Meet Andy Triedman, Partner at Theory Ventures

Andy Triedman is a partner at Theory Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on investments in early-stage software companies. Andy grew up right outside of Boston, in a town called Brookline. As a kid, he was rambunctious as much as he was precocious, finding outlets for his boundless energy in a variety of sports until discovering his inner athlete’s calling in competitive skiing and track. He was a phenom on the piano and had considered forgoing the traditional path and enrolling in the Berklee College of Music. Life of course did not turn out that way, and Andy instead enrolled as a computational neuroscience major at Brown University, thinking he would become an academic. At Brown, he immersed himself in lab research, spending hours writing code and building machine learning algorithms atop of electrical and optical data extracted from mouse brains. Andy also experienced his first forays into the world of business. He ran a commercial radio station to much success and managed to turn a friend’s computer vision project into a short-lived company that won a state business plan competition. It wasn’t long before Andy couldn’t envision himself in academia, stuck in the perpetual dankness of lab work. In his senior year, he decided to make a hard pivot and join the ranks of the consultant class at the Boston and New York offices of Bain and Company. 

After two years at Bain, Andy took an offer to join Innovation Endeavors, the venture capital fund established by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and moved westward to San Francisco to explore that strange but exciting world of venture capital. Venture capital, it turned out, was a good match for Andy’s intellectual curiosity and love of learning. He considered staying at his fund for the long haul, but Andy was experience-driven--he had been a consultant and investor but not an operator, and he wanted to get a taste for the other side of startup land. He joined Replica, one of his firm’s portfolio companies, as a staff product manager. The experience, while enriching in its novelty, only cemented Andy’s determination that his heart was in venture capital after all. After two years at Replica, he landed at Theory Ventures, a first-time fund led by former Redpoint Ventures Managing Partner, Tomasz Tunguz. Today, as a partner at the fund, Andy believes he’s found his calling in early-stage investing. When asked where he saw himself in a decade, Andy is clear: “If I’m still here doing my thing at Theory, I’ll be happy.”

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Sam: Last year you joined as a partner Theory Ventures, a new early-stage fund. What do you focus on at Theory Ventures?

Andy: At Theory, I lead early-stage investments in companies with core technology innovations in data and machine learning. This includes both infrastructure and application companies, where the core insight or differentiation is technology-based. The idea is that advancements in technology enable the creation of new kinds of products or companies that weren’t possible before—essentially, technology-driven category creation.

We’re very concentrated investors, so a lot of our work involves developing strong theses. From there, we make a small number of very high-conviction lead investments in seed and Series A companies.

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Sam: Within the areas you're investing in right now, what would you say are the hottest trends or opportunities that are top of mind for you?

Andy: We have quite a lot going on. We're a very thesis-driven firm, and I focus on specific domains as well as more general technology theses. One area I’ve always been fascinated by is workflow automation. There are huge opportunities there, and I believe these systems are tough to build effectively, which means there’s long-term potential for differentiation. A good team can make a big difference, and you can build operational data over time that doesn’t exist today, particularly around reasoning.

In AI, reasoning is just another data distribution, like NBA statistics or French language. The challenge is that humans don’t write down most of their reasoning in everyday tasks, which is why AI models are brittle when it comes to reasoning. I see a huge opportunity in owning workflows for more complex systems. By capturing workflow-specific reasoning from operational data, you can build something that didn’t exist before.

There are several domains where this applies, including investigation workflows. For example, we led the Series A for Dropzone AI, which automates security analysis workflows. Similar opportunities exist in areas like site reliability engineering, procurement, and accounting. Those are some of the major themes I’m interested in right now.

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Sam: What key lessons from your venture career would you share with the next generation of emerging VCs?

Andy: First, I'd say it's important to play to your strengths. In venture capital, there’s always more to do than time allows. So, it’s crucial to figure out what you're good at and focus on that. For me, understanding technology deeply, spotting trends, building theses around those insights, and articulating them has helped me start to build a specialty and brand.

Another piece of advice is to view the investor-founder relationship as a bi-directional partnership. It’s not about power dynamics where the VC is in control or has all the answers. The founder always knows more about their business than you do. Humility, curiosity, and a collaborative mindset are key to building a strong partnership from the start.

Lastly, understanding internal decision-making processes—both formal and informal—is vital. Everything in venture, like most fields, is driven by individual incentives and psychology. Knowing the incentives of your team and others at the firm can help you navigate those dynamics and operate more effectively. 

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Sam: You’ve had operating experience before venture, but some people go straight into VC without that. Would you recommend getting experience in an operations role, given the debate about whether VCs should have operational experience or just focus on identifying good companies?

Andy: I've thought about this a lot. I'm glad I had the opportunity to be in an operating role, even though I had loved the venture role previously and confirmed after a couple years operating that venture was a better fit for me. My operating experience didn't accelerate my venture career; in many ways, it put it on hold. The skills and experiences I gained don’t necessarily make me a better investor from a technical or outcomes perspective.

That said, it did help me build empathy and improve how I communicate with founders. I wasn't in a rush to climb the venture ladder, so from a personal growth standpoint, it was a valuable experience. I wanted to avoid being years into a venture career and wondering if the grass was greener on the other side. So, while it was useful for me holistically, I wouldn't recommend it as necessary for becoming a better investor. You can learn a lot of the skills you need in venture itself, and stepping away from the industry can make it harder to maintain the relationships and market knowledge that are so critical to success.

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Sam: What’s your favorite part of the job?

Andy: Definitely the constant learning. I'm someone who has always been motivated by learning, particularly in science. I love reading papers, exploring the frontier of what's possible, and going down Wikipedia rabbit holes to understand random subjects. Venture capital is a job where you're always learning, and for me, that’s the most enjoyable way to spend my work time.

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Sam: What were you like as a kid?

Andy: Oh man, I was very social. I was definitely a bit of a troublemaker and jokester—loud, always talking in class, laughing in the back row. But at the same time, I really loved school and all my hobbies. I was just a high-energy kid, always going 100%, and I think that’s still true today.

My two big hobbies were sports and music. I was a competitive alpine ski racer when I was younger, and I did all the usual sports like soccer, baseball, football, and basketball. Over time, I realized I wasn’t very coordinated, so I shifted to running. I ended up doing track, cross-country, and skiing. I’m pretty uncoordinated with ball sports, but I love activities where I can just move around, and I still do that today.

Music was the other big thing in my life. I started playing piano—mostly jazz—when I was six, and that’s how I spent a lot of my time growing up. I actually almost went to Berklee College of Music instead of a traditional college. A lot of my high school friends became full-time musicians, so it was a major decision point for me. Looking back, I’m happy I didn’t pursue music as a career.

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Sam: What are some things VCs should avoid? What's the biggest “no-no” that you’d advise yourself on with the benefit of hindsight?

Andy: A simple piece of advice would be: don’t be a jerk to founders. I think of myself as a nice person, but I’m honestly sometimes surprised by how much of a differentiator that seems to be. A lot of founders talk about VCs who aren’t nice or considerate. So, even if you disagree with a founder, treat them with respect.

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Sam: Where do you see yourself in 10 or 20 years?

Andy: Hopefully doing exactly what I’m doing now. I’m at a new firm that we’re building, and I hope it will be really successful. It feels like a great place for me, with strong alignment and motivation to help me succeed. So, in 10 years, I’d like to be a successful partner at my firm. I also hope to still be living in San Francisco. I love the city, dense urban environments, using public transit. If I’m still here doing my thing at Theory, I’ll be happy.