed (a grant/accelerator for early-stage AI founders offering uncapped notes, dedicated H100 GPU compute at cost, recruiter matching, customer introductions, and demo-day exposure to top-tier VC GPs), Mixture of Experts (a bi-monthly recruiting event series, iterated six times from 2023 through 2026, gathering AI-native startups and prospective hires), Commit (an early-career AI builder fellowship), the No Priors podcast (featuring AI researchers and builders), the Good Company podcast, and a curated Jobs board aggregating roles across portfolio companies.
Conviction's revenue model follows conventional VC economics: management fees on assets under management plus carried interest on portfolio exits. The inaugural fund closed at $101 million in October 2022, one month before ChatGPT's public release. As of March 2026 the firm is raising a third fund and a second Expansion vehicle, indicating meaningful AUM scaling. Sarah Guo takes no cash compensation and instead earns carry, while a small eight-person team (one founder, two partners-in-spirit, two talent leads, two EAs, and one ops lead) executes the model. The firm's go-to-market is community-led and relationship-driven, leveraging Sarah Guo's brand (No. 56 on Forbes' Midas List 2025) and the Mixture of Experts event cadence as primary sourcing channels for both portfolio founders and early hires.
Conviction firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Conviction
- Legal name
- Conviction Partners™
- Website
- https://conviction.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2022
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Conviction Partners is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm founded in 2022 by Sarah Guo that invests $1-25M checks in AI-native startups, operating a concentrated 27-company portfolio across infrastructure, applications, and foundation models, supported by branded community programs (Embed, Mixture of Experts, Commit) and media properties.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Conviction industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Venture Capital
- NAICS
- Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)
- SIC
- Investment Advice (6282)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Accelerators & Incubators (Investor-Operated) (FSANAAAM)
Keywords
Where Conviction is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Conviction business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- Fund management fees & carry: Conviction is a venture capital firm that raises pooled funds from LPs (inaugural fund of $101M) and generates revenue through conventional VC economics: management fees on assets under management and carried interest on successful portfolio exits. Sarah Guo explicitly takes no cash compensation at Conviction but earns carry when companies succeed. Conviction is reportedly out raising a third fund and a second expansion vehicle.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Early-stage check size $1M-$25M |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Conviction product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Conviction Partners is an AI-focused venture capital firm that invests $1–$25 million in early-stage "Software 3.0" / AI-native companies, often as the first institutional investor. Beyond capital, the firm delivers operational founder support through the Embed grant program (with shared H100 GPU compute at cost), the Mixture of Experts recruiting event series, the Commit fellowship, a curated Jobs board, and thought-leadership podcasts (No Priors, Good Company). Conviction also operates a community-driven pipeline of AI founders and researchers accessible to its portfolio.
Product overview
Conviction Partners operates a single AI-focused venture capital platform centered on its Fund I investment vehicle (issued checks of $1–$25M, often as the first institutional investor into "Software 3.0" companies) and surrounds it with a coordinated set of branded community programs and media properties: the Embed grant and community initiative, the Mixture of Experts (MoE) bi-monthly recruiting event series, the Commit fellowship for early-career AI builders, the Jobs board aggregating roles across portfolio companies, and the No Priors and Good Company podcasts. Together, these offerings form a unified founder-support platform in which Fund I provides capital while Embed, Commit, MoE, the Jobs board, and the podcasts provide talent, network, customer introductions, compute resources, and ongoing community engagement for the same portfolio (Baseten, Cartesia, Cognition, Corridor, Harvey, Latent, OpenEvidence, Sierra, Sola, Sunday, and others).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Embed: Grant program and mini-accelerator for early-stage AI founders, providing compute, recruiting, customer intros, and a demo day.
- Mixture of Experts (MoE)
- Commit
- No Priors
- Good Company
Products and services
- Conviction Partners Fund I (AI-Native Investment Fund) A $101 million inaugural venture capital fund launched by Conviction Partners in October 2022, focused on early-stage AI-native ("Software 3.0") companies with initial checks of $1–$25 million, often as the first institutional investor. Available to AI-native startup founders seeking first institutional capital.
- Embed (Grant Program) A grant program for early-stage AI founders that shares Conviction's network, recruiting support, customer introductions, advisor dinners, demo-day exposure, dedicated H100 compute at cost, and GPU/API credits; founders receive uncapped, no-brainer terms split between "people and compute." For AI founders not yet backed by Conviction.
- Mixture of Experts (MoE) Recruiting Event Series A bi-monthly in-office recruiting event hosted by Conviction featuring short demos from a curated list of AI-native startups, plus pizza, drinks, and direct access to founders for prospective hires; iterated across versions v1 through v6. For prospective early employees of AI-native startups.
- Commit Fellowship A fellowship for early-career AI builders run by Conviction, designed to funnel talent into AI-native startups and complement the firm's broader founder-support programs. For early-career AI engineers, researchers, and operators.
- Conviction Jobs Board A curated jobs page that aggregates open engineering, research, and operations roles across Conviction's portfolio companies (Baseten, Cognition, Collate, Corridor, Latent Health, Listen Labs, Nova, Sierra, Sunday, Worktrace, and others). For candidates seeking roles at AI-native startups.
- No Priors Podcast An ongoing podcast with AI researchers and builders, distributed on Spotify, hosted under the Conviction brand. For the AI research and builder community.
- Good Company Podcast An ongoing podcast about building legendary teams, distributed on YouTube, hosted under the Conviction brand. For founders and operators building companies.
Companies that use Conviction
Customer profileIdeal customer profiles1 record
Conviction technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Conviction partnerships and signals
Strategic signalRecent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Conviction competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Andreessen Horowitz (a16z): Large, established venture capital firm with a dedicated AI-focused strategy and substantial funds. Direct peer because a16z co-invests with Conviction in marquee AI rounds (e.g., Thinking Machines Lab $2B seed) and competes for the same AI-native founders.
- Greylock Partners: Sarah Guo's former firm and one of Silicon Valley's most established early-stage VCs with deep AI/enterprise software coverage. Direct peer because Greylock also writes first checks into AI-native companies and is a co-investor in Conviction portfolio companies (e.g., Baseten Series C).
- Khosla Ventures: AI-active venture firm investing across seed and Series A rounds. Direct peer because Khosla leads rounds in Conviction's portfolio companies (e.g., RunSybil Series A) and pursues a similarly bold, conviction-driven AI thesis.
- Founders Fund: Peter Thiel-led venture firm known for concentrated, thesis-driven bets. Direct peer because Founders Fund co-led Fractile's $220M Series B with Conviction participation and shares Conviction's preference for high-conviction, low-diversification books.
- Lux Capital: Tech-and-science-focused venture firm with significant AI exposure. Direct peer because Lux co-invests in Conviction's portfolio (Corridor Series A) and shares the thesis-driven, often first-check posture toward AI-native companies.
Broad incumbents
- Sequoia Capital: Tier-1 venture capital firm with broad sector exposure and dedicated AI investing. Co-invests with Conviction in Harvey and Rowspace and competes for early-stage AI deals, but with a far larger fund base and broader mandate.
- Lightspeed Venture Partners: Multi-stage venture firm with significant AI investing activity. Broad incumbent peer — overlaps with Conviction's AI focus but operates across consumer, enterprise, and fintech with much larger fund sizes.
- Coatue Management: Large tech-focused crossover investor with significant venture activity. Broad incumbent — co-invests in Conviction's later rounds (Sunday Series B, Harvey) and competes at growth-stage AI but with a fundamentally different public-equity-rooted model.
- Index Ventures: European-anchored global venture firm with deep AI investment portfolio. Broad incumbent peer — overlaps with Conviction in AI infrastructure and applications but with larger funds and broader geographic mandate.
- General Catalyst: Multi-stage venture platform with broad sector exposure including healthcare, fintech, and AI. Broad incumbent — co-invests in Conviction portfolio companies (Latent Series A) but operates at materially larger scale across stages and geographies.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Conviction social profiles
Digital presenceConviction financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Conviction leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
Conviction subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries3 records
Conviction funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Conviction M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments70 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Conviction
What does Conviction do?
Conviction Partners is an AI-focused venture capital firm that invests $1–$25 million in early-stage "Software 3.0" / AI-native companies, often as the first institutional investor. Beyond capital, the firm delivers operational founder support through the Embed grant program (with shared H100 GPU compute at cost), the Mixture of Experts recruiting event series, the Commit fellowship, a curated Jobs board, and thought-leadership podcasts (No Priors, Good Company). Conviction also operates a community-driven pipeline of AI founders and researchers accessible to its portfolio.
Is Conviction a public or private company?
Conviction is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Conviction founded?
Conviction was founded in 2022. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Conviction based?
Conviction is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Conviction make money?
One revenue line is on record: fund management fees & carry.
Who are Conviction's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund and Lux Capital. Broad incumbents are Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue Management, Index Ventures and General Catalyst.
Does Conviction have an API?
No public API is recorded for Conviction.
What industry is Conviction in?
Conviction's product category is Venture Capital. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSANAAAM, Accelerators & Incubators (Investor-Operated). Its NAICS code is 523940 and its SIC code is 6282.