AI has made it easier for founders to build products, test ideas, reach customers and, in some cases, generate revenue earlier. But as the barriers to starting a company fall, are investors raising the bar for their first institutional cheque?

This was the central question at ‘First Cheque, Harder Questions: The New Seed Playbook’, a panel discussion at TechSparks 2026.

The session featured Yoonmin Cho, APJ Lead, Snowflake for Startups; Shashank Randev, Founder and General Partner, 247VC; and Anvesh Ramineni, Venture Partner, Endiya. Moderated by Shubhangi Mishra, Senior Creative Lead, YourStory, the discussion examined what investors now expect at the seed stage and whether traditional startup metrics still hold the same weight.

Cho said AI has changed the venture capital ecosystem, particularly after a period of slower funding. At Snowflake, there is considerable interest in enterprise AI, especially vertical AI, along with emerging opportunities in frontier AI.

While AI has made product development more accessible, Cho said founders still need to focus on business fundamentals. A clear competitive advantage, whether through domain expertise, distribution or other strengths, is increasingly important.

Randev said AI is also changing how investors evaluate enterprise technology companies.

Advances in AI are helping deeptech startups develop prototypes and move towards product-market fit faster, but enterprise technology faces a different challenge. AI is replacing several standalone enterprise products, making it harder to identify which solutions will remain relevant over time.

“I think it’s becoming a little more tricky to understand which product in an enterprise tech ecosystem will survive a five-year journey,” he said.

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