Inside BCV: Partner Christina Melas-Kyriazi on AI applications and scouting an Olympian

We sat down with Christina Melas-Kyriazi, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures. Before VC, she was a product leader at Affirm. She joined when it was a few hundred people and stayed through IPO. Now she backs founders building AI-enabled companies.We talk about:- How her first "scouting" experience wasn't in venture, it was in high school. She recruited a soccer player onto her cross country team who went on to become an Olympian and one of her closest friends for life- What she learned from Max Levchin at Affirm: the best founders hold the highest level of vision and the lowest level of detail at the same time, and that's what allows them to bend reality to their will- Her hot take on why mission-driven companies will out perform; she put $15M into MagicSchool AI and counts Carrot Fertility as one of her most memorable angel checks- Her answer to the question everyone's asking: where will the labs play vs. AI application companies- Why she gives her friends money with zero questions asked if they're starting a company- The positive imposter syndrome loopIf you're a founder exploring the future of AI and services, Christina is only one cold DM away