Mark Haney: Yes, this is Mark Haney's show on a mission

Mark Haney: to ignite the entrepreneurial revolution

Mark Haney: right here in the hometown.

Mark Haney: We love, and we do that by building the

Mark Haney: Backyard Advantage, the most connected

Mark Haney: community in the world for local

Mark Haney: entrepreneurs, and it's based around a

Mark Haney: culture of love, but it's soon going to be

Mark Haney: driven by artificial intelligence in many

Mark Haney: ways.

Mark Haney: And today on the show I have my partners in

Mark Haney: the Growth Factory, rick Spencer, who has

Mark Haney: today on the show.

Mark Haney: I have my partners in the growth factory,

Mark Haney: rick Spencer, who has been on the show

Mark Haney: before, and our newest partner, ali Makani,

Mark Haney: and these guys, well, I'm going to have

Mark Haney: them give a little bit of their background,

Mark Haney: but I'm going to set up the show.

Mark Haney: I think today's show is going to be

Mark Haney: interesting because these two gentlemen are

Mark Haney: brilliant.

Mark Haney: They both come from a tech background, but

Mark Haney: they're also right at the heart of venture

Mark Haney: capital as well, as we build out the growth

Mark Haney: factory.

Mark Haney: So it's an interesting concept to think

Mark Haney: about the overarching economy, where we are

Mark Haney: at as a country and all the different

Mark Haney: things that we are facing, and then where

Mark Haney: is technology and artificial intelligence

Mark Haney: and the amount of productivity that that

Mark Haney: technology brings, and it's the

Mark Haney: intersection for where venture capital fits

Mark Haney: in driving a lot of these solutions.

Mark Haney: So we're going to talk about those three

Mark Haney: subjects today, but before we get into it

Mark Haney: too deep, maybe I'll have Rick why don't

Mark Haney: you introduce yourself?

Mark Haney: And then we'll go to Ali and give you a

Mark Haney: little bit of your backgrounds and then

Mark Haney: I'll sort of try to lead this conversation.

Rick Spencer: Great.

Rick Spencer: Well, it's been a while since I've been on

Rick Spencer: the pod, Excited to be back.

Rick Spencer: As you know, we've been building the

Rick Spencer: backyard and approaching nearly 70

Rick Spencer: companies in the portfolio, seeing exits,

Rick Spencer: seeing great progress, and now we're

Rick Spencer: thinking about our next fund, fund 2.

Rick Spencer: We launched our first fund three and a half

Rick Spencer: years ago.

Rick Spencer: We launched the growth factory.

Rick Spencer: We created it from scratch and it really

Rick Spencer: was about how to build that community, how

Rick Spencer: to bring capital together in this region,

Rick Spencer: and you know, as you mentioned now, this

Rick Spencer: intersection of timing with technology, as

Rick Spencer: well as the culture and the community that

Rick Spencer: we built, really exciting.

Rick Spencer: And so, you know, as the managing partner

Rick Spencer: of the fund, I get to work with these

Rick Spencer: amazing founders day in and day out, and

Rick Spencer: from the beginning, we always said, look,

Rick Spencer: we can't predict the future.

Rick Spencer: The founders predict the future and we have

Rick Spencer: to bet on those founders.

Rick Spencer: And that is proving true, not only prior to

Rick Spencer: this AI boom, but in this AI boom.

Rick Spencer: We're betting on the right founders.

Rick Spencer: They're building the future and to be part

Rick Spencer: of that future is incredibly exciting.

Rick Spencer: And to bring on new partners that can help

Rick Spencer: us see the vision of not only how do we

Rick Spencer: choose those partners, but how do we think

Rick Spencer: as a firm, how do we change ourselves for

Rick Spencer: the future.

Rick Spencer: Yeah, I'm thrilled and I'm pumped and I'm

Rick Spencer: ready to do it.

Mark Haney: Super excited about it.

Mark Haney: So, ali, why don't we have you do your

Mark Haney: background a little bit, and then we'll

Mark Haney: sort of incorporate the three of us into

Mark Haney: this conversation?

Ali Mackani: Well, thank you for having me.

Ali Mackani: It's awesome to be here.

Ali Mackani: I think this is my first actual podcast.

Mark Haney: Oh, let's break you in.

Ali Mackani: There you go.

Ali Mackani: I try not to make too many mistakes or too

Ali Mackani: many predictions.

Ali Mackani: That may not be true down the line, but

Ali Mackani: it's great to be here.

Ali Mackani: I think it's an exciting time in regards to

Ali Mackani: entrepreneurs building and venture

Ali Mackani: investing.

Ali Mackani: So I've been on the other side for a long

Ali Mackani: time as an entrepreneur.

Ali Mackani: I have now six startups that I've been

Ali Mackani: involved in, fortunate enough to go through

Ali Mackani: that experience of up and down of building

Ali Mackani: a company, growing it, learning failing.

Ali Mackani: Up and down of building a company, growing

Ali Mackani: it, learning, failing.

Ali Mackani: But as I reflect back on the companies that

Ali Mackani: I've built in the past and think about how

Ali Mackani: AI could have really changed the trajectory

Ali Mackani: of those companies or how we could have

Ali Mackani: solved problems that we could only do now

Ali Mackani: because of the solutions that are available,

Ali Mackani: and not only, it's a great reflection to go

Ali Mackani: back and think about it.

Ali Mackani: But then you think about what if we could

Ali Mackani: do that?

Ali Mackani: How do we do that?

Ali Mackani: Why would we do it?

Ali Mackani: And I think it's an exciting time to look

Ali Mackani: at how do we invest, how do we be smarter

Ali Mackani: in the investment process?

Ali Mackani: But then, once we do invest, how do we

Ali Mackani: ensure that we're seeing around the corner?

Ali Mackani: How do we see the white space that allows

Ali Mackani: us to help our founders, our builders, to

Ali Mackani: build.

Mark Haney: And you know what the art of investment

Mark Haney: comes with art of pivot.

Mark Haney: How fast can they pivot to get closer to

Mark Haney: what eventually be the product that they

Mark Haney: find the market for it?

Mark Haney: So it's exciting times and I'm proud to be

Mark Haney: part of this team and excited about what

Mark Haney: we're going to build, moving forward as far

Mark Haney: as Fund2 goes.

Mark Haney: So thank you for having me, well welcome,

Mark Haney: and I'm going to set up the conversation

Mark Haney: with my overarching thesis about

Mark Haney: entrepreneurs being the heroes of the

Mark Haney: American economy.

Mark Haney: They solve the world's biggest problems,

Mark Haney: they create opportunity and they figure out

Mark Haney: a way to change the world and they take a

Mark Haney: lot of risk, and so I really have

Mark Haney: entrepreneurs up there on a pedestal as

Mark Haney: somebody that I look up to and I'm really

Mark Haney: inspired to be around entrepreneurs.

Mark Haney: But a lot of that is because of really what

Mark Haney: they're doing for the world and our country

Mark Haney: specifically, and I watch a lot of these TV

Mark Haney: shows around the economy CNBC and there's a

Mark Haney: lot of noise out there and there's so many

Mark Haney: moving parts to what's happening in our

Mark Haney: economy now that it's easy to be frightened.

Mark Haney: Right, you have talk about tariffs, you've

Mark Haney: got inflation and interest rates going up,

Mark Haney: you've got wars, geopolitical unrest,

Mark Haney: people are worried about the strength of

Mark Haney: the consumer.

Mark Haney: And now there's this big, beautiful bill

Mark Haney: that may or may not pass and, you know, are

Mark Haney: the Trump tax cuts going to stay in place,

Mark Haney: and many, many more moving parts to what

Mark Haney: might trigger different things that are

Mark Haney: happening in the economy.

Mark Haney: But I think the overarching issue that the

Mark Haney: US faces is this debt that we're in.

Mark Haney: We have $36 trillion in debt and growing

Mark Haney: $36 trillion plus, and we're adding a

Mark Haney: couple trillion to that every year in

Mark Haney: deficit spending, and it doesn't look like

Mark Haney: we're going to get that under control with

Mark Haney: this new bill.

Mark Haney: And so what are we going to do?

Mark Haney: Like we're going to get that under control

Mark Haney: with this new bill, and so what are we

Mark Haney: going to do?

Mark Haney: We're going to continue to print some money

Mark Haney: and see interest rates tick up is what a

Mark Haney: lot of people predict, and nobody knows the

Mark Haney: future for sure.

Mark Haney: But when I say that entrepreneurs are the

Mark Haney: heroes of the American economy, one of the

Mark Haney: things that they do is they build better

Mark Haney: mousetraps and they drive efficiency.

Mark Haney: So, as we think about you know how we're

Mark Haney: going to, you know, raise more money with

Mark Haney: the federal government through taxes.

Mark Haney: If we're going to keep taxes low, it means

Mark Haney: we're going to have more profits at the

Mark Haney: corporate level and you know, overall we

Mark Haney: have to drive more profits so that we pay a

Mark Haney: little bit more in tax and we can make up

Mark Haney: and maybe get this spending issues under

Mark Haney: control and basically grow our way out of

Mark Haney: this situation that we've got ourselves

Mark Haney: into.

Mark Haney: To get you guys' perspective on that issue,

Mark Haney: am I overstating the possibilities of what

Mark Haney: entrepreneurship is going to be able to do

Mark Haney: for our country?

Rick Spencer: Yeah, I mean I'm going to set this up for

Rick Spencer: Ali a little bit, because he's been

Rick Spencer: thinking deeply about, you know, this idea

Rick Spencer: of venture science and you're exactly right

Rick Spencer: with you know, historically, entrepreneurs

Rick Spencer: being the heroes of the American economy

Rick Spencer: and they will be in the future as well.

Rick Spencer: I think when you talk about, like a better

Rick Spencer: mousetrap, some of that derivative thinking,

Rick Spencer: I think where we're at now and it is easy

Rick Spencer: to get distracted with all the noise of

Rick Spencer: things that are, you know, incrementally

Rick Spencer: changing the economy and, you know, not

Rick Spencer: having the impact that you know AI and

Rick Spencer: technology has the potential to have and so

Rick Spencer: when I think about it, I think, like this

Rick Spencer: moment in time, we're building a new future.

Rick Spencer: It's not derivative thinking, right, and

Rick Spencer: these entrepreneurs have to be trained and

Rick Spencer: have the tools to build that new future,

Rick Spencer: which is not just capital, right, it can't

Rick Spencer: just be the same as before.

Rick Spencer: And I think about this personally a lot too,

Rick Spencer: because I think about my daughter's 14 and

Rick Spencer: I talked she just turned 14 and I say I

Rick Spencer: don't know if you're ever gonna have a

Rick Spencer: driver's license, I don't know if you'll

Rick Spencer: have to have one, right like when that

Rick Spencer: conversation hasn't happened before.

Rick Spencer: Right like I don't know.

Rick Spencer: And your daughter's 14 yeah, she's just

Rick Spencer: yeah, just turned 14.

Mark Haney: I mean, yeah, in four years you know how

Mark Haney: many years before she's got a self-driving

Mark Haney: car In two years maybe we say why do you

Mark Haney: need a driver's license?

Rick Spencer: Don't worry about it, I don't know, right,

Rick Spencer: right, but we've never had that

Rick Spencer: conversation.

Rick Spencer: Right, when I talk about where are we going

Rick Spencer: to need and the things that we think about,

Rick Spencer: I think about her learning experience Will

Rick Spencer: you have teachers or will you be have your

Rick Spencer: own teacher?

Rick Spencer: That is AI that learns you and teaches you.

Rick Spencer: Right, we have not had these conversations

Rick Spencer: before and I share that just because it's

Rick Spencer: easy to tell those personal stories.

Rick Spencer: And then I think about the founders, who

Rick Spencer: we're investing into, who we want to invest

Rick Spencer: into the things that we want to build.

Rick Spencer: And we're not just building more companies,

Rick Spencer: we're building the future, and I think that

Rick Spencer: requires more of a system science

Rick Spencer: methodology that still takes that grit and

Rick Spencer: that passion, that courage, but is not just

Rick Spencer: capital and let's get lucky, right, there

Rick Spencer: is this mashup of building that future.

Rick Spencer: To me, that are these foundation of tools,

Rick Spencer: this foundation of community and this

Rick Spencer: timing that creates that future.

Rick Spencer: And so maybe, ali, you want to share a

Rick Spencer: little bit about how we've been thinking

Rick Spencer: about that and how that helps today.

Rick Spencer: And then, maybe, in five years, what does

Rick Spencer: that look like for entrepreneurs?

Ali Mackani: Yeah, I mean it's kind of interesting

Ali Mackani: listening to the way you explain your

Ali Mackani: daughter's potential for the future, right,

Ali Mackani: and that's you know.

Ali Mackani: You think back or you know when we were 14,

Ali Mackani: like if, imagine you know I was my first

Ali Mackani: year in the United States, or not, like,

Ali Mackani: imagine when you were 14 and what you were

Ali Mackani: doing, right.

Mark Haney: I was driving by the way.

Ali Mackani: That's right, that's right so and and

Ali Mackani: imagine the progress that we lived over the

Ali Mackani: last you know, 35, 40 years, right, and how

Ali Mackani: the last five years have accelerated the

Ali Mackani: change.

Ali Mackani: The multiplier in change has been amazing

Ali Mackani: and I could only imagine what the next five

Ali Mackani: years is gonna look like.

Ali Mackani: You know, you talk about not needing a

Ali Mackani: driver's license.

Ali Mackani: You know I'm going well, she's gonna fly to

Ali Mackani: go to her first day at college in a

Ali Mackani: personal flying vehicle.

Ali Mackani: That's a reality in five years, when she's

Ali Mackani: ready to college, she has that option,

Ali Mackani: right.

Ali Mackani: So when we think about venture and how do

Ali Mackani: we empower these heroes, as you mentioned,

Ali Mackani: as entrepreneurs, they need better tools.

Ali Mackani: We need better tools, which means that we

Ali Mackani: have to be more deliberate on how we source

Ali Mackani: and then, beyond sourcing, how do we

Ali Mackani: actually validate and how do we create

Ali Mackani: opportunities for these entrepreneurs to be

Ali Mackani: able to move faster than the change in

Ali Mackani: technology?

Ali Mackani: Because the multiplier is really hard right

Ali Mackani: now to keep up.

Ali Mackani: So if we decide to invest in something and

Ali Mackani: we predict that in 12 months is gonna do

Ali Mackani: this, we're wrong because the change is

Ali Mackani: faster than what we can predict and in

Ali Mackani: order for us to meet the demand and the

Ali Mackani: change in the industry and support our

Ali Mackani: entrepreneurs, we believe you know that we

Ali Mackani: have to take a different approach.

Ali Mackani: So what is the approach?

Ali Mackani: The first approach is we really have to be

Ali Mackani: testing it differently.

Ali Mackani: We should validate it differently and we

Ali Mackani: should be ready to pivot much faster.

Ali Mackani: And our entrepreneurs need to have that

Ali Mackani: type of a system around them as builders to

Ali Mackani: be able to test, remove the bias and only

Ali Mackani: move forward when you actually have

Ali Mackani: indicators, the signals that are true

Ali Mackani: signals, not gut feel right.

Ali Mackani: So I've been on both sides of this now and

Ali Mackani: as entrepreneurs, we kind of get into this

Ali Mackani: mode of if I just have three more months or

Ali Mackani: if I have one more million, right, but I

Ali Mackani: think on the investor side we're more on.

Ali Mackani: Do I like this founder?

Ali Mackani: Do we think the team is good?

Ali Mackani: You know, I think those are all great and

Ali Mackani: it has worked for the last 30, 40 years.

Ali Mackani: I think things need to change and that's

Ali Mackani: where the venture science as a playbook

Ali Mackani: should become a way for us to at least do a

Ali Mackani: better job of identifying what the problem

Ali Mackani: is, how are we going to solve it and how

Ali Mackani: we're going to truly measure it.

Ali Mackani: So that's kind of the framework of the

Ali Mackani: venture science that I think will allow us

Ali Mackani: to do a much better job, much faster job

Ali Mackani: and hopefully because of that that we are

Ali Mackani: returning a much higher return to our

Ali Mackani: investors, right?

Ali Mackani: So that's kind of how I think about the

Ali Mackani: venture.

Mark Haney: Science will play in a role in what we're

Mark Haney: going to do in the future so, of course,

Mark Haney: venture capital, like every industry, is

Mark Haney: going to be utilizing AI and using

Mark Haney: technology to get better and do it better.

Mark Haney: So let's dive into that in a second.

Mark Haney: But what industries are going to be, I'd

Mark Haney: say, the first adopters?

Mark Haney: You talked a little bit about education,

Mark Haney: transportation.

Mark Haney: Where else are we seeing AI adopted more

Mark Haney: early?

Mark Haney: Because I know we're investing into these

Mark Haney: companies at the startup level and I can

Mark Haney: tell you that I haven't even Googled

Mark Haney: anything in months.

Mark Haney: It's been.

Mark Haney: You know I'm, I'm using uh, you know I'm

Mark Haney: using the chat, gpt or something else.

Mark Haney: So which industries are getting disrupted

Mark Haney: and where do we want to, I guess, be

Mark Haney: focused?

Rick Spencer: Yeah, I think disruption is the key word,

Rick Spencer: right?

Rick Spencer: So I think every industry needs to have an

Rick Spencer: AI strategy.

Rick Spencer: You know, if they don't, they're going to

Rick Spencer: get beat by their competition, right?

Rick Spencer: So it's not optional anymore, it's

Rick Spencer: necessary the ones that can truly be

Rick Spencer: disrupted.

Rick Spencer: We still don't know that yet, but you know

Rick Spencer: some of the early things we see when it

Rick Spencer: comes to life sciences, and you know new

Rick Spencer: medicine for the future, right, like?

Rick Spencer: We have a company called Symphony in our

Rick Spencer: portfolio that's looking to take all this

Rick Spencer: virus data and predict future vaccines,

Rick Spencer: right?

Rick Spencer: So you think about that.

Rick Spencer: That's been reactive Vaccines, the flu

Rick Spencer: vaccine, for example.

Rick Spencer: They wait, they see what the predominant

Rick Spencer: strand is, they develop that.

Rick Spencer: And why do you get one every year?

Rick Spencer: It's because it changes, right.

Rick Spencer: It modifies, it mutates, and so what if you

Rick Spencer: could have a vaccine developing for where

Rick Spencer: you see that the virus is going?

Rick Spencer: So you have the vaccine ready for two years

Rick Spencer: out and as soon as that mutation happens,

Rick Spencer: it's ready, it's in, it's in in.

Rick Spencer: You know inventory if there's a

Rick Spencer: distribution plan, all those things I mean

Rick Spencer: that fundamental change you know would be

Rick Spencer: massive for the economy for the health for

Rick Spencer: the prosperity of the US and I think

Rick Spencer: similarly with even just health care in

Rick Spencer: general.

Rick Spencer: Right, like.

Rick Spencer: Will you have a doctor in the future?

Rick Spencer: Right, will you go to a doctor's?

Rick Spencer: Like.

Rick Spencer: Will you have a doctor in the future?

Rick Spencer: Right, will you go to a doctor's office or

Rick Spencer: will you have your own personal assistant

Rick Spencer: in your pocket and you ask them questions.

Rick Spencer: The tests come to your house.

Rick Spencer: You never go to a doctor's office again.

Rick Spencer: Right, like.

Rick Spencer: Never before have we thought that is

Rick Spencer: possible right.

Rick Spencer: And so some of that is technology, some of

Rick Spencer: that is the disruption of the standard way

Rick Spencer: that businesses work Healthcare is a great

Rick Spencer: example of we have so much infrastructure

Rick Spencer: around medical billing and insurance and

Rick Spencer: all these things, and so that is one of the

Rick Spencer: things I think about, which is which of

Rick Spencer: these industries will drag down the

Rick Spencer: innovation because of the infrastructure

Rick Spencer: and the thinking that they have and the

Rick Spencer: mental model that requires a change okay um,

Rick Spencer: and that same with you can look at military

Rick Spencer: right, like so many.

Rick Spencer: So I don't know what you think, ali, but I

Rick Spencer: always think about, like, where are these

Rick Spencer: industry?

Rick Spencer: You know there's both, I think, a maturity,

Rick Spencer: but also who's going to disrupt, right,

Rick Spencer: like you?

Rick Spencer: Look at Elon Musk, right, and how many

Rick Spencer: things you know.

Rick Spencer: Whether you like him or you're not, you

Rick Spencer: don't, right, like the disruption he has

Rick Spencer: introduced.

Rick Spencer: Spacex is a great example, right, a

Rick Spencer: historically slow, bureaucratic aerospace

Rick Spencer: industry that was mainly government driven,

Rick Spencer: and now the government is relying on his

Rick Spencer: spaceships to manage the international

Rick Spencer: space station.

Rick Spencer: Right?

Rick Spencer: If you would have asked someone at nasa 30

Rick Spencer: years ago, do you think a private company

Rick Spencer: can come in and build a spaceship in a way

Rick Spencer: that's reliable and that we would use to

Rick Spencer: operate our in-house?

Rick Spencer: Everyone would have said no, no way, never

Rick Spencer: gonna happen.

Rick Spencer: Right?

Rick Spencer: So you know that's.

Rick Spencer: A big part of it is that you either have a

Rick Spencer: disruptor that you know has the ability to

Rick Spencer: change an industry, um, or you have

Rick Spencer: industries that are maturing and are more

Rick Spencer: ready for change okay, wally, you want to

Rick Spencer: comment?

Ali Mackani: I would say that I mean, we don't know how

Ali Mackani: AI is gonna change.

Ali Mackani: I think there's a lot of opinions and we

Ali Mackani: see it.

Ali Mackani: We have now, in just less than 18 months,

Ali Mackani: for most people, their vocabulary has

Ali Mackani: changed.

Ali Mackani: How we conduct our family business around,

Ali Mackani: ai has changed.

Ali Mackani: You know how AI has changed how we manage

Ali Mackani: our family dealings.

Ali Mackani: So I think we're in a kind of a time

Ali Mackani: capsule that it's going to be interesting

Ali Mackani: to look back.

Ali Mackani: And you know, for me, the sad part about

Ali Mackani: this is well, the great part is I'm living

Ali Mackani: in it, right?

Ali Mackani: The sad part is that will I be here 50

Ali Mackani: years from now to reflect back, to go?

Ali Mackani: We were in that time, right?

Ali Mackani: So I think that we are in a crossroad of

Ali Mackani: technology impacting humanity like no other

Ali Mackani: technology change in the history of

Ali Mackani: humanity, right?

Ali Mackani: So I believe that we will see significant

Ali Mackani: changes when we're thinking about

Ali Mackani: productivity.

Ali Mackani: I believe AI will change how we experience

Ali Mackani: things.

Ali Mackani: You mentioned it.

Ali Mackani: I haven't Googled in, you know, but I'm

Ali Mackani: like AI is going to make you do things that

Ali Mackani: you're like, oh my God, what do you mean?

Ali Mackani: I don't have to do that anymore, right?

Ali Mackani: So I think it's really going to change how

Ali Mackani: we operate.

Ali Mackani: So I can't tell you this is the industry or

Ali Mackani: this is how it's going to really change,

Ali Mackani: because it's going to change everything.

Ali Mackani: I imagine how we watch TV in a few years is

Ali Mackani: going to be changed.

Ali Mackani: We're not going to be bound to a screen

Ali Mackani: anymore, because AI is going to enable us

Ali Mackani: to have experiences in ways that we could

Ali Mackani: only imagine or we thought in movies that

Ali Mackani: those would never be a reality in our time

Ali Mackani: frame.

Ali Mackani: So we're going to see a lot of change and

Ali Mackani: we just have to be open to it and

Ali Mackani: experience, experiment and experience it,

Ali Mackani: experience, experiment and experience it.

Mark Haney: I feel like we're seeing like centuries of,

Mark Haney: or about to see centuries of technological

Mark Haney: improvement in decades.

Mark Haney: Right, it's just happening so fast.

Mark Haney: Just an incredible.

Mark Haney: I'm excited to be alive right now and

Mark Haney: excited to be, I guess, at the heartbeat of

Mark Haney: where a lot of this stuff is happening, be

Mark Haney: around these startups and around the

Mark Haney: technology.

Mark Haney: As a non-tech guy, it's really interesting

Mark Haney: to be up close and personal with a lot of

Mark Haney: these companies, but one of the things that

Mark Haney: we're seeing in real time with a lot of

Mark Haney: companies is people are using AI to augment

Mark Haney: their workforce.

Mark Haney: I haven't seen it really replacing a lot of

Mark Haney: jobs yet or eliminating a lot of jobs, even

Mark Haney: though there's a lot of people that fear

Mark Haney: that that's coming.

Mark Haney: But how would you envision companies

Mark Haney: becoming more productive because they have

Mark Haney: AI agents or AI agents managing AI agents

Mark Haney: and swarms of agents really driving things

Mark Haney: that really maybe changing the way we do a

Mark Haney: call center or changed?

Mark Haney: I heard Amazon is spending $200 billion on

Mark Haney: AI for their logistics and factories, so

Mark Haney: it's like wow, the investment is coming at

Mark Haney: the big company level and a lot of these

Mark Haney: small companies are at the heart of the

Mark Haney: innovation.

Mark Haney: Yeah.

Rick Spencer: We have a company, our portfolio, called

Rick Spencer: Hulu, and so they deploy AI agents to do

Rick Spencer: mundane, repeatable tasks, and this is, you

Rick Spencer: know, one of the core things that their

Rick Spencer: customers reveal.

Rick Spencer: So, like they're having a lot of progress

Rick Spencer: with banks and you know, banks are

Rick Spencer: notorious for not being innovative right,

Rick Spencer: there's a lot of just moving around paper

Rick Spencer: and moving around data, not actually

Rick Spencer: driving value, and so you think of a bank

Rick Spencer: that wants to have better relationships

Rick Spencer: with their clients.

Rick Spencer: They want to know their clients more, they

Rick Spencer: want to have used data and have better

Rick Spencer: intelligence.

Rick Spencer: So now you can take that person who 50% of

Rick Spencer: their job is just emailing PDFs and

Rick Spencer: tracking PDFs right.

Rick Spencer: Like that exists, and if you can change

Rick Spencer: that to an AI agent and that person, now

Rick Spencer: you can say call the customer and figure

Rick Spencer: out their pain points, go, research this

Rick Spencer: and use that data to inform our customers

Rick Spencer: so they can build better businesses, right?

Rick Spencer: So that's a very simple example of a bank

Rick Spencer: that can improve their deposits the same

Rick Spencer: personnel, but their business changes.

Rick Spencer: They improve their deposits, they have

Rick Spencer: longer relationships with their customers.

Rick Spencer: Right, I mean meaningful change applying AI.

Rick Spencer: And I think those are the examples where

Rick Spencer: it's everyone.

Rick Spencer: Most people worry about oh, if that task is

Rick Spencer: eliminated, that person is eliminated, and

Rick Spencer: not about what does that person learn to do

Rick Spencer: next?

Rick Spencer: Right, we stop and say this is going away.

Rick Spencer: We don't say and what do they do next?

Rick Spencer: And that's where we have to be thinking,

Rick Spencer: not only as companies responding to AI, but

Rick Spencer: as entrepreneurs what do we do next?

Rick Spencer: What do we do next?

Rick Spencer: And so that's why I think we have to, even

Rick Spencer: with entrepreneurs, get them to think

Rick Spencer: differently, because traditionally,

Rick Spencer: entrepreneurs have been saying, oh, I found

Rick Spencer: a problem, let me build a solution, but is

Rick Spencer: that solution?

Rick Spencer: You know, ai is moving so quickly, we don't

Rick Spencer: know if that solution is gonna be viable in

Rick Spencer: three months, six months, nine months, and

Rick Spencer: so you know that's a really, I think,

Rick Spencer: important mindset, not only for companies

Rick Spencer: but for entrepreneurs.

Ali Mackani: I would say venture has to change how it

Ali Mackani: thinks as well.

Ali Mackani: If we're seeing founders and startups

Ali Mackani: accelerate how they built and we demand

Ali Mackani: them to go faster because AI right.

Ali Mackani: If we think about the narrative of how AI

Ali Mackani: has played in a venture role, we're putting

Ali Mackani: these pressure on our founders that says,

Ali Mackani: oh, two founders and AI should build a

Ali Mackani: billion dollar company in 12 months.

Ali Mackani: So if that's the kind of North Star that

Ali Mackani: we're setting up for what the future AI and

Ali Mackani: startups going to be, how is venture

Ali Mackani: thinking about keeping up with that venture?

Ali Mackani: Thinking about keeping up with that?

Ali Mackani: Right?

Ali Mackani: How's venture looking at AI to say how am I

Ali Mackani: going to run my business?

Ali Mackani: Not investment, yeah, we have to invest in

Ali Mackani: it, but how do we run our business, the

Ali Mackani: business of venture, the principal

Ali Mackani: operating system of venture that AI allows

Ali Mackani: us to accelerate.

Ali Mackani: When founders now building product using

Ali Mackani: these vibe coding systems and AI driven

Ali Mackani: solution, how are we going to do the

Ali Mackani: diligence on that?

Ali Mackani: How is venture going to come up with

Ali Mackani: solutions?

Ali Mackani: To start thinking about AI-built solution

Ali Mackani: and validation of that?

Ali Mackani: Not only should, but how can it change the

Ali Mackani: trajectory of our success by having it at

Ali Mackani: the fabric level of our operation?

Ali Mackani: Right, and that's how I think about AI will

Ali Mackani: impacting us, enabling our entrepreneurs

Ali Mackani: moving forward.

Mark Haney: Interesting.

Mark Haney: So, as I think about us, we're building the

Mark Haney: backyard advantage right the most connected

Mark Haney: community in the world centered around this

Mark Haney: culture of love.

Mark Haney: I talk about it all the time, but a lot of

Mark Haney: that is engineering wins.

Mark Haney: So we make helpful connections, meaningful

Mark Haney: connections, to drive positive outcomes.

Mark Haney: We help people get to third base a lot.

Mark Haney: You, rick both of you do a tremendous job

Mark Haney: of bringing people together to solve

Mark Haney: problems through introductions.

Mark Haney: So now my question of us is how do we use

Mark Haney: AI and technology to be a force multiplier

Mark Haney: for this tribe that we built?

Rick Spencer: Yeah, I think it goes back to some of the

Rick Spencer: things I was saying about preparing the

Rick Spencer: entrepreneurs, right, and so one of the

Rick Spencer: things that we do well with this

Rick Spencer: engineering of wins is, you know, it's not

Rick Spencer: just, oh, let me email this person and

Rick Spencer: connect them.

Rick Spencer: It's no having a conversation with the

Rick Spencer: founder saying, let me educate you on who

Rick Spencer: this person is, let me give you the

Rick Spencer: questions that you need to ask.

Rick Spencer: Let's talk about your objectives, right,

Rick Spencer: and so there's a lot the way that we do it.

Rick Spencer: There's a lot more that goes into just, you

Rick Spencer: know, giving someone a business card, right,

Rick Spencer: and AI will only help us do that more where

Rick Spencer: we can say, look, you know, these are the

Rick Spencer: prompts.

Rick Spencer: You need to go, use our engine.

Rick Spencer: You need to create the report that you're

Rick Spencer: gonna use for that meeting.

Rick Spencer: You're going to need to set up your

Rick Spencer: objectives, right.

Rick Spencer: I mean, this is like where it changes

Rick Spencer: everything is that it's that you're going

Rick Spencer: to use for that meeting.

Rick Spencer: You're going to need to set up your

Rick Spencer: objectives, right.

Rick Spencer: I mean, this is like where it changes

Rick Spencer: everything is that it's not cold calling,

Rick Spencer: where you're like, hey, let me just keep

Rick Spencer: dialing and hopefully I get lucky right,

Rick Spencer: and yeah, I have a script, but a lot of

Rick Spencer: this is did I catch this person in the

Rick Spencer: right mood?

Rick Spencer: You know all those things.

Rick Spencer: It's like no, the level of planning and

Rick Spencer: preparedness that you can have.

Rick Spencer: I mean, think of like an athlete, right?

Rick Spencer: I mean now athletics has changed so much

Rick Spencer: with the data that you have and how

Rick Spencer: athletes prepare, entrepreneurs have to

Rick Spencer: prepare the same way, and so, as we think

Rick Spencer: about our future and what we're building,

Rick Spencer: it's like how do we educate the

Rick Spencer: entrepreneurs, prepare the entrepreneurs

Rick Spencer: and give the entrepreneurs the best chance

Rick Spencer: of succeeding?

Rick Spencer: And when we talk about de-risking in

Rick Spencer: venture, yeah, how do we reduce that risk?

Rick Spencer: Where it's like, oh, don't just call on.

Rick Spencer: You know SMUD, you know you need to be

Rick Spencer: prepared for that meeting and this is how

Rick Spencer: you prepare, yeah, and not only for the

Rick Spencer: first meeting, but every you know

Rick Spencer: subsequent meeting and and and getting the

Rick Spencer: contract right.

Rick Spencer: Every you know subsequent meeting and

Rick Spencer: getting the contract right and you know,

Rick Spencer: using the right way to deploy, right, like

Rick Spencer: the whole plan.

Mark Haney: Yeah, I think about you.

Mark Haney: The word data has come up a couple of times

Mark Haney: already in this conversation.

Mark Haney: I think you talked about it with the

Mark Haney: vaccine company, you talked about it with

Mark Haney: you know just now, and I think about these

Mark Haney: pockets of data that are, I guess,

Mark Haney: proprietary in nature.

Mark Haney: And then there's obviously the data that's

Mark Haney: out there, that's available to everybody.

Mark Haney: But identifying those pockets of data that

Mark Haney: we have unique access to or somebody has

Mark Haney: unique access to, and how to bring that

Mark Haney: together for a solution, solution yeah, I

Mark Haney: mean, I think you're hitting the nail right

Mark Haney: on the head is that it's about that data,

Mark Haney: that information, right?

Ali Mackani: So when we think about how are we going to

Ali Mackani: leverage AI as part of our operation, we

Ali Mackani: think about it you know, we call it

Ali Mackani: VentureOS and it's about how we

Ali Mackani: systematically understand every interaction.

Ali Mackani: To me, every interaction is a data, and how

Ali Mackani: do we capture that, how do we analyze it,

Ali Mackani: how do we create the patterns out of it and

Ali Mackani: how do we make it part of our decision

Ali Mackani: making?

Ali Mackani: I think, when you think about venture and

Ali Mackani: as you put it, Rick, how are we going to

Ali Mackani: prepare our founders to take advantage of

Ali Mackani: every opportunity and it's not just a

Ali Mackani: business card, but it is a plan we have to

Ali Mackani: have a system that allows to do that.

Ali Mackani: We're not talking about AI as a tool.

Ali Mackani: We're not talking about uploading a deck in

Ali Mackani: ChatGTP and say what should I do with this?

Ali Mackani: Right?

Ali Mackani: We're talking about that the fabric of

Ali Mackani: understanding data from not only the

Ali Mackani: ingestion part of it, but the extraction,

Ali Mackani: to be able to have the truth of the matter

Ali Mackani: that you it's in front of you that you need

Ali Mackani: to make a decision, right?

Ali Mackani: I think, in a traditional way of venture.

Ali Mackani: We rely on CRMs and Excel spreadsheets and

Ali Mackani: the general partner's memory and their past

Ali Mackani: success right.

Ali Mackani: I think, as we're accelerating, we need to

Ali Mackani: augment all that with data, which is facts,

Ali Mackani: truth, predictions, modeling and be able to

Ali Mackani: understand the opportunities much faster

Ali Mackani: and at a much greater depth and levels.

Ali Mackani: And that's where our philosophy around how

Ali Mackani: do we run our business on AI and how do we

Ali Mackani: have an OS that helps us to ensure that not

Ali Mackani: only we understand the opportunities that's

Ali Mackani: in front of us and the growth trajectory

Ali Mackani: that it could have, but all the other

Ali Mackani: things that we decided to pass on?

Ali Mackani: Where are they now?

Ali Mackani: Why did we pass on them?

Ali Mackani: How do we learn from that?

Ali Mackani: So next time we're trying to invest, we had

Ali Mackani: good enough loopback feed from our

Ali Mackani: activities, our investments, our founders,

Ali Mackani: their pivots, their opportunities to learn

Ali Mackani: faster and better in how we do our job next

Ali Mackani: time that there is a deck in front of us

Ali Mackani: that we have to evaluate.

Rick Spencer: Yeah, and I think that just kind of

Rick Spencer: continuing on the data theme, two things is

Rick Spencer: moving.

Rick Spencer: You know we need awareness and education,

Rick Spencer: which the data can help with.

Rick Spencer: But then there's the preparation, right.

Rick Spencer: So imagine, you know, one of our portfolio

Rick Spencer: companies is preparing for a big pitch to

Rick Spencer: Google and they've got their plan and their

Rick Spencer: ideas and we said, hey, we've created a

Rick Spencer: simulation for you.

Rick Spencer: Now, you don't just like the athlete thing,

Rick Spencer: you don't just show up to the game and you

Rick Spencer: don't have any reps, right, they've, we've,

Rick Spencer: we've created a scenario and they're

Rick Spencer: actually going to practice three scenarios.

Rick Spencer: And so now they go into that meeting with

Rick Spencer: Google and they're prepared.

Rick Spencer: They're not just educated and aware, but

Rick Spencer: they've actually pitched the AI model three

Rick Spencer: different ways, based on three scenarios,

Rick Spencer: and they've learned from that.

Rick Spencer: And so now, going into that meeting,

Rick Spencer: they're ready, right, more ready than they

Rick Spencer: would be.

Rick Spencer: And so, moving from awareness, education to

Rick Spencer: preparedness, and then to Ali's point, the

Rick Spencer: other thing, specifically with data and

Rick Spencer: venture, is all this IP right.

Rick Spencer: Venture is very much you know invest or

Rick Spencer: pass, and when you pass, you know, it just

Rick Spencer: kind of goes away.

Rick Spencer: Right, we're not tracking those things,

Rick Spencer: we're not thinking about those things,

Rick Spencer: right.

Rick Spencer: But what if we said you know, oh hey, we're

Rick Spencer: looking at this company and or we invested

Rick Spencer: in this company and they need to go to the

Rick Spencer: next level.

Rick Spencer: Didn't we hear it?

Rick Spencer: We try to do that as humans now and connect

Rick Spencer: the dots.

Rick Spencer: Didn't we hear about a company like this?

Rick Spencer: Could we do this, could we do that?

Rick Spencer: But what if it gave us the game plan?

Rick Spencer: and said hey, this is your portfolio

Rick Spencer: company.

Rick Spencer: They need to get here.

Rick Spencer: You, three years ago, saw this company and

Rick Spencer: you also saw this founder.

Rick Spencer: And if you got that founder and that IP and

Rick Spencer: you applied it to this company, here's your

Rick Spencer: projected return.

Rick Spencer: Right Now we're talking a whole different

Rick Spencer: level.

Ali Mackani: That's right, yeah, and I'll just add that

Ali Mackani: I think it should.

Ali Mackani: If it's not already a demand, it will be a

Ali Mackani: demand of our LPs that how are we thinking

Ali Mackani: about, you know, quicker return, higher

Ali Mackani: returns, right?

Ali Mackani: I mean, there's no you know, mystery in

Ali Mackani: that the last 10 years has been, you know,

Ali Mackani: a kind of a challenging venture time in

Ali Mackani: regards to exits and returns, and that

Ali Mackani: demand will be upon the VC industry to go.

Ali Mackani: How can we, you know, move faster and how

Ali Mackani: do we return better to our LPs?

Ali Mackani: And I think the understanding of all the

Ali Mackani: touch points, understanding of all the

Ali Mackani: touch points, which, to me, that's every

Ali Mackani: piece of data, every piece of information

Ali Mackani: that comes across our desk has to be

Ali Mackani: understood, has to be evaluated, has to

Ali Mackani: have the relationships built that we could

Ali Mackani: reference it on quickly.

Ali Mackani: And this is not about replacing, you know,

Ali Mackani: a general partner or an associate, an

Ali Mackani: associate.

Ali Mackani: No, it's actually about the productivity

Ali Mackani: and ability to make better decisions faster.

Ali Mackani: Right today, you're probably dealing with

Ali Mackani: 30 to 60 days of, you know, venture

Ali Mackani: evaluating and deciding if they're going to

Ali Mackani: invest in a particular startup.

Ali Mackani: I find that to be a little bit ridiculous

Ali Mackani: in the day and age that we live in, right?

Ali Mackani: So how do we bring that in?

Ali Mackani: How do you turn that into a?

Ali Mackani: I'm not suggesting instant, but how do you

Ali Mackani: make that so you are moving forward faster

Ali Mackani: because our world is moving faster?

Ali Mackani: And that's how I believe understanding of

Ali Mackani: data and managing data and running it as an

Ali Mackani: operating system that helps us run our

Ali Mackani: company from a principles level will allow

Ali Mackani: us to become a leader inside of the venture

Ali Mackani: ecosystem.

Mark Haney: I think about the relationships that we've

Mark Haney: built with, obviously, our investors.

Mark Haney: We've got a hundred plus investors, but we

Mark Haney: have all these other partners and many

Mark Haney: within the venture capital industry who all

Mark Haney: have portfolio companies.

Mark Haney: So the relationships that we've built so

Mark Haney: far and we're just getting started they

Mark Haney: extend beyond the ones that are in the top

Mark Haney: of our mind.

Mark Haney: They extended venture capital firms,

Mark Haney: portfolio companies and so on.

Mark Haney: So the relationships go deep and I try to

Mark Haney: imagine how to utilize that data in order

Mark Haney: to engineer wins better, make better

Mark Haney: decisions and really build better companies.

Mark Haney: So it's really interesting and I also think

Mark Haney: about the companies that we invest into.

Mark Haney: Many times we see a technical visionary and

Mark Haney: maybe a technical co-founder or somebody

Mark Haney: who's more of a product market person and a

Mark Haney: technical person and maybe a financial

Mark Haney: person is kind of the founding team.

Mark Haney: It makes me wonder and I think about the

Mark Haney: example that comes to mind.

Mark Haney: Is Apple right?

Mark Haney: They started with Steve Jobs and Steve

Mark Haney: Wozniak.

Mark Haney: One is a technical visionary, one is the

Mark Haney: technical co-founder right, and so will

Mark Haney: companies be built in our near future that

Mark Haney: don't need Steve Wozniak, they just need

Mark Haney: Steve Jobs, and I am a fan of Steve.

Ali Mackani: Wozniak, by the way for a very technical

Ali Mackani: founder to leverage tools and technology,

Ali Mackani: AI driven, to be able to build a company

Ali Mackani: that achieves the highest level of success.

Ali Mackani: I think that's the same as us saying there

Ali Mackani: will be a unicorn inside of 100 companies

Ali Mackani: that we invest in, but there will be others

Ali Mackani: who's going to do things a little bit

Ali Mackani: different, right?

Ali Mackani: So, yes, there will be that.

Ali Mackani: I think that the writing is on the wall

Ali Mackani: that the AI is going to.

Ali Mackani: Ai is going to enable a single founder who

Ali Mackani: is very technical I think it's actually

Ali Mackani: going to be a lot more of non-technical

Ali Mackani: founders liberated to be able to do things

Ali Mackani: that they never thought they can, and I

Ali Mackani: think that's, to me, is the exciting part,

Ali Mackani: right?

Ali Mackani: You know I geek out with.

Ali Mackani: You know, Farzad, our CTO, you know working

Ali Mackani: on different things, but we're techie guys.

Ali Mackani: But then I see a couple of people that are

Ali Mackani: part of my group that are not technical,

Ali Mackani: are becoming technicals.

Ali Mackani: I have designers that are now saying, oh,

Ali Mackani: I've built my own product when before they

Ali Mackani: just designed and they needed an

Ali Mackani: engineering team to help them.

Ali Mackani: I think AI is going to actually empower

Ali Mackani: non-technical people to do a lot of

Ali Mackani: technical innovation, and that's the

Ali Mackani: exciting part about how this could become

Ali Mackani: an interesting path forward.

Rick Spencer: Yeah, I actually I don't disagree with that

Rick Spencer: and I look at it a little bit differently

Rick Spencer: of, like you know, we know the Apple story

Rick Spencer: because it's a huge success, right, but for

Rick Spencer: every Apple, there's a thousand Steve

Rick Spencer: Wozniaks that just haven't met their Steve

Rick Spencer: Jobs.

Rick Spencer: Right, and they've got a brilliant idea and

Rick Spencer: they could do something incredibly

Rick Spencer: disruptive, but they don't have that person

Rick Spencer: that can tell the story, set the vision,

Rick Spencer: close the deal.

Rick Spencer: And so when I think about AI and I think

Rick Spencer: about the thousand Steve Wozniak acts that

Rick Spencer: we don't know because they never met Steve

Rick Spencer: Jobs, I think that's where AI can now help

Rick Spencer: those people get to the next level and

Rick Spencer: there's the acceleration of innovation that

Rick Spencer: can happen with that now, because you don't

Rick Spencer: hear about those people, because they're in

Rick Spencer: their garage tinkering and geeking out with

Rick Spencer: their engineer friends and they don't have

Rick Spencer: the skill set, the drive, the vision to

Rick Spencer: take their innovation and break it through.

Mark Haney: Okay.

Mark Haney: So I want can you elaborate on that a

Mark Haney: little bit?

Mark Haney: So you're seeing the tech, the Steve

Mark Haney: Wozniak of the world Not that there's,

Mark Haney: they're everywhere but there's a lot of

Mark Haney: technical people in there that are out

Mark Haney: there that are brilliant and have great

Mark Haney: ideas.

Mark Haney: Are you saying they're going to be able to

Mark Haney: build the companies without the technical

Mark Haney: visionary, or they're going to use AI to

Mark Haney: build the companies without the technical

Mark Haney: visionary, or they're going to use ai to

Mark Haney: find the visionary?

Rick Spencer: that can both sell.

Rick Spencer: Yeah, I think they'll be able to get more

Rick Spencer: progress than they would using ai, because

Rick Spencer: they can put it and say, like I, I need

Rick Spencer: help telling the story right.

Rick Spencer: Like I can explain the technical roadmap, I

Rick Spencer: can explain the architecture, I can geek

Rick Spencer: out all day long, I don't know how to tell

Rick Spencer: a story.

Rick Spencer: Um, not only do I not always tell a story,

Rick Spencer: I'm scared of telling stories, right, and

Rick Spencer: so now they can get AI to help them tell

Rick Spencer: the story.

Rick Spencer: They could practice with AI right, and so

Rick Spencer: now they have more chance of sharing their

Rick Spencer: technology innovation with the world.

Rick Spencer: Could they also find someone?

Rick Spencer: Yes, they could say look, you know, let me.

Rick Spencer: I want my AI model to interview 10 people,

Rick Spencer: right, and now I'm not out there kind of

Rick Spencer: randomly dating folks.

Rick Spencer: I'm focused on the things that are going to

Rick Spencer: fit, the things that I need.

Rick Spencer: So all of that can help and all of those

Rick Spencer: are.

Rick Spencer: Again, we don't have the data to know how

Rick Spencer: many Steve Wozniaks had ideas better than

Rick Spencer: Apple, but they never had Steve Jobs, and

Rick Spencer: so that potential it gets me really excited,

Rick Spencer: because you know that acceleration of

Rick Spencer: innovation can happen with these use cases.

Mark Haney: So we're hyping this up pretty big on this

Mark Haney: show because it's our.

Mark Haney: It's not our job to hype it up, but it's

Mark Haney: our.

Mark Haney: We get hyped up about it because we're

Mark Haney: right in the middle of you know, I know

Mark Haney: we're at the beginning of the first inning

Mark Haney: and it's exciting.

Mark Haney: You think it's overhyped right now.

Mark Haney: You think AI and technology are people

Mark Haney: overhyping it, or where is it overhyped and

Mark Haney: who's missing the boat?

Ali Mackani: Honestly, I don't think it's overhyped.

Ali Mackani: I think the part that is overhyped and I

Ali Mackani: may be wrong is what AI is going to do as

Ali Mackani: far as taking away jobs.

Ali Mackani: I think that is a little overhyped is

Ali Mackani: outlining from how it's going to change our

Ali Mackani: lives, how it's going to improve our

Ali Mackani: ability to experience and reach the goals

Ali Mackani: that we want to have and even solve

Ali Mackani: problems that we never thought could be

Ali Mackani: solvable Cure cancer that we never thought

Ali Mackani: it could be cured, right.

Ali Mackani: But I think the overhyped part to me is how

Ali Mackani: many people are fixated on it's going to

Ali Mackani: take out our jobs.

Ali Mackani: I think we look at how technology has

Ali Mackani: changed humanity and our requirement to

Ali Mackani: scale up over the last hundred years.

Ali Mackani: It just moves us to a different level of

Ali Mackani: set of scales that we need to have, and I

Ali Mackani: believe AI will allow every skilled worker

Ali Mackani: to be able to accelerate, achieve and live

Ali Mackani: a better life because AI helped them to be

Ali Mackani: more productive.

Ali Mackani: That I wish more people talked about that

Ali Mackani: and hyped that opportunity up, because

Ali Mackani: that's how.

Ali Mackani: I see it, you know, I feel like I'm a

Ali Mackani: pretty capable person when it comes to

Ali Mackani: doing the things that I do on a daily basis.

Ali Mackani: I think that I'm a better person because AI

Ali Mackani: is there to help me.

Ali Mackani: It's not replacing me, it's helping me.

Ali Mackani: I'm able to do more, I'm able to be more

Ali Mackani: educated, I be more informed, and I believe

Ali Mackani: that is going to be the factor that's going

Ali Mackani: to increase productivity.

Ali Mackani: And it's more underhyped than I wish it was

Ali Mackani: overhyped.

Ali Mackani: You know that more people hyped that

Ali Mackani: opportunity versus AI being hyped itself.

Rick Spencer: Yeah, I would say two things.

Rick Spencer: I would agree with the fear.

Rick Spencer: You know that.

Rick Spencer: So people are consumed with the fear and

Rick Spencer: not seeing.

Rick Spencer: Look, I have 99.9% confidence that AI is

Rick Spencer: going to drive innovation we've never seen

Rick Spencer: before.

Rick Spencer: Now we don't know exactly how, we can't

Rick Spencer: predict the future, but we know that

Rick Spencer: everything is in place to drive innovation

Rick Spencer: that we have not seen before and to

Rick Spencer: literally shape the future of our world.

Rick Spencer: So I have ultimate confidence in that, and

Rick Spencer: I think, again, we talk about, you know,

Rick Spencer: typical kind of human mindset we're fearful,

Rick Spencer: fear, uncertainties and doubts, so we let

Rick Spencer: that consume us versus saying what's next,

Rick Spencer: what does the future look like?

Rick Spencer: Let's dream a little bit, right, and so I

Rick Spencer: think that's a humanity mind shift that's

Rick Spencer: going to need to take place to truly unlock

Rick Spencer: the innovation opportunity.

Rick Spencer: I think on the venture side, we have to

Rick Spencer: change our mindset too, because for so long,

Rick Spencer: venture has been about you know you set a

Rick Spencer: thesis, you have a prediction and you're

Rick Spencer: kind of married to that.

Rick Spencer: I don't think the future of venture is who

Rick Spencer: has the best prediction skills.

Rick Spencer: I think the future of venture is who's the

Rick Spencer: most agile.

Rick Spencer: And that is a big shift right when you say

Rick Spencer: you know, I can't arbitrarily say we're

Rick Spencer: going to invest in these kind of companies

Rick Spencer: with these kind of check sizes and these

Rick Spencer: kind of stages.

Rick Spencer: You know, I think you're going to have to

Rick Spencer: use this data to say look in this month,

Rick Spencer: based on our pipeline and the markets and

Rick Spencer: all of these data points, this month, this

Rick Spencer: is the best investment we can make.

Rick Spencer: Next month may be different.

Rick Spencer: And if we can't move that quickly, we don't

Rick Spencer: have the data to move that quickly, we

Rick Spencer: don't have the mindset to move that quickly,

Rick Spencer: we don't have the systems to move that

Rick Spencer: quickly.

Rick Spencer: That's where I think there will be a new

Rick Spencer: class of leaders in venture and the rest

Rick Spencer: will either have to learn and adapt or will

Rick Spencer: become obsolete.

Mark Haney: All right, I'm going to bring this back as

Mark Haney: we wrap up A couple more questions or a

Mark Haney: couple more, I guess, topics.

Mark Haney: If you will, I'm going to bring it back to

Mark Haney: where I started.

Mark Haney: You know we're all really patriotic people,

Mark Haney: we love our country and it's it's talked

Mark Haney: about a lot that there's this AI arms race

Mark Haney: out there and in the U?

Mark Haney: S is doing really well in some areas and

Mark Haney: probably the leader it's some of this

Mark Haney: cutting edge stuff, but there's competition.

Mark Haney: It's happening all over the world and so I

Mark Haney: think about, like this race that is out

Mark Haney: there, seems to be out there from a

Mark Haney: national security standpoint, from a

Mark Haney: economic security standpoint, which is

Mark Haney: national security, and what are we doing to

Mark Haney: position our youth to help drive this over

Mark Haney: the long haul?

Mark Haney: So that you know there's going to.

Mark Haney: You talked about your 14 year old daughter.

Mark Haney: It's going to be her age and even younger

Mark Haney: that really drive a lot of these shifts

Mark Haney: over the coming, you know, five, 10 years.

Rick Spencer: Yeah, this is becoming a topic in our

Rick Spencer: community where we're testing this concept

Rick Spencer: of something called legacy lab.

Rick Spencer: So we're just in the initial stages of

Rick Spencer: building something that empowers the youth

Rick Spencer: to take control of their future right, and

Rick Spencer: yeah, I mean from our investors to our

Rick Spencer: community partners.

Rick Spencer: So many people are concerned that how is

Rick Spencer: education preparing them for the future?

Rick Spencer: Is it preparing them for the future?

Mark Haney: Schools may be a little bit slower in

Mark Haney: adopting some of this stuff because of the

Mark Haney: bureaucracy and a lot of reasons.

Mark Haney: The future Is it preparing them for the

Mark Haney: future Right?

Mark Haney: Schools may be a little bit slower in

Mark Haney: adopting some of this stuff because of the

Mark Haney: bureaucracy and a lot of reasons.

Mark Haney: But you got to.

Mark Haney: As a parent, you got to take matters into

Mark Haney: your own hands.

Rick Spencer: Right and I think you know there's.

Rick Spencer: So there's the intersection of education,

Rick Spencer: government.

Rick Spencer: What is government's influence?

Rick Spencer: Many people in this country feel, oh, I

Rick Spencer: need to wait till the government tells me

Rick Spencer: what to do.

Rick Spencer: And those people are smart and responsible

Rick Spencer: and so I'll let them lead me Right.

Rick Spencer: Is that the right mindset to have for

Rick Spencer: building the future we want?

Rick Spencer: I mean, you know, you look at China and

Rick Spencer: they're all rowing in the same direction

Rick Spencer: because of their structure, and I'm not

Rick Spencer: saying we moved to that structure, but

Rick Spencer: they're rowing in the same direction and

Rick Spencer: they're moving pretty quick, saying we

Rick Spencer: moved to that structure but they're growing

Rick Spencer: in the same direction and they're moving

Rick Spencer: pretty quick, Right.

Rick Spencer: And so you know how do we empower the youth

Rick Spencer: to to push past?

Rick Spencer: You know, oh, I got to wait for someone to

Rick Spencer: tell me what to do.

Rick Spencer: I have to wait for that.

Rick Spencer: And that goes back to the entrepreneurial

Rick Spencer: story, right Of how do we teach them that

Rick Spencer: entrepreneurial skills can save their

Rick Spencer: future.

Rick Spencer: And I think that's the big mindset for the

Rick Spencer: youth is they're scared, they don't know

Rick Spencer: why they should be hopeful in some cases

Rick Spencer: and they're just confused in many cases.

Rick Spencer: And that we could talk about all the

Rick Spencer: reasons why.

Rick Spencer: But you take that fear, confusion and lack

Rick Spencer: of hope.

Rick Spencer: That's dangerous for our future.

Rick Spencer: And so you know, this is something that

Rick Spencer: excites me, not only because the you know

Rick Spencer: connection with with my daughter and my

Rick Spencer: niece and nephews and friends and family,

Rick Spencer: um, but you, you started with like where

Rick Spencer: are we going?

Rick Spencer: Where's this economy going?

Rick Spencer: Where's the society going?

Rick Spencer: I mean, this is like an existential

Rick Spencer: question that we have to, you know, because

Rick Spencer: we're going to be part of it, but we're not

Rick Spencer: going to, we're not going to build the

Rick Spencer: future, that's right.

Rick Spencer: Right, we're just helping get it started

Rick Spencer: and you know the people are going to build

Rick Spencer: a future your grandkids, your kids, my

Rick Spencer: daughter, Right.

Rick Spencer: And so if we're not preparing them for that

Rick Spencer: opportunity, what does that say about us?

Ali Mackani: Yeah, yeah, I love that, and you know I

Ali Mackani: listen to this podcast called Acquired.

Ali Mackani: I'm not sure if you guys have listened to

Ali Mackani: it, but highly recommend it.

Ali Mackani: They go back and, you know, replay and

Ali Mackani: educate you on a journey of some of the

Ali Mackani: most well-known companies you know over the

Ali Mackani: last few hundred years.

Ali Mackani: Right, the one that, as you were, you know,

Ali Mackani: sharing this opportunity of our kids and

Ali Mackani: our next generation is what's going to

Ali Mackani: build.

Ali Mackani: So one of the episodes that I was listening

Ali Mackani: to is about Hermes, the fashion company.

Ali Mackani: They're now in their eighth generation of

Ali Mackani: family-ran business.

Ali Mackani: When was the last time you heard that

Ali Mackani: someone's kids are taking over their

Ali Mackani: company's business?

Ali Mackani: It's becoming less and less right.

Ali Mackani: So I believe that everything else needs to

Ali Mackani: happen.

Ali Mackani: Yeah, education needs to be better, faster,

Ali Mackani: at a greater level, with more discipline.

Ali Mackani: That takes time and I think I go back to

Ali Mackani: you started by talking about entrepreneurs

Ali Mackani: are the heroes of this country and could

Ali Mackani: really change the trajectory.

Ali Mackani: I believe we, as both entrepreneurs and

Ali Mackani: investors, we should encourage our founders

Ali Mackani: to involve their kids in their business and

Ali Mackani: we should encourage them to have them be

Ali Mackani: part of their build, the building of their

Ali Mackani: companies, because there's nothing better

Ali Mackani: than actual hands-on experience and, you

Ali Mackani: know, watching and watching an 80-year-old

Ali Mackani: kid today and the language that they use,

Ali Mackani: the vocabulary that they use it's so

Ali Mackani: different and we need to close the gap.

Ali Mackani: Do we bring our experiences closer to our

Ali Mackani: kids, to our grandkids and the future?

Ali Mackani: And having them be involved in our venture

Ali Mackani: building is the way for us to move

Ali Mackani: entrepreneurship.

Ali Mackani: So the Legacy Lab, as you mentioned I think

Ali Mackani: it's a fantastic vision for how we could

Ali Mackani: educate, but we should encourage more.

Ali Mackani: We should encourage our founders to get

Ali Mackani: their kids and families involved.

Ali Mackani: We should actually incentivize them to say

Ali Mackani: do you have a teenager that is doing part

Ali Mackani: of your job?

Ali Mackani: Maybe we do a grant, maybe we write a check

Ali Mackani: for them to go get you know for college

Ali Mackani: education.

Ali Mackani: That's what we could do to really

Ali Mackani: accelerate the passing of the

Ali Mackani: entrepreneurship to the next generation of

Ali Mackani: entrepreneurs.

Rick Spencer: Yeah, we need Haneyville to not only be a

Rick Spencer: beacon of family, but a beacon of

Rick Spencer: entrepreneurship.

Rick Spencer: Ooh, I love it.

Mark Haney: I love it, okay, so I guess I'll just ask

Mark Haney: you any closing thoughts, or I guess I'll

Mark Haney: just ask you any closing thoughts or

Mark Haney: predictions, any bold predictions about the

Mark Haney: future, whether it be three, five, 10 years

Mark Haney: out.

Mark Haney: Any, any bold predictions or any closing

Mark Haney: thoughts.

Rick Spencer: Well, I'm not going to.

Rick Spencer: I'll maybe issue a challenge, and I think

Rick Spencer: it's for us and the community that we're

Rick Spencer: building which is holding true to the

Rick Spencer: values.

Rick Spencer: So I think you know you talk a lot about,

Rick Spencer: uh, values, mark of, of commitment, of

Rick Spencer: character, you know of, you know the things

Rick Spencer: that it takes to succeed in this life.

Rick Spencer: I think it's easy, um, to get so focused on

Rick Spencer: technology and innovation and lose touch

Rick Spencer: with those, and that is, you know, it's not

Rick Spencer: a prediction, it's a concern of mine of

Rick Spencer: that we lose touch with the values and that

Rick Spencer: we go off the rails.

Rick Spencer: And so I think we have to, as much as

Rick Spencer: people get excited about this conversation

Rick Spencer: and what we're building and how we're

Rick Spencer: helping and the growth of you know,

Rick Spencer: companies and the financial success, we

Rick Spencer: have to say, it starts with the values.

Rick Spencer: And if we lose sight of those values, even

Rick Spencer: if we see the most amazing innovation in

Rick Spencer: the world, what do we really accomplish?

Rick Spencer: And so, as our chief dreamer, as our chief

Rick Spencer: evangelistist, I would just challenge you

Rick Spencer: to make sure that those values stay true to

Rick Spencer: us and that we never stop talking about

Rick Spencer: them thank you.

Ali Mackani: I've learned not to make predictions

Ali Mackani: anymore, but I think that how we experience

Ali Mackani: things in life is going to completely

Ali Mackani: change.

Ali Mackani: I think AI is going to allow us, as humans,

Ali Mackani: to experience not only technology, but

Ali Mackani: experience life differently.

Ali Mackani: We could get to places much quicker,

Ali Mackani: physically or through technology.

Ali Mackani: We could experience things faster than

Ali Mackani: Amazon same-day delivery.

Ali Mackani: We take a lot of that stuff for granted.

Ali Mackani: I just think that the next five years or so,

Ali Mackani: the on-demand experience is gonna be so

Ali Mackani: different and I'm I'm fearful of it, but at

Ali Mackani: the same time, I'm really excited about it.

Ali Mackani: Right to be able to walk in into a fully

Ali Mackani: immersive experience and be able to live it,

Ali Mackani: touch it, feel it.

Ali Mackani: I'm excited about that and that's what I

Ali Mackani: would say that five years from now we're

Ali Mackani: gonna have, we're gonna live in a fully

Ali Mackani: immersive experiences powered by AI, and we

Ali Mackani: will experience humans and things in ways

Ali Mackani: that we've never had before.

Mark Haney: Yeah, I love it.

Mark Haney: I'll reiterate my bold prediction, and I

Mark Haney: haven't really talked about this a lot.

Mark Haney: I've never talked about it other than with

Mark Haney: you guys, but this idea that we're gonna

Mark Haney: print more money as Americans feels almost

Mark Haney: inevitable at this point.

Mark Haney: But I wear a shirt a lot of times that says

Mark Haney: everything is figureoutable and I believe

Mark Haney: that entrepreneurship and innovation

Mark Haney: whether it be big companies, small

Mark Haney: companies, startups they're going to figure

Mark Haney: out a way to drive enough productivity to

Mark Haney: outgrow the wasteful spending that we are

Mark Haney: doing as a society, and everything's going

Mark Haney: to be okay because entrepreneurs are on the

Mark Haney: way.

Ali Mackani: Couldn't agree with it anymore.

Mark Haney: Amen.

Ali Mackani: Amen.