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Who we sat down with
Amanda “Robby” Robson (Founder of Modern Technical Fund) joins GTMnow to break down how she evaluates companies at the very earliest stages and why discipline matters more than ever in today’s market.
Amanda has spent over a decade in venture before launching Modern Technical Fund, investing across verticals ranging from security and compliance to developer tools at firms like Norwest and Cowboy Ventures. Her investment thesis is centered on backing elite technical founders early and helping them translate deep engineering talent into real products, real customers, and real momentum.
In this conversation, we unpack how Amanda thinks about founder quality, market timing, and risk when there’s limited data and plenty of noise, which is more critical than ever in an AI-heavy investing environment.
Discussed in this episode
What “technical founder” means and why engineering depth alone isn’t enough
Why the best technical founders pair product judgment with strong commercial instincts
How early-stage teams typically split engineering and go-to-market responsibilities
Why TAM momentum matters more than static market size
What valuation discipline looks like for first-time founders without traction
How fund math shapes which deals make sense and which don’t
Why some talented founders are still hard to back at today’s prices
How she evaluates a company’s defensibility pre-product and pre-revenue
What separates real AI companies from AI theater
Why infrastructure and data tools often benefit the most from AI tailwinds
Episode Highlights
14:10 – What actually defines a “technical founder” beyond coding ability
16:11 – Why product judgment and customer instinct matter early
17:05 – How early teams split engineering and go-to-market roles
18:13 – When investor advice helps and when it gets in the way
19:12 – Why calibrating the hiring bar matters more than providing playbooks
19:52 – How network-driven support helps founders see what “great” looks like
28:43 – Why valuation discipline sets the bar in today’s market
29:08 – When first-time founders become too risky at certain prices
31:33 – How early-stage defensibility often comes down to the team
42:15 – Why TAM momentum matters more than static market size
42:35 – How small markets quietly turn into billion-dollar categories
51:23 – What separates real AI companies from AI theater
52:33 – Why infrastructure and data tools benefit most from AI tailwinds
Key takeaways
1. Technical founders win when engineering depth is paired with commercial product judgment.
Robby is looking for founders who can translate customer pain directly into product specs and see the product end-to-end before it fully exists. At the pre-seed stage, where there’s little traction or product to evaluate, the real signal is how a founder thinks about users, workflows, and problems. The strongest technical founders are customer-oriented builders who can connect technical decisions to real buyer value from day one.
2. Valuation is a fund construction decision, not just a price discussion.
She consistently frames pricing through fund math rather than momentum. A compelling founder at a high valuation with little traction can still be a poor investment if ownership and return potential don’t realistically return the fund. Especially at early stage, entry price shapes the entire risk-reward profile, which means passing on strong teams when the upside is structurally compressed.
3. Market direction matters more than static TAM.
Instead of anchoring on today’s market size, she looks for tailwinds that expand the number of buyers over time. Some categories look niche right before they inflect because regulation, technology shifts, or workflow changes make the problem inevitable for more companies. The key question becomes less “how big is TAM today?” and more “is this market structurally growing in urgency and adoption?”
4. Early-stage diligence is behavioral, and there are creative ways VCs do this.
Rather than relying heavily on warm customer references, she often has founders pitch members of her own network and observes how they engage, educate, and handle objections in real time. This reveals GTM instinct, clarity of thinking, and founder adaptability far better than a polished deck or curated reference calls.
5. AI investing requires separating real product depth from AI theater.
True AI-native companies either deliver AI as the primary product or enable AI applications through infrastructure, data, or core workflows. In a market saturated with AI positioning, durability increasingly comes from whether the product fundamentally depends on AI to create differentiated value. skills.
Share your takeaways!
Follow Amanda “Robby” Robson
Amanda’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-robson-7227685b
Amanda’s X: https://x.com/robby_mtf
Modern Technical Fund’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-technical-fund
Modern Technical Fund website: https://moderntechnicalfund.com
Follow Max Altschuler (Host)
X (Twitter): https://x.com/HackItMax
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The GTMnow Podcast tells the stories of how the top 1% of operators, founders and investors build, scale and invest.
Each week, we uncover the pivotal moments, bold decisions, and go-to-market strategies that turn ideas into breakout companies.
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