Miles learned venture capital from the ground up at a tiny Thrive Capital straight out of Yale, giving him an unusual early-stage perspective, and grew up watching his stepfather build e-commerce companies from their living room, providing deep personal exposure to entrepreneurship from childhood. He focuses on backing technically intense platforms like Benchling and LangChain before their markets look obviously large, and has developed a contrarian AI thesis that avoids foundation models in favor of the application layer where companies can sell work rather than software.

• A strong focus on AI-native applications that rebuild workflows from the ground up rather than just bolting features onto existing software. He specifically highlights Cursor as a prime example of this shift, praising their explosive growth and ability to reimagine programming by taking on more work while keeping the human in control.
• Interest in the intersection of deep tech, biology, and hardware. He frequently discusses how AI can help decode biology to open new frontiers, referencing his excitement for Chai Discovery, and points out specific hardware bottlenecks like the need for advanced optics and photonics to support future computing needs.
• Prioritizes top-down, proactive recruiting as a core DNA trait of the best companies. He admires founders who are aggressively involved in talent acquisition, citing Shopify as a model for this behavior, and looks for leaders who can close high-quality hires quickly rather than struggling for years to fill roles.
• Looks for products that generate intense organic consumer pull rather than relying on "greedy" engagement tactics like push notifications. He points to ChatGPT as the ultimate example of a product that changed user behavior without forcing interaction, suggesting that the best teams measure deep engagement metrics like token usage per person to find power users.
• Valuing foundational infrastructure that enables speed and intelligence. He views elements like search as critical context layers rather than just features, evidenced by his support for Turbopuffer, and emphasizes that reliability in these systems is what ultimately empowers speed and progress for developers.
• Admiration for relentless ambition and the ability to break through market inertia. He respects founders who maintain a culture of discomfort and improvement even after achieving success, using the journey of Monzo as a testament to the sheer will required to bring a category-defining company into existence against the odds.