Menlo Ventures’ Matt Murphy explains what AI startups founders must do differently
TL;DR
Anthropic leaped to a $47 billion revenue run rate by May, compared to $9 billion in 2025. It’s the kind of growth that Menlo Ventures’ Matt Murphy says he’s never seen in 25 years of investing, not in the internet wave, not in mobile, not in the first cloud boom. Menlo led Anthropic’s $500M Series D, and Murphy has had a front-row seat as the company went from a pre-revenue, […].
Nauti's Take
Murphy's point is useful for founders because it moves the bar: capital is not the deciding factor, daily usage, revenue momentum, and a product that turns into a habit are. The catch: the view comes from close investor proximity to Anthropic, and a 47 billion dollar run rate is not a pattern anyone can copy.
In practice that means checking unit economics against model costs first, and owning a real distribution channel.
Summary
Anthropic leaped to a $47 billion revenue run rate by May, compared to $9 billion in 2025. It’s the kind of growth that Menlo Ventures’ Matt Murphy says he’s never seen in 25 years of investing, not in the internet wave, not in mobile, not in the first cloud boom. Menlo led Anthropic’s $500M Series D, and Murphy has had a front-row seat as the company went from a pre-revenue, […]
Sources