Maven Ventures General Partner Sara Deshpande has been investing in the consumer tech space for a decade.\n\nOver time, the seed-stage venture firm has backed the likes of Zoom, Cruise, Hello Heart, Perplexity and x.AI and has grown to over $200 million in assets under management.\n\nNow, with a new $60 million fund \u2014 and plans to write six to eight checks of up to $1.5 million each year \u2014 Deshpande joined TechCrunch senior reporter Mary Ann Azevedo on Equity to discuss the changes in the consumer landscape, how her firm is doubling down on artificial intelligence and what makes a startup stand out.