About Jerry Murdock
Jerry Murdock is the co-founder of Insight Partners (formerly Insight Venture Partners), one of the world’s largest technology-focused venture capital and private equity firms, now managing over $90 billion in assets. He co-founded the firm in 1995 alongside Jeff Horing, building it from a small New York-based operation into a global investment powerhouse.
Murdock currently serves as a Special Adviser to Insight Partners. He stepped back from day-to-day operations — term sheet negotiations, board seats, and LP management — but remains deeply active as an investor and mentor. He has made over 100 personal investments, each brought to him by people he trusts, maintaining what he describes as a creative, relationship-driven approach to venture capital.
Beyond investing, Murdock serves on the Board of Trustees of both The Aspen Institute and The Santa Fe Institute, and co-founded For The Forest, an environmental initiative. Based in Aspen, Colorado, he brings a unique long-view perspective shaped by three decades of tech cycles, including surviving the dot-com crash and 9/11.
Career Highlights
- Co-founded Insight Venture Partners in 1995 with Jeff Horing
- Led one of the most notable early investment rounds in Twitter (2009)
- Built Insight into a $90B+ AUM firm spanning venture capital and private equity
- Board of Trustees member at The Aspen Institute and The Santa Fe Institute
- Co-founded For The Forest environmental initiative
- Early investments in international markets (France, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic)
Notable Positions
On Autonomous Agents as the Defining Wave
Murdock draws a clear distinction between AI broadly and autonomous agents specifically. He sees agents — not copilots or chatbots — as the tsunami that will restructure the software industry. His portfolio companies have already deployed autonomous coding agents, leading him to declare that tools like Cursor are becoming obsolete in the view of AI-native startups.
On Agents as Software Buyers
One of Murdock’s most provocative positions is that software will soon be purchased by agents, not humans. He envisions agents with credentials and identity making purchasing decisions, managed like employees. This shifts pricing to consumption-based models and fundamentally changes go-to-market strategies.
On the Political Impact of AI
Murdock predicts that AI-driven white-collar job displacement will be a defining issue in the next U.S. presidential election, potentially leading to a minimum viable income ballot question within two and a half years.
Key Quotes
- “A tsunami is harmless when it’s out at sea. It’s only dangerous when it hits the beach.” (on the AI agent wave)
- “An autonomous agent becomes an employee. You give it credentials. You give it identity.” (on agents replacing human buyers)
- “Most of the companies, their view as they’ve told me, is Cursor is obsolete.” (on AI-native coding)
- “80% of the investments I’ve made have returned less than 1.3x. It’s the 20% that made all the money.” (on venture returns)
- “You really don’t know the edge unless you go over it.” (quoting Hunter Thompson on risk)
Related Reading
- AI Agents - The technology Murdock sees as the defining wave
- SaaS-to-AI Transformation - The trend threatening incumbent software
- Knowledge Work Disruption - The labor implications Murdock predicts
Video Mentions
Autonomous agents disrupting SaaS
Autonomous agents is what the tsunami is about. An autonomous agent becomes an employee. You give it credentials, identity, and it makes the decisions.