Background
I spend a lot of time thinking about technology catalysts, the waves of disruption they create and the new companies that emerge from these waves. I invest broadly across the technology spectrum, but my primary areas of interest are vertical AI, fintech and defense.
My Interest in Vertical AI
I am particularly interested in startups using artificial intelligence to revolutionize decision-making in specific verticals. Foundation models have dramatically lowered the cost of cognition, and this has unlocked a new generation of vertical AI companies that embed intelligence directly into mission-critical workflows. I am particularly focused on AI platforms in financial services, law and defense, where data is rich, decisions are high-stakes and workflow complexity creates natural barriers to entry.
My Interest in Fintech
I have broad interests in fintech and have gone particularly deep in wealthtech, where I have invested in a set of companies that are rebuilding the technology foundations of the wealth and asset management industries, including Altruist, a full-stack digital custodian; Moment, a fixed income platform for trade execution and portfolio management; Vanilla, an AI-driven estate planning application for financial advisors; and FINNY, an AI-driven prospecting platform for financial advisors. I’ve had the privilege to team up with some of the best entrepreneurs and thought leaders in the wealth and asset management industries to help build these companies as well as to incubate several additional companies that are still in stealth mode.
My Interest in Defense
The revolutionary impact of AI on the character of warfare and intelligence has created a once-in-a-generation opportunity for startups in the defense world. Some defense startups I have invested in include Dataminr, a real-time AI platform that identifies critical breaking information from publicly available information; and Percipient.ai, a visual intelligence platform for national security.
Importance of Great People
As much as I try to understand the specifics of these investment areas, I frequently meet brilliant entrepreneurs who are many steps ahead of me and who have developed a clear vision of what the world will look like in a particular space and have outlined a compelling new business idea to pursue in it. This is the most fun part of my job, and above all I spend my time trying to find the great new entrepreneurs of tomorrow.
When I Like to Invest
I like to invest early in companies I think have significant disruptive potential and help them develop their product and business strategies and build out their teams. This is the time where I feel I can add the most value to these companies. Most of the companies I invest in have less than 10 employees, and most have not yet launched a product. I’m happy to invest however much an entrepreneur needs, and my initial investments generally range from $500K to $15m.
My Interest in NYC
I live in New York City and am a big advocate of the New York startup ecosystem. I started investing in New York in 2003, when the venture capital industry viewed it as an unconventional idea. New York is now one of the largest and fastest-growing startup ecosystems in the world, and in my view its growth will only accelerate in the decades ahead.
Other Interests
I have deep interests in public policy and in particular how technology is changing the character of geopolitics and national security. I serve on the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations, a foreign policy think thank, and participated on Task Forces there on Innovation and National Security: Keeping Our Edge and Confronting Reality in Cyberspace: Foreign Policy for a Fragmented Internet. I also serve as an Advisor to the Special Competitive Studies Project.
I am very interested in the role of global innovation in economic development and serve on the Board of Directors of Endeavor, a particularly cool non-profit organization that supports high-impact entrepreneurs globally and helps catalyze startup ecosystems in countries and regions underserved by venture capital markets. To date Endeavor has supported over 2,000 high-impact entrepreneurs, and today their companies generate over $10 billion in revenue and have created over 3 million jobs. Tom Friedman called Endeavor “the best anti-poverty program of all.”
When I’m not chasing the next big idea or my three children around the house, you might find me windsurfing or kiteboarding wherever I can find a strong enough wind.