Imagination and nuance is your best moat against AI. Turning ideas into reality is pretty much a forgone conclusion. Ideas still require understanding of human need and value. Nuance is the refinement layer that determines who’s first and who’s second/last. Founders and VCs (those at the forefront of idea generation) are supremely positioned—assuming they are ingesting the latest AI developments. Speed wins. AI is killing the “how does it work?” mentality. “Fail fast” is no longer a cheeky euphemism, it’s become the operating handbook. I am both so sacred and so excited at the same time…

The mass proliferation of AI awareness rn feels just like the early junk mail/spam phase of the email era. Going to sit this out a couple months until content starts feeling fresh and curated.

AI can do the work, but can it do the sale?

In 2008, I had a short stint leading search engine marketing (SEM) for a fintech startup. With the rise of agentic knowledge creation and the attention economy, the rebirth of SEM is coming. This is different from current SEO rebirth because people WILL NEED to $ for agentic or human “eyeballs.” Huge opportunity.

When I started vibe coding (just three mo. ago), it felt like sitting next to a bubbling brook with the tranquil sound of free-flowing water. Today, vibe coding feels like:

Giving “the people” AI is like giving the “caveman” fire. All sorts of crazy shit is going to happen.

This is the year we go from “AI for X” to “X for AI”. Anyone building AI wrappers is on notice. Management, orchestration, etc. of AI agents is where it’s at. Heck, wouldn’t be surprised to see a tool that will mass ➡️ agents to 🗑️.

Pro tip for LPs: VC is a participation (not spectator) sport. It will take 8-10 years to get bulk of money back. If you are on sidelines, that’s a long wait. But if you learn, gain strategic value, and compound your access thru the relationship economy, it can be very rewarding.

Entrepreneurs have a burning, incessant desire to be proven right or proven wrong. Everyone else simply gives up way earlier.

For Emerging VCs, next week (Raise and Equal Summit) will mark the start of a new cycle. If you thought you were already running a marathon, that was the 10k part. Time to decide: tap out, press on, or pause to train for marathon. Choose wisely, but choice must be made.

Distilling my experience as a VC allocator: “Early stage requires conviction, late stage requires consensus.” You want the dissenting opinion pounding the table at early stage. At late stage seek diverse perspectives so as to not be blinded by own views. Hire appropriately.

Tip for fellow startup CEOs: customers PAY YOU to solve their problems, YOU DON’T CHARGE customers to justify the work you do. Let that one sink in…#whatsyourvalueprop

It’s time to cast away previous notions about the fundraising playbook in VC. Being a “translation” layer between GPs and LPs requires so much more than getting them in the same “room”. Only through data and investment analysis can we connect the capital.

On key lesson from last few weeks as a startup founder/CEO: leadership worries about the problems so employees don’t have to. Then by charting the strategic direction, employees can then worry about the solutions. Such a fine line between chaos and focus.

We all had the same questions on how the SVB fallout would affect VCs and their portcos. Instead of throwing out our opinions, we decided to collect the data. In the last 24 hours, we surveyed 40 GPs. What we found below ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️.

With VCs, quality deal flow is 👑. LPs know this, but evaluating & comparing sourcing capability is the hard part. Things we look for: - Proprietary/unique channels (YC doesn’t count) - A 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level channel breakdown - Scale (for when fund sizes inevitably grow)

The SEC trying to regulate #VentureCapital sounds scary. But, grounds for suit aside, it does tug at a problem we have known all along: The information gap between LPs and GPs is real, and the asset class will always be viewed as “dangerous” until it's fixed. Thoughts? ⬇️

Insights from our emerging VC community! @LakeDai

A quick plug for us at @Revere_VC 🥳 Would appreciate the votes from our GP/LP community!