Late last year I was able to sit down with @JohnWColeman and the team at @FDInvestor to record a short podcast about my journey, @HighAlpha, the future of AI and how faith informs my work. Super fun conversation with an amazing organization. youtu.be/7O9FCEhhm9o?si=IZQ8…

It's a money laundering operation. HighAlpha, ExactTarget, TechPoint, Elevate Ventures, did the same Israeli money laundering, drug trafficking, & credit card fraud rings. The $15 million goes back to Braun's family members like how Hungary, Russia, & China do it.

Getting amped up for our XO Summit - can’t wait to see all of our @highalpha portfolio CEOs!

The prevailing narrative is that SaaS is over and software is dead. A trillion dollars in software market cap gone in weeks. The story: AI agents replace enterprise software, per-seat pricing is dead, every SaaS company is equally doomed. I think this is lazy thinking — and it's creating one of the best opportunities for VCs and founders in a decade. SaaS is a business model, not a technology. This is what people keep getting wrong. "SaaS" describes how software is delivered and priced. SaaS was a go-to-market strategy, it was never the software itself. Remember when on-prem to cloud was supposed to destroy enterprise software? It didn't. It transformed the delivery model, unlocked recurring revenue, and created trillions in value. History rhymes and the shift to consumption and outcome-based pricing isn't the death of software — it's the next evolution of how software captures value. The underlying need for software to run enterprises doesn't disappear because the pricing wrapper changes. On-prem didn't kill software. Cloud didn't kill software. Mobile didn't kill software. AI won't either, because it's ALL software. AI doesn't replace software. It needs it. I have "accelerationist" tendencies and I'm incredibly bullish on the Agentic Revolution. Change is coming (possibly faster than most anticipate), but AI agents are only as good as the data they access. Where does that data live? In enterprise systems of record — CRMs, ERPs, HCM platforms. Decades of proprietary, mission-critical data that nobody is migrating to a startup overnight. AI gets brought to where the data already lives. The market is pricing in two contradictory things (and this is IMPORTANT). Investors are punishing chipmakers because AI spending might not generate returns AND punishing software because AI will be powerful enough to make it obsolete. Both can't be true. Pick one. We've seen this panic before. February 2016: LinkedIn plunged 44%, Tableau dropped 50%, Salesforce fell 13%. The narrative was that cloud software growth was over. The sector recovered within months. Microsoft bought LinkedIn four months later for $26B. For VCs: Software P/E ratios are at 2014 levels. Companies with proprietary data, deep workflow integration, and vertical specialization are being lumped in with generic point solutions. Software is the substrate AI runs on and this dislocation creates a generational entry point. For founders: It's the best time to build enterprise software in years. The cost of building has never been lower and the those that nail AI-native architecture from day one (outcome-based pricing, agentic workflows and primitives, vertical data moats) will flourish. Every repricing of a delivery model — mainframe → client-server, on-prem → cloud, cloud → AI-native — has created the next wave of massive value creation. VC-backed startup formation may be down, but the opportunity for builders has never been bigger. @HighAlpha | #VC | #StartUps | #AI | #SaaS

Datalinx AI is stepping into the spotlight. 🔦 @HighAlpha led @DatalinxAI's $4.2M Seed round, with participation from @databricks Ventures and @aperiamventures, to tackle one of enterprise marketing’s biggest bottlenecks: data readiness. Datalinx is building a AI data refinery, helping organizations transform complex, fragmented data into usable, high-value assets — faster and with far less operational overhead. Congrats to CEO and co-founder Joe Luchs and the entire Datalinx team on the milestone and official launch. highalpha.com/blog/why-we-in…

📣 @opendate_app 📍 Indianapolis, IN 📆 Event Management 💰 $14M Series A led by @highalpha . opendate.io/post/opendate-ra…

Exciting news from Tenon 🎉 We are pleased to announce continued investment to accelerate marketing automation built natively on @ServiceNow. With ongoing support from ServiceNow Ventures, @highalpha, and @stepstonegroup, Tenon is moving the roadmap forward and continuing to help enterprise teams turn ServiceNow data into action. 🚀 Read the full announcement: bit.ly/4rjcaUz #servicenow #crm #marketingautomation #fundingnews

Shoutout @highalpha -- as much as you think you need the big upfront contract, the data says otherwise. You SHOULD be aiming to turn customers into $1M ARR as quickly as possible, but not as the land. ARR --> NRR --> IPO (or whatever we're gonna call it in the future).

#Greece #d300 #nikonphotography #tamronlens #tamron150600g2 @photozone.gr #militaryaviationphotography #photooftheday #bestofeweek #smokewinders @sanderssmoketech #highalpha

Thanks for the shoutout Matt!

📨 latest newsletter: "The Best Software AI Content of 2025" Featuring @BatteryVentures @ICONIQCapital @scalevp @g2 @felicis @highalpha @tidemarkcap @ChartMogul @NorwestVP @OnlyCFO @Kellblog @godardabel @joeybrookhart

Sprint Market Volume Spike. The grid is set for the 19-lap dash. We are seeing a significant volume shift toward the midfield drivers—is the sharp money predicting a high-volatility incident? This is a high-alpha, short-term contract. Trade the Sprint now (Closes Saturday): app.forepredict.io/categoric… #F1Sprint #HighAlpha #RaceDayPrep #FOREPredict #PredictionMarkets #QatarGP $FORE

The 2025 SaaS Benchmarks Report by @HighAlpha is live! We were happy to collaborate on their annual Benchmarks Report. We even have a special Advantaged podcast episode on all the highlights coming soon. Check it out and keep an eye out for our podcast: highalpha.com/saas-benchmark…

Excited to be a partner on the 2025 SaaS Benchmarks Report from @HighAlpha! The takeaway is clear: the most durable growth is now being funded by operational efficiency. A must-read for every SaaS founder.

The 2025 @HighAlpha SaaS Benchmarks Report is live. Every year, this project is one of our favorites — and this one’s our biggest yet. More than 800 founders and executives contributed their data, insights, and stories to make this the most comprehensive look at SaaS performance we’ve ever published. • 🪃 The AI-Driven Market Rebound • 📈 Growth and Efficiency • 🔑 Key SaaS Metrics, Trends, and Pricing • 🤖 AI and Operations • 💡 Founder Insights Pulling it together is a blend of data analysis and anthropology — it's a fascinating look at how builders are adapting, evolving, and leading through change. This year’s theme: Operation AI. AI has moved from novelty to necessity. The real edge now lies in execution. The top performers aren’t just building with AI; they’re operationalizing it across every layer of their business to drive productivity, precision, and performance. The 2025 report captures both the hard metrics (ARR, retention, efficiency) and the human side of the craft — how teams structure, scale, and sustain in an AI-powered world. See how you stack up against the competition and download the full report at 👉 lnkd.in/gZN86UxV It’s a ton of work to pull this off each year — but it’s deeply rewarding. We’re grateful to the 800 founders who shared their data and to the 40 venture and platform partners who helped make it happen. And, finally, a huge thank you to @CustomersBank Bank, Visible.vc, @GrowthUnhinged, and the 40 venture and platform partners who helped us pull together the most comprehensive SaaS Benchmarks Report in history.

📣 Pimly 📍 Chicago, IL 🤝 Customer Service 💰 $2.25M Seed led by @highalpha pimly.co/post/pimly-secures-…

It’s our 11th Annual Golf Outing today! The sun is out and the course competitions sponsored by @highalpha, @overfuel_com and @Innovatemap are set. Carts are lined up. Advantage packages are for sale! We are ready for you, golfers!

Track Talk Tuesday: Venture & Startup 🚀 The startup landscape is shifting faster than ever. At Main Street Summit, we're cutting through the noise. This isn't your typical startup conference track. Our Venture & Startup track, powered by @redbudvc, High Alpha, and @mercatopartners, brings together investors and founders who are actually moving the needle. The lineup? 🔥 → @eglyman (@tryramp) → David Senra (@FoundersPodcast) → Kristian Andersen (@highalpha) → @bryce Roberts (@indievc) → @joeschmidtiv (@a16z) → @sotulana (@HarmonyVentures) → @jspujji (@GatewayX) ...and more seasoned operators ready to share what's actually working What we're tackling: → Meta Trends for 2025/2026: What's actually changing in venture and why it matters → Will AI Kill All B2B SaaS Companies? We're separating hype from reality → What VCs Really Want to See from Founders: Unfiltered insights from the other side of the table This isn't surface-level content. These are candid conversations designed to give you the tactical insights and honest perspectives you need, whether you're building your first company or scaling your fifth. If you're navigating today's startup landscape, this track is for you. Grab your pass here: mainstreetsummit.com/ #MainStreetSummit #VentureCapital #Startups #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #VC

Micro Targeted Marketing & Advertising software, real time data analytics, & political consulting groups created “JD Vance”™️®️ Exact Target/TechPoint/HighAlpha/Narya Capital

I made a list of multi-time founders. The List: @NoubarAfeyan - Moderna, Seres Therapeutics, Indigo Agriculture, PerSeptive Kevin Ryan - Gilt, Business Insider, MongoDB @istoica05 - Databricks, Anyscale, LMArena, Conviva Chris Ré - Lattice Data, Inductiv, SambaNova, Snorkel AI @laserlikemike - Snowflake, Pure Storage, Clumio, Reve, etc @Rich_Barton - Expedia, Zillow, Glassdoor, Trover @gc - StumbleUpon, Uber @sama - Loopt, OpenAI, World @danielgross - Cue/Greplin, Pioneer, SSI @rabois - Opendoor, OpenStore @ev - Pyra Labs/Blogger, Twitter, Medium, Obvious Ventures @elonmusk - Global Link/Zip2, X dot com, Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, Neuralink, Boring Co @jack - Twitter, Square @JeffBezos - Amazon, Blue Origin Jan Beckers - Fyber, FinLeap, IONIQ, BIT Capital @adcock_brett - Figure, Cover, Archer, Vettery @MattMickiewicz - Hired, 99designs, SitePoint, Flippa Brian Lee - LegalZoom, Honest Co, ShoeDazzle @jwmares - Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, Surely, TrueMed @lachygroom - Physical Intelligence, Compound @peterthiel - Confinity/PayPal, Palantir, Founders Fund, Valar Ventures, Clarium Capital, Breakout Ventures, Mithril @pmarca (2x with @bhorowitz) - Netscape, Loudcloud/Opsware, Ning, a16z @marcrandolph - Integrity QA, Netflix @reedhastings - Pure Software, Netflix @adwane - Zinch, Military dot com, Village Global @reidhoffman - SocialNet, LinkedIn, Inflection, Manas @kevinhartz - Xoom, Eventbrite, Sauron @peterpham - BillShrink, Color Labs, Science @mjones - Tsavo, Userplane, Wishbone @jliemandt - Trilogy, ESW, Alpha School @jackabraham - Hims, Milo, OpenStore, Bungalow Jimmy Donaldson - MrBeast YouTube, Feastables, MrBeast Burger, Lunchly Kim Kardashian - KKW Beauty, KKW Fragrance, Skims, SKKN @garyvee - VaynerMedia, Empathy Wines, VeeFriends, VaynerSports Logan Paul - Prime, Lunchly, Liquid Marketplace, CryptoZoo Jake Paul - Betr, MVP, Anti Fund KSI - Prime, Misfits Boxing, Sidemen, Lunchly @psl - Boundless, TeamSense, Kevala, Joon, SingleFile @highalpha - Zylo, Pattern89, Structural @verticalSaaS - GreenSpark, Ritten, Interfold @werdelin - Bark, Audos, Prehype, AND CO, Ro, Managed by Q @HeatherHartnett & @joemarchese - Clark, Reserve, Tiny Organics @stewart - Flickr, Tiny Speck/Slack @DavidSacks - Yammer, Geni, Callin, Glue, Craft Ventures Martine Rothblatt - United Therapeutics, SiriusXM Diane Greene - VMware, Bebop, VXtreme @naval - Epinions, AngelList, HitForge, Vast, MetaStable, Spearhead, Airchat @mlevchin - PayPal, Slide, Affirm, HVF/SciFi, Glow, MRL Ventures (Yelp, Slide) @JTLonsdale - Palantir, Addepar, OpenGov, 8VC, Epirus, Saronic, Opto, Affinity, Quaestor/Standard Metrics, Anduin, Esper, Hearth, Resilience Bio @travisk - Uber, CloudKitchens Jennifer Doudna - Caribou, Mammoth @jasoncitron - OpenFeint, Discord @AndrewYNg - Coursera, Google Brain, Landing AI, DeepLearning AI, AI Fund, Profitmind @Bill_Gross - GoTo, Heliogen, Energy Vault, eSolar, UberMedia, Idealab @bryan_johnson - Braintree, Kernel, OS Fund, Blueprint, /dd @MarcLore - Jet, Quidsi, Wonder, Mojo, Wizard Commerce, The Pit @auren - LiveRamp, SafeGraph, Rapleaf, Flex Capital, EliotNest, TitleDock, BridgePath, GetRelevant, Kyber Naval also mentioned back in 2009: "I originally started my angel fund as an incubator (The Hit Forge). I quickly moved away because of Adverse Selection - the best entrepreneurs are insanely committed to themselves and their ideas, and rationally or irrationally, don't want to diversify. Since then, I've invested in a lot of companies, including Twitter and Disqus and Heyzap, and am glad that I did so. The Incubator model works as a "search" model (MRL Ventures, Obvious Labs, Ooga) where the Incubator "finds" a company that the principals join, but not as an "investment" model where the incubator survives and keeps spinning out companies. This is true because you can't create or replace entrepreneurs - you can only discover them or be them, but you can't create them."