Draft:Jake Saper


Jake Saper
Born
Austin, Texas, U.S.
Education
  • Yale University (BA)
  • Stanford University (MS)
  • Stanford Graduate School of Business (MBA)
OccupationVenture capitalist
EmployerEmergence Capital

Jake Saper is an American venture capitalist. He is a general partner at Emergence Capital, a San Francisco–based venture capital firm that invests in business software companies.[1] He is known for leading several of the firm's artificial-intelligence-focused investments and for coining the term "AI-native services" (AINS) in his 2024 essay "The Death of Deloitte," which argued that AI would reshape the professional-services industry.[1][2]

Early life and education

Saper was raised in Austin, Texas, where both of his parents were serial entrepreneurs.[3][4] He earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and international studies from Yale University.[3] He later attended Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he received a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Science in environment and resources, and was named an Arjay Miller Scholar, an honor given to students in the top ten percent of their class.[5][4]

Career

Early career

Before entering venture capital, Saper worked as a senior associate at Katzenbach Partners, a management consultancy that merged with Booz & Company in 2009, where he worked on strategy engagements in the energy sector.[5] From 2009 to 2012, he was general manager of global strategy, business development and operations at Astonfield Renewables, a developer of solar power projects in emerging markets.[5] He began his venture capital career at Kleiner Perkins before moving to Emergence Capital.[5][4]

Emergence Capital

At Emergence Capital, Saper was selected as a Kauffman Fellow (Class 20, 2015–2017), completing his fellowship under the mentorship of Emergence founder Jason Green.[5] He led due diligence on Emergence's 2014 investment in Zoom.[1] In November 2020, Emergence Capital promoted Saper to general partner, making him the sixth general partner in the firm's history.[6]

Saper has served on the boards of directors of several Emergence portfolio companies, including Textio, Guru, Ironclad, and DroneDeploy.[5][3] In February 2024, he led Emergence's Series A investment in Mechanical Orchard, a startup that uses AI to help large companies move legacy mainframe systems to the cloud; the $24 million round valued the company at $95 million.[7][8]

Since the mid-2020s, Saper has focused Emergence's enterprise-AI investing around three areas he describes as AI-native services, agentic software, and physical-world AI, backing companies including Hanover Park, Ironclad, Bedrock Robotics, and DroneDeploy, and leading Emergence's investment in OpenAI's Deployment Company.[1]

"The Death of Deloitte"

In April 2024, Saper published an essay titled "The Death of Deloitte: AI-Native Services Are Opening a Whole New Market" on Emergence Capital's blog, arguing that AI would let startups compete directly with large professional-services firms such as the Big Four accounting networks.[2] Saper is credited with coining the term "AI-native services" (abbreviated AINS) in the essay, a category label that has since been used by other venture investors to describe startups that sell an outcome rather than software licenses.[9][10] The essay also prompted Deloitte to send Emergence a demand that the piece be retitled.[9]

Saper was named to Forbes' 2026 Midas Brink List, a list produced by Forbes and TrueBridge Capital Partners recognizing venture capitalists seen as future contenders for the Midas List; Forbes cited his investments in Hanover Park, Rowspace, Ironclad, Bedrock Robotics, and OpenAI's Deployment Company.[11]

Writing and media appearances

Saper has written as a guest contributor for TechCrunch on topics including startup fundraising and software pricing.[12][13] He has also been featured discussing startup fundraising strategy in TechCrunch's own reporting.[14]

Personal life

Saper is married to Dannie Herzberg and has three daughters.[1] He has described himself as a singer and guitar player.[4][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Jake Saper". Emergence Capital. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  2. ^ a b "The Death of Deloitte: AI-Native Services Are Opening a Whole New Market". Emergence Capital. 2024-04-11. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  3. ^ a b c "Jake Saper". UX Magazine. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  4. ^ a b c d "VCs On Call | Jake Saper". Regal.ai. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Jake Saper". Kauffman Fellows. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  6. ^ "Living Our Values: Why Jake Saper is Now a General Partner (and Lotti a Principal)". Emergence Capital. November 2020. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  7. ^ Konrad, Alex (2024-02-07). "Pivotal Founder Rob Mee's New Startup Is Using AI To Drag Ancient Mainframes Into The Cloud". Forbes. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  8. ^ "Mechanical Orchard raises $24M to help companies ditch their mainframes for the cloud". SiliconANGLE. 2024-02-07. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  9. ^ a b "Why AI-Native Services, and Why Now". Emergence Capital. 2026-03-23. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  10. ^ "The Open-Weight Unbundling". Euclid Ventures. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  11. ^ "The 2026 Midas Brink List: The Investors Behind Tech's Next Wave Of Breakout Companies". Forbes. 2026-05-27. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  12. ^ "Jake Saper, Author at TechCrunch". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  13. ^ "Factors to consider before pricing AI-enabled SaaS". TechCrunch. 2023-06-01. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  14. ^ Korosec, Kirsten (2020-07-29). "How to time your Series A fundraise". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2026-08-04.

Category:Living people Category:American venture capitalists Category:Yale University alumni Category:Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni Category:People from Austin, Texas

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