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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Landing a job in venture capital is notoriously difficult because it's so competitive.</li><li>Emma Halls, a Stem7 Executive Search recruiter, shares what VC firms are looking for in candidates.</li></ul>This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Emma Halls, a director at Stem7 Executive Search, a recruitment firm for the financial services industry. Business Insider has verified her employment. The following has been edited for length and clarity.Venture capital is one of the hardest sectors to get into because it's so competitive.As a recruiter for Stem7 Executive Search, I specialize in placing candidates in venture capital and private equity, particularly in early-stage investment firms. We work with VC firms in London, Palo Alto, Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, Munich, and New York. For junior roles, our clients prefer candidates with a background in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cfa-exam-age-dropping-more-college-students-finance-internships-resume-2024-7">investment banking</a> or management <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/consulting-firms-mckinsey-bcg-accenture-workers-leaving-2024-9">consulting</a>. But that alone is not enough to land a job in VC. It's beneficial if someone has work experience in technology or startups. But they're also looking for candidates whose CVs show they're actually passionate about the whole VC ecosystem. It's not enough to just say you're passionate on your CV — you need to showcase this through your experience.<h2 id="a5921397-b7d7-4bbe-9074-237fd5ad561f">VC firms look for networkers and disruptors </h2>This could be through their education; candidates might have done a science or engineering degree and shown they're curious about how things work. It could be through starting an initiative themselves, such as a university society, or building an app with friends. This shows VC firms that the candidates were always doing things that created some kind of disruption.One thing we tell candidates is that they're entering a highly-networked industry. VC firms want to know if applicants have been able to network themselves into some kind of startup role or internship. Have they reached out to people in the ecosystem to build contacts? Have they entered any competitions at university related to startups or business? These things will show a venture capital fund that's hiring that this person's got something extra about them.A key quality our clients look for is the ability to build interpersonal relationships. Have applicants been able to communicate with people and build relationships? Not just talk to people but actually build relationships, which means keeping in touch with that person consistently. The other trait they look out for is emotional intelligence, which comes out more in interviews.<h2 id="f0c2a601-5e0a-49bc-b1ec-c129ec13c50f">Nailing the interview</h2>Before candidates get to the interview stage, they need to look at what this specific fund does and the industries it operates in. What areas and companies are these particular venture capital funds investing in? What stage of investment are they looking at?There's no point applying to a biotech firm and saying they're really interested in AI. Usually, the process would be that if they get to the interview stage, they will then be asked to talk through their background. They'd be asked questions like, "If you were going to invest in any market at the moment, what would that be?"<div type="image" title="Emma Halls" height="750" width="1050" msid="115087248" hostid="261" sizebytes="18462"></div>There are some hot markets out there that our clients are quite interested in candidates having experience in. This includes, but is not limited to, artificial intelligence, biotech and healthtech, climate tech, and financial services.So, if candidates come to an interview, the person interviewing them will want to know, "What are the investments that we do within our portfolio? Which one do they like? Which one would they invest in and why? Which one would they back to do really well?" They want to know that the candidate has done a lot of research on their portfolio before they go into the firm.<h2 id="ccde81f1-f933-4a62-88f8-e954c7eb9dac">Candidates without a finance background can stand out</h2>Over the last five years, we've seen <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/landed-vc-job-varied-resume-diverse-experience-resume-2024-8">many different routes</a> into venture capital. People have networked in these areas, and we would advise candidates to absorb all the information available to them via podcasts and social media. That will help candidates learn more about the areas, but they will also know themselves if they have that real passion and curiosity that will set them apart.Also, for more niche funds, such as biotech and health, we've seen doctors and people with a background in life sciences apply to those areas.<h2 id="82da002c-bffb-4e45-97b3-8250d61f3968">Share what podcasts you listen to </h2>One of the common mistakes candidates make is not listing enough on their CV about all the things they have done that make them stand out. They should ensure they've listed everything they've done at university, what they're doing outside work, all the research they've done, and even what podcasts they listen to.Candidates often forget they need to showcase why they think they will be good for the firm. So rather than saying, "I want to have a chance to come and join your firm because your firm is really exciting," what they should be writing about is, "I would really like to have the opportunity to interview with you because I think I could contribute in these ways."<h2 id="3dc1814e-9702-4ae3-8680-af360d213601">Avoid lengthy cover letters </h2>Often, a candidate might write a very, very long cover letter, and essentially, that is not needed. They might trip themselves up unknowingly. Our advice for candidates is that it's fine to write a few sentences on why specifically they would like to join that organization and why they really like the company's portfolio. They should outline why they feel that the skills they have are in line with what the company looks for at that level.If I look at why our candidates get turned down from actual interviews, it's often because they don't exemplify that they have certain soft skills. Can they communicate? It's very easy for candidates to be consumed by their phones instead of talking to people face to face — which will come out in interviews if they don't have those coveted communication skills.

I recruit for VC firms. Soft skills and podcasts can help candidates stand out in a competitive field.    

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Donald Trump Jr. will not take on a White House role, opting instead for the VC firm 1789 Capital.</li><li>The firm, co-founded by Omeed Malik, funds conservative causes like Tucker Carlson's media venture.</li></ul>The venture capital firm that Donald Trump Jr. is reportedly joining eschews investments that push social and environmental issues and instead focuses on what it calls "EIG," or entrepreneurship, innovation, and growth.The Palm Beach, Florida-based firm, called 1789 Capital — the US constitution went into effect that year — has invested in Tucker Carlson's new conservative media venture, Substack, and BlinkRx, a prescription startup.The president-elect's eldest son — who had an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-family-then-and-now-photos-2024-11">active role in Donald Trump's presidential campaign</a> and is now on his transition team — told a group of supporters at a conference earlier this week that he would be joining 1789 as a partner, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/11/us/donald-trump-jr-firm.html">The New York Times first reported</a>. Several people with knowledge of the matter also told <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-12/don-trump-jr-opts-out-of-white-house-to-join-1789-capital?cmpid=BBD111224_MKTDLY&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_term=241112&amp;utm_campaign=marketsdaily&amp;embedded-checkout=true">Bloomberg</a> of Trump Jr.'s plans.The firm was co-founded in 2022 by Omeed Malik — a former Bank of America executive who also founded boutique investment bank Farvahar Partners — alongside author and investor Christopher Buskirk.Malik, who once <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-guilty-verdict-donors-backing-conviction-2024-5">co-hosted a Trump fundraiser that raised more than $10 million</a>, serves as the firm's president and Buskirk as its chief investment officer, according to its website. Both Buskirk and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-political-contributions-by-name-for-trump-vs-harris-2024-8#omeed-malik-10">Malik donated to Trump's</a> 2024 presidential campaign, the Republican National Committee, as well as to other conservative causes and candidates, according to political donation <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=omeed+malik&amp;order=desc&amp;sort=D">records</a>.The firm <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.1789capital.io/">bills itself</a> as "anti-ESG" — an acronym for companies that say they commit to certain environmental, social justice, and corporate governance-focused principles. One of 1789's areas of interest is in companies or industries that have faced negative effects of ESG, its website says. It also focuses on what it calls deglobalization, building out an economy that is parallel to the traditional one, and disrupting industries it deems weighed down by excessive bureaucracy. Like 1789 Capital, Trump Jr. has long been a proponent of the parallel economy, also called the "patriot economy," a term used by MAGA conservatives to refer to businesses that align with their traditional values.And Trump Jr.'s connection to Malik, the president of 1789 Capital, includes the pair's mutual support of a parallel economy platform called PublicSquare.Both <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://time.com/6317479/bud-light-boycott-maga-economy-donald-trump-jr/">Malik</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/maga-amazon-alternative-publicsquare-rcna127418">Trump Jr.</a> have been investors in and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.publicsquare.com/events/town-hall">vocal supporters</a> of PublicSquare, an online shopping marketplace similar to Amazon that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://investors.publicsq.com/overview/default.aspx#:~:text=Corporate%20Overview,both%20consumers%20and%20business%20owners.">bills itself as a place to connect</a> Americans to "businesses that value life, family, and freedom." In order to use the platform, businesses have to commit to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://support.publicsquare.com/en/articles/6746843-what-values-do-the-businesses-on-publicsquare-have-to-share">PublicSquare's core values</a>, which include the "sanctity of every life," "the family unit," "freedom and truth," and adherence to the US Constitution.Malik and Trump Jr. together rang the New York Stock Exchange's ceremonial opening bell on the day the company went public in 2023, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://time.com/6317479/bud-light-boycott-maga-economy-donald-trump-jr/">Time Magazine reported</a> at the time. Malik didn't return a request for comment from BI.As for 1789 Capital's own investments, the firm has contributed $15 million to the Tucker Carlson Network, the conservative commentator and former <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tucker-carlson-raise-millions-new-media-company-neil-patel-report-2023-7">Fox News host's new media venture</a>, according to VC database PitchBook.On its website, the firm doesn't tout its specific investments but does offer a broad list of industries it's interested in, including consumer, fintech, healthcare, B2B SaaS, tech-enabled services, software, infrastructure, energy, and special situations.Representatives for Trump Jr. through the Trump Organization and the Trump transition team didn't respond to a request for comment from BI. Buskirk also didn't respond to requests for comment from BI, nor did the company's chief operating officer, Jordan Cohen.

This is the anti-ESG venture capital firm that Donald Trump Jr. is joining instead of taking a White House role

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Ben Horowitz, A16z cofounder, said in July that he plans to support former President Donald Trump's campaign.</li><li>An email to A16z employees now reveals that he plans to donate to Vice President Kamala Harris.</li></ul><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/startups-little-tech-us-global-leadership-marc-andreessen-ben-horowitz-2024-7">Ben Horowitz</a>, the erudite cofounder of venture capital firm A16z, sent an email to staff that he is planning to donate to support the Harris-Walz campaign, Business Insider has confirmed.The email, which was first reported on by Axios, came as a surprise given Horowitz had already donated to support former President Donald Trump less than three months ago.In the Friday email, Horowitz wrote that he and his wife, Felicia, have known Vice President Kamala Harris for over 10 years and that "she has been a great friend to both of us during that time.""As a result of our friendship, Felicia and I will be making a significant donation to entities who support the Harris Walz campaign," the email said.Horowitz stopped short of saying he would endorse or vote for the Democratic presidential nominee.The couple wants to establish a working relationship with both candidates in the final days of one of the closest presidential races of the century, according to a person familiar with Ben and Felicia Horowitz's thinking.On July 16, just days before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, Horowitz and his close business partner Marc Andreessen said in their podcast that Trump would better support <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/startups-little-tech-us-global-leadership-marc-andreessen-ben-horowitz-2024-7">emerging technology companies and startups</a>."The future of our business, the future of technology, new technology, and the future of America is literally at stake," Horowitz said on the podcast. "So here we are. For little tech, we think Donald Trump is actually the right choice."Although Horowitz wrote in the email to A16z employees that he'll be donating to entities supporting the Harris-Walz campaign, the venture capitalist noted that he has yet to hear what the campaign's tech policies will be."Although I have had several conversations with Vice President Harris and her team on their likely tech policies and am encouraged by my belief in her, they have not yet stated what their tech policy will be, so the firm will not be updating its position in that regard," he wrote in the email.Read the email below:

VC power player Ben Horowitz says he'll donate to Kamala Harris. Read the memo.     

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The global space economy is projected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035, driven by AI.</li><li>Chad Anderson of Space Capital highlights diverse career paths in the expanding space sector.</li></ul>Space is the place for people who want to work in an industry with countless career opportunities. A <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/aerospace-and-defense/our-insights/space-the-1-point-8-trillion-dollar-opportunity-for-global-economic-growth">2024 report from McKinsey &amp; Co.</a> estimates the global space economy will balloon to $1.8 trillion by 2035, fueled by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/space-tech-sector-is-taking-off-thanks-to-ai-2023-12">advances in AI</a>.Chad Anderson, founder and managing partner of Space Capital, one of the first early-stage VC firms to focus exclusively on the space economy, told Business Insider that the space economy has plenty of technical career paths available. But he emphasized that many don't realize the enormous growth in commercial ventures is also opening up the space area to skills and talents that haven't traditionally been associated with it, like interior design.The VC added that many traditional business roles — including human resources, marketing, and customer relations — can provide a great opportunity for newbies to break into the space field, which is good news for those who may lack key technical skills like engineering but really want to play a role in the space economy.Anderson — who's invested in dozens of space ventures, including <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-elon-musk">SpaceX</a>, moon landers, satellites, and space tech, and founded <a target="_blank" href="https://www.spacetalent.org/">Space Talent</a>, an online resource for jobs in the space field and tech industry — shared his perspective as a VC on the top five careers in space that are on the rise.<h2 id="7a1aa8f4-cdb0-407e-a480-89046de57d53">1. Software engineers (robots, spacecrafts, etc.)</h2>Hands down, software engineering is one of the most important and promising career fields in the space economy, both now and in the future, according to Anderson — and you don't have to be an expert in rockets to be a developer at a space company."Everything is about software nowadays," he said. "Whether it's converting satellite data into new uses here on Earth, designing the next breakthrough rocket system, or building lunar landers and Martian life support systems — this is such a vast field, and it's full of exciting challenges and opportunities."<h2 id="1e58e739-8e8f-4e68-9140-e38eece87ad2">2. Direct-to-cellular engineers</h2>Direct-to-cellular radio frequency engineers are now in high demand, and Anderson said that the future looks "extremely bright" for this profession. He believes they'll play a critical role in the future of communications, the internet, and all technologies that rely on these connections."We're on the verge of a major change in telecommunications as satellites go direct to cellular instead of connecting through cell towers," Anderson explained. "This will enable universal access even in remote areas, and higher speed communications, and it also busts open the door for all sorts of technologies — from autonomous vehicles to robotics, IoT, and much, much more."But he emphasized that before we can get there, many engineering challenges must first be solved.<h2 id="67b21013-6c57-40b6-8172-2c7ca2a22fa7">3. Lifestyle designers</h2>Not all of the emerging space careers are high-tech. Anderson shared that the surge in human space travel — which is about to get even bigger thanks to<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-elon-musk-starship-shred-almost-lose-fin-2024-6"> SpaceX's Starship rocket</a> and other vehicles — has created a new need for experts in orbital lifestyle, clothing, fashion, and more.Specifically, expect heightened demand for orbital interior designers, space suit designers, space station industrial designers, and other lifestyle consultants for long-term tourism trips and crewed platforms."Next-generation space stations are being developed, and the interior space is going to look wildly different from what you've seen in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-nasa-drag-international-space-station-out-of-orbit-2024-6">International Space Station</a> — think organic, minimal, comfortable design," Anderson said. "This is an exciting new field that will define the future look of space travel."<h2 id="0add2a4b-d196-4503-8758-32454b26b96b">4. Business development pros</h2>The government is spending massive amounts on private space companies these days, as funding for space startups in the first quarter of 2024 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/space-startups-see-funding-surge-government-spending-remains-high-report-says-2024-04-11/#:~:text=Space%20startups%20see%20funding%20surge%20as%20government%20spending%20remains%20high%2C%20report%20says,-By%20Akash%20Sriram&amp;text=April%2011%20(Reuters)%20%2D%20Funding,Space%20Capital%20said%20on%20Thursday.">more than doubled</a>. Anderson said this means every space company needs to have a Department of Defense or NASA angle to remain competitive, which is creating a huge opportunity for business development professionals — particularly those with government experience."These are exciting roles that will create the groundbreaking projects of tomorrow," he said. "While sales is part of the job, it's also about building truly innovative solutions and long-term programs that can sustain human operations in space and reach new destinations like the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-helping-private-companies-build-business-moon-make-lunar-billions-2023-6">moon</a>."<h2 id="4d868299-383e-4f5c-8580-3621b1fed213">5. Welders</h2>Next-generation launch infrastructure is now being built with plenty of steel — and Anderson said that requires experienced welders to physically build out the spaceships and platforms of tomorrow.With so much growth and development happening right now among launch providers specifically, the VC said this is a high-growth field for those with the talent — and he believes the area will continue to be hot for many years to come."When you think of welders, you probably think of building bridges or skyscrapers," he said. "But actually, these blue-collar workers are essential to the future of space operations."

 5 careers in the space industry that new grads should focus on, according to a VC

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Greg Ho, 72, is the president of a New York VC firm and an avid marathon runner.</li><li>He sleeps for 4.5 hours a night to fit his training around his schedule.</li></ul>The president of a New York investment firm struggled to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/busy-doctor-reversed-age-20-years-workout-routine-2024-7">fit exercise into his busy routine</a> until he was in his 50s. Now 72, Greg Ho has run 43 marathons and plans to make that 100 before he turns 100.After developing a slew of ankle and leg problems from judo and skiing as a young man, Ho's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/longevity-trainer-fitness-markers-to-watch-for-a-longer-life-2024-7">fitness</a> wasn't what it used to be when he turned 54. He had very little time to devote to exercise due to what he described to Business Insider as his "high-stress job" as the president of Spring Mountain Capital.But Ho said his wife told him he needed to be healthier and enrolled him in a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/fitness/how-to-start-running">cross-training program</a>, like a boot camp, in 2008.Around the same time, the Robin Hood Foundation, a New York charity that aims to fight poverty, asked Ho to run a marathon to raise money for them. He said he had already reached a decent level of fitness — he could comfortably run four to five miles at a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/record-breaking-89-year-old-athlete-says-running-keeps-young-2024-7">10-minute-mile</a> pace.His orthopedist had previously told him to stop running because he had a torn medial-lateral meniscus in his knee, osteoarthritis, and ankle problems from multiple fractures. But his doctors said he'd probably be OK to run one marathon, so he agreed, knowing he could raise a lot of money for Robin Hood due to his job and connections. He was right — for his first marathon, he raised more than $20,000 "without trying too hard."<div type="image" title="Greg Ho raising his fist as he runs a marathon." height="617" width="822" msid="114888355" hostid="261" sizebytes="35094"></div>The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-train-half-marathon-run-more-2023-2">marathon training program</a> Ho embarked on "was miserable, and it hurt," he said. "It was not fun. But gradually, as I raised more money and people got more interested, that kept me going because now I had an obligation to show up at the race."So, at 56, Ho ran his <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-avoid-hitting-wall-first-marathon-2024-8">first marathon</a>."I literally cried with relief when I crossed the finish line because of the pain," he said. "But about one minute later, I said, 'I can do this better. I'm going to do it again' because that's just my nature. So I did."He ended up running two more marathons the next year and continued to fundraise alongside friends and colleagues.Ho was also interested in how far he could push his body — despite his doctors' warnings about potential injury, his cholesterol levels and blood pressure had improved from the running, and his joints were fine, thanks to a healthy, anti-inflammatory diet and getting used to the training."I found the difference between my perceived health and what I could accomplish with some effort was astounding," he said.<div type="image" title="Greg Ho crossing the finish line at a marathon, wearing a yellow shirt." height="854" width="1138" msid="114888232" hostid="261" sizebytes="61218"></div>Fifteen years later, Ho has run 43 marathons and plans to run 66 more before his <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthy-active-100-year-old-science-backed-longevity-tips-2024-6">100th birthday</a>. His personal record is five hours and 15 minutes."The game plan is to run three a year from next year until I'm 80, and then two a year from ages 81 to 90, and then one a year from 91 to 100," he said.<h2 id="98cb2d40-e3fc-4f4e-ab2b-20436809d43c">Ho structures his days to fit in 8 hours of training a week</h2>Ho has been doing two marathons in the spring and two in the fall for the last few years. He follows the same 18-week training program in the run-up to each season's races, which calls for about eight hours of running a week. This includes different types of running, such as interval training, slower, long runs, and fartleks, where a runner alternates between slow and fast paces.His schedule is quite packed, so he has to fit in exercise where he can."I get up at 4:30 in the morning every day, and I usually go to sleep about 11 p.m. I spend four hours in the evenings recreationally — having dinner with my wife or with friends, or in the performing arts — and the rest of the time I'm working," he said.<div type="image" title="Greg Ho running a marathon." height="680" width="906" msid="114888234" hostid="261" sizebytes="53182"></div>Sometimes he'll go to the gym or do a run in the morning before heading to the office at 6:30 a.m., or after he's completed a project that needs to be in before lunch.He also likes <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/fitness/benefits-of-hiit">high-intensity interval training</a> for when he's busy, since "you don't do it for a long time."<h2 id="c93935fd-0366-4af9-8c3b-3bab7539aa64">Running helps Ho to maintain his lifestyle</h2>"Physically and mentally, running enables me to perform while I get little sleep," he said. "It gives me energy to do what I want to do, and keeps me involved."Ho listens to audiobooks during his runs to maintain his "voracious" reading habit and optimize his time.Running has also connected him with like-minded individuals, because runners tend to be "healthy people looking for purpose," he said.It has also helped to educate him about the importance of healthy aging in communities of color. Spring Mountain, Ho's firm, backs the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.westharleminnovationnetwork.com/">West Harlem Innovation Network</a>, which develops new businesses and entrepreneurial talent in the underserved NYC neighborhood.<h2 id="8f4c4d83-3756-4ca4-9f4d-4a2bd5128f11">He tries to maintain other habits for longevity — apart from sleep</h2>Ho only gets 4.5 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/can-you-catch-up-on-sleep-experts-say-yes-2023-1">hours of sleep each night</a>, which research suggests is not beneficial for health. One 2022 <a target="_blank" href="https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1004109">study</a> published by PLoS Medicine found that for adults over 50 years old, getting less than five hours of sleep a night can increase their risk of developing a chronic disease by 20%.Ho said he is "desperately trying to get up to five hours a night," but in the meantime tries to practice other longevity-boosting habits, such as eating well and reducing stress.He said he follows the "basics" of eating healthily: staying away from junk food and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ultra-processed-foods-linked-early-death-study-2024-5">processed foods</a> and managing his calorie intake.While he tries to minimize stress, it can be hard in a high-pressure finance job. The environment, he added, is full of "high-performing teams and high goals, so we're always stressed."

A 72-year-old VC who started running at 54 does 4 marathons a year. Here's how he fits running into his busy workday.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Lux Capital's Josh Wolfe is bullish on AI investments in biology and robotics.</li><li>AI's role in biology includes startups like Recursion and EvolutionaryScale.</li></ul>With the AI arms race underway and a host of industries investing in the technology, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lux-capital-vc-josh-wolfe-interview-factors-for-biotech-startups-2022-4">Lux Capital venture capitalist</a> Josh Wolfe identified the areas he's particularly keen on.In a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGdZzGzy0xU">recent episode</a> of "The Logan Bartlett Show," the Lux Capital cofounder and biotech VC said that his firm has invested in two main sectors within AI over the past two years — biology and robotics.Wolfe predicted that in a couple of years, these fields, alongside aerospace and defense technology, will have people "very bullish" about investing.<h2 id="7295d674-64b3-4fc3-afc1-5928384156b2">AI in biology</h2>"AI into biology is really interesting because most computer scientists underappreciate how hard biology is," he said. "Biology is really complex — it is not linear, it is not 'programmable biology' the way many people think."In turn, Wolfe added that most biologists similarly "underappreciate how sophisticated computer science and AI" are."There's people that are versed at the interstices between those two things that I think are poised to do really well," he said.Wolfe said that the first stage of AI and biology included biotech companies like Recursion — which Lux Capital invested in — that uses AI to translate pictures of cells into computable data and identify biologically meaningful relationships, according to the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.recursion.com/technology">company's website</a>."AI 2.0, which is where we are today, is actually using large language models which very few people have other than EvolutionaryScale," he said, giving a shoutout to an AI startup founded by ex-Meta researchers, one of whom previously started a biotech company with Wolfe.After Meta axed the group's project, the researcher approached Wolfe, the VC said, who offered him $25 million on the spot."He has the only frontier language model in biology, and he can really, from prompt to protein, produce things," he said. "So it's jumping out of the two-dimensional space of code into the three-dimensional space of actually producing a protein."The company, which has <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://press.aboutamazon.com/aws/2024/6/evolutionaryscale-launches-with-esm3-a-milestone-ai-model-for-biology">raised over $142 million</a> in seed funding led by Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, and Lux Capital, partnered with Amazon Web Services to launch its AI model, ESM3, in June.ESM3 is "capable of generating entirely new proteins that have never existed in nature," AWS <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2024/06/evolutionaryscale-esm3-available-aws/">wrote in a press release</a>. And the company has already created its first protein, a non-previously evolved version of a fluorescent protein."There's many ways that evolution has found this way, but they found a path that evolution never found, which is pretty cool," Wolfe said. "So the implication for being able to do antibodies, small molecules, drugs, proteins is pretty profound."<h2 id="c76e507a-776b-428e-8019-4e2831c0eb04">AI in robotics</h2>While "robots" typically invoke images of futuristic humanoid tech like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-humanoid-robot-optimus-becoming-mans-best-friend-2024-6">Elon Musk's Optimus</a>, Wolfe said he thinks "humanoid robots are not going to be the way.""Focusing on the training data, the repository, for universal robot intelligence is what they're focused on," he said. "I think that's where the value is going to be."Although Wolfe thinks <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/humanoid-robots-ai-saudi-china-us-21st-century-space-race-2024-3">humanoid robots</a> will attract money for their intrigue, he said that robots mimicking human capabilities are "really inferior to what robots can do."Rather, he said that the value of robotics will be the repository of data that can train robots to exist in an unconstrained environment. Similar to how LLMs are trained off large batches of known information from the internet to develop predictive chatbots."I think that the winning models will be highly specialized robots that do one or two specific things, and they do it extraordinarily well," he said.Wolfe said he thinks mass competition will emerge for creating a universal operating system between humanoid robotic companies, including <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-weapon-war-machine-gun-toting-robot-dog-military-drills-2024-5">China's Unitree Robotics</a>."But I think that the value will accrue to the intelligence," he added.

2 investment areas in AI that people will be 'very bullish' on in the future, according to a VC

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Antler India plans to invest in 120 startups over four years with a $75 million fund.</li><li>The firm runs cohorts for individual founders and teams, selecting 100 from up to 5,000 applicants.</li></ul>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Rajiv Srivatsa, a partner at Antler India, a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/founders-putting-startup-dreams-on-hold-in-the-tech-downturn-2024-7">pre-seed venture capital firm</a> based in Bengaluru. It has been edited for length and clarity.I'm a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/landed-vc-job-varied-resume-diverse-experience-resume-2024-8">partner</a> at Antler India, an early-stage <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/startup-success-secret-vcs-founders-nate-silver-on-the-edge-2024-8">venture capital</a> fund. We launched the India chapter about four years ago, and it was the firm's sixth location globally. Antler India has a $75 million fund, which we closed in March.Our plan is to invest in 120 <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/more-startups-get-bought-up-by-private-equity-vc-2024-8">startups </a>over four years, and we have about 65 to date.The classic Antler model includes running a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-vc-firms-funding-creator-economy-startups-next-phase-2024-6">cohort of individuals </a>who are transitioning from being employees to startup founders. We help them look for their cofounders and give shape to their idea.One thing we do differently in India is we run a cohort for teams as well. We found that there is a social tendency for people to prefer going into business with people they have known from college or work, and we welcome founders who may already have a team or product in mind.My team and I receive about <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-apply-y-combinator-application-down-market-successful-2022-8">4,000 to 5,000 applications</a>, and we select 100 people to join our individual founders' cohort. The program runs for six months, and we end up investing in 20-25 people, or eight to 10 companies. We give them a sum of $250,000 to fund their idea, and another $250,000 once they raise additional capital.I've been a founder myself and have run a company in the 2010s. I have seen two main positive shifts in the Indian startup market.It is a lot easier to attract talent than it was 10 years ago. There was a lot of entitlement and questioning from potential employees, because working for startups instead of long-established companies was seen as a risk. Since the pandemic, there has been a shift, and people are keen to join startups.Founders are getting more mature by the year and have a better understanding of what it takes.They're more frugal because they know capital is tight and they have given their industry more thought. They're not getting into business because something is hot and are instead building for the next five to 10 years. They also assume that their products will need higher traction to raise the same amount of money that would have been invested in them before.Here are five things I look for in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sequoia-partner-jess-lee-advice-for-startup-founders-2022-9">first-time founders</a>:<h2 id="5a01f9b1-7907-4c47-aa10-ead284c40a4d">Five founder traits</h2>Execution and strategy: This is their ability to iterate fast — move between ideas, drop things, and find something new quickly.We also seek people who have ideas that match their skill sets. For example, we don't want to invest in an AI company where none of the founders have solid tech expertise. In the early or "zero to one" and "one to 10" stages, founders have to be able to do things on their own.Grit and tenacity: Either in their personal life or professional life.Customer obsession: We spend the longest time gauging how obsessed a founder is with their customer and problem statement. We want to know if it's just a flash in the pan or if it's something they have been debating over many years. Does the founder really feel the pain of the customer?We want people who are not just armchair experts but have worked with customers and gotten their hands dirty. Someone who has spent their professional life making presentations and in conference rooms may not cut it.Communication: Another thing we look for is a high level of clarity in thinking and how they communicate. At the end of the day, venture capital is a continuous fundraising game — you have to always keep finding good talent, as well as keep telling new investors and the media your story.We try to gauge if the person is getting mixed up, or if they're clear about what they're doing.Ambition and scale: The venture capital industry does not work if you want small outcomes. Even if you don't want to be a unicorn, a startup that is valued at $1 billion, you still need to think in terms of hundreds of millions of dollars of valuation and foresee hundreds of millions of people using your product.<h2 id="019aa888-dfdf-4ac4-bda4-422664c1e934">Plus an X-factor</h2>We don't look for people who score about 80% to 100% on each of these criteria. Instead, we prefer if, for one to two of the five traits, they demonstrate a spike or an X factor — they immediately stand out as someone who is world-class when it comes to execution or communication, for example.We want people who are terrible at some things but exceptional at others.<h2 id="e8cf18ff-f29f-4d97-9753-7fe9d1705a42">Cofounder complements</h2>Most of our participants look for their cofounders after they've entered the cohort, and we spend a lot of time and attention matching people.In my experience, India is not a country where teaching communication is emphasized a lot, so we ask each participant 60 questions to understand their values, working styles, and personality types. We look for complements and see pair-ups between one person with a technical background and one person with business acumen. If a third cofounder is needed, they usually come with operations expertise.One company we recently funded is working on listening to conversations between employees and customers in retail stores, in order to provide retail data to convert more customers. It was the outcome of someone who has worked in retail for years, paired up with a cofounder with tech background.Are you a founder who moved to India to launch their own startup? Please reach out at shubhangigoel@insider.com

I'm a VC in the world's fastest-growing economy. I look for 5 traits in first-time founders.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Neal Mintz beat over 500 applicants to get his dream job at Wischoff Ventures.</li><li>Mintz said that during the hiring process, he offered to set up the firm's payroll for free.</li></ul>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nealmintz/">Neal Mintz</a>, 26, a senior associate at Wischoff Ventures. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified his education and employment history.I have wanted to pursue a career in the venture capital ecosystem since I was in college.While pursuing my bachelor's degree at Washington University's Olin Business School, I spent two summers living and working in Tel Aviv, which has an incredible startup ecosystem.It was difficult to break into venture capital straight out of college. Instead, I started my career in consulting with Ernst &amp; Young, where I spent two years in their digital strategy consulting practice.At EY, I worked with clients that included Fortune 500 companies. I did everything I could to align my interests with my work, but I recognized that it would be harder to jump into an investing role as I became more senior.That was when I knew that I really needed to start looking elsewhere.After EY, I landed a role at a venture studio working with start-ups. That was where I learned how to perform due diligence on early-stage business opportunities.I then moved on to Ground Up Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm. I was the only employee there besides the fund's four partners, so I had to learn quickly on the job.After nearly two years at Ground Up Ventures, I wanted to try working at another fund to see if there was room for upward mobility.That's how I ended up at my current job at Wischoff Ventures, a firm started by a woman whose work I admired — Nichole Wischoff.<h2 id="915a9294-61f5-4d9f-ad32-d1378e4b0470">I went through three weeks of interviews and pulled out all the stops</h2><div type="image" title="Nichole Wischoff and Neal Mintz sitting on a sofa." height="3610" width="4284" msid="114100622" hostid="261" sizebytes="487094"></div>I wanted to work for Nichole because I knew that as the fund's first full-time hire, I would have the opportunity to work with her directly and learn the ropes.The competition for the role was intense, and Nichole said I'd beaten over 500 candidates to get hired.The interview process took about three weeks, including three one-hour calls and an in-person meeting. In addition to the interviews, Nichole also asked me to weigh in on some due diligence opportunities and startup investments.Throughout the process, I did everything I could to show Nichole I knew how to do this job and that she wouldn't need to handhold me.At one point, Nichole mentioned she would need to set up a payroll provider for her first hire. Even though we were still in the interview process then, I offered to do it for her for free.<h2 id="7157d802-6f42-4e22-a400-78ccc7ae1135">People think I'm a try-hard, but that's just what it takes</h2>Some people have criticized my approach to securing the job at Wischoff Ventures.I recognize that the prospect of putting in so much effort to get a job may be discouraging. But we must remember that venture capital is an extremely competitive industry. The interview process is indicative of what working in venture capital is really like.If you want to succeed as a junior investor, you'll get a lot of rejections from founders all the time. If you want to thrive, you have to think creatively about how to get in front of founders. On top of that, you have to do your due diligence and research if you want to land a deal.Even after spending dozens of hours with a prospect, you could still get rejected, but that's just how deals work. So, for better or for worse, there are just so few roles within this industry. And you will have to go above and beyond if you want to make a mark.I offered to set up payroll for Nichole because I wanted her to know I was willing to do whatever it took. So whether it's implementing a customer relationship management system or planning happy hours — I'm all in.Breaking into venture capital is a long game. It took five years of my career to get in the door. But while the journey may sound intimidating, it's attainable for anyone who's excited and committed to what they're doing.

I landed my dream job at a VC fund after I offered to set up payroll for free. People called me a try-hard but that's just what it takes.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The venture capital industry could face a big contraction in the near future.</li><li>Thats's according to Scott Stanford, cofounder and partner at ACME Capital, an early-stage VC firm.</li></ul>It's no secret: Venture capitalists are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lps-are-defaulting-firm-buying-up-their-stakes-2024">hurting</a>.A slowdown in VC deal <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venture-capital-funding-crunch-will-continue-2024-2023-12">activity</a>, which started in late 2022, has continued into the first quarter of this year, accounting and advisory firm EisnerAmper <a target="_blank" href="https://www.eisneramper.com/insights/financial-services/venture-capital-q1-vc-blog-2024/#:~:text=The%20slowdown%20in%20VC%20deal,was%20invested%20across%2015%2C580%20deals.">wrote</a> in an analysis published on June 16.You've heard this story before: inflation, interest rate uncertainty, and low M&amp;A volume are having <a target="_blank" href="https://www.inc.com/sam-blum/the-state-of-venture-funding-in-2024-so-far-anemic.html">chilling effects</a> on the investing environment.Venture capital has cyclical fluctuations, but Scott Stanford, a cofounder and partner at ACME Capital, an early-stage VC firm, thinks something more meaningful is underway."It's not crazy to think half the VC firms that were actively investing in the last decade will be sidelined and eventually collapse," he wrote in an email to BI.The first wave will die off in the next five years. Ten years from now, the damage will be evident, he said.Some simple back-of-the-napkin math paints a grim picture.In a chart compiled by Stanford and shared with BI, by 1990, there were 300 VC firms overseeing $17 billion in assets. Over the last two decades, those numbers went through the roof. Now, there are 3,000 VC firms overseeing $1.2 trillion.By contrast, the increase in exits is modest at best. By 1990, VC-backed IPOs totaled $12.7 billion. By 2021, that increased to $60.1 billion. And it's a similar story with VC-backed M&amp;A deals.The venture industry got ahead of itself, in other words: The proliferation of firms and the money they're managing is not supported by the financial value they're creating."As the venture capital industry matured over the past several decades, euphoric momentum investors, not technologists, drove the creation of funds and the deployment of capital, blind to the nuances and challenges of timing innovation cycles," Stanford and ACME cofounder Hany Nada told investors in a recent letter shared with BI."Just as investors mistime specific investments or funds, the venture industry as a whole got as much as a decade or two ahead of reality, leading to an overcrowded, overcapitalized, and overvalued market," they added.<h2 id="03af2507-6311-43f3-ae85-0c2bb24e15b1">VC backers have other options</h2>Other factors will serve to cull the herd in VC, per Stanford.Limited partners (LPs), or investors who put money into venture firms, have other options thanks to higher interest rates, Stanford added. Low-risk investments like investing in Treasury bonds, for one example, are commanding a decent return.Tech, meanwhile, is "no longer an elusive sprite commanding irrational M&amp;A premiums or IPO exuberance," Stanford said.Once upon a time, a startup claiming they were a tech company somewhere in their pitch deck might command a billion-dollar valuation. That era is long gone.Finally, AI isn't necessarily the next panacea, Stanford said.The jury is out on whether it spawns the next generation of unicorns — when leaders like OpenAI are providing the tech openly, and anyone can use it to spin up decent products.All told, in this environment, investors without deep expertise, powerful networks, or mega-funds to deploy will be hard-pressed to raise money and build enduring franchises, Stanford said."A VC without capital is like a tennis player without a racquet," he said. "They can give interviews and make headlines but they aren't invited on the court."<div type="image" title="The ACME Capital team." height="4002" width="6000" msid="111124353" hostid="261" sizebytes="1317914"></div><h2 id="73f0b2e9-ab0b-4b58-a988-7c2cd0c879b8">VCs will have to take risks again</h2>Stanford believes today's challenges will give way to a new — or, rather, an old — era of VC investing.Tons of startups that went to market in the last handful of years had a similar strategy: Backed with millions in funding, they launched an app that was slightly better than someone else's.In the past, you could get away with making social features, apps, and incrementally better software in this fashion, Stanford said.Nowadays, incumbents can do all that themselves.So, investors that survive the contraction will have to back companies that are actually inventing things and therefore come with a sizable risk profile.When those companies get it right, they generate outsized returns. When they get it wrong, they go to zero.Maybe these VCs can be part of what Stanford describes as a renaissance of technology, "where systems work for us versus us working for them," he and Nada wrote to LPs.

A top VC predicts the industry is heading for a massive and enduring contraction

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Sen. JD Vance has a controversial venture-capital background.</li><li>Some of Vance's former colleagues previously told BI that the senator wasn't very good at his job.</li></ul>Donald Trump's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-selects-jd-vance-running-mate-vice-president-2024-6">vice-presidential pick</a>, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-vance-photos-ohio-politician-writer-venture-capitalist-2023-2">JD Vance</a>, has a background in venture capital.But his former colleagues previously told Business Insider in a 2021 report that his business expertise wasn't that noteworthy.In making his running-mate announcement, Trump <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/112792061935980928">wrote on Truth Social</a> that Vance "has had a very successful business career in Technology and Finance." But as <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jd-vance-venture-capital-opioid-nonprofit-tech-record-ohio-senate-2021-8">Business Insider previously reported</a>, it's unclear what impact Vance had in the VC world.Vance, the first-time senator from Ohio perhaps most famous for his hit 2016 memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," got his start in venture capital just two months before his book came out, moving to San Francisco to join the Peter Thiel-backed VC firm Mithril Capital.Vance's former coworkers previously told BI that Vance was away from his new job much of the time to promote his book."It never seemed like he was even working," one former coworker told BI. "It felt like his full-time job was the book."Vance himself acknowledged his lackluster contribution, saying in an interview at the time: "How useful I've been on that front is probably debatable." And by the time Vance left the firm, less a year after he started, coworkers said he hadn't closed a single deal.At the time, Vance's senate campaign team didn't respond to questions about how Vance would manage his money as a senator and didn't make Vance available for an interview.After Vance was chosen as Trump's running mate, BI reached out to him again. Vance's senatorial office didn't respond and emails to his campaign and his personal website weren't answered.Trump's campaign also didn't respond to a request for comment about how Vance's old colleagues characterized his VC work.Vance saw a bit more success working at Steven Case's VC firm, Revolution, where he focused on investing in tech startups through the Rise of the Rest fund.There, Vance's networking skills helped him secure a number of deals in fields like military tech and artificial intelligence. But one investor who met with Vance said he was skeptical of what Vance brought to the table, telling BI, "I don't recall anyone at Rise of the Rest bragging about something JD Vance brought to the fund."Vance's time at Revolution did provide him with the connections needed to go off and start his own VC firm, Narya Capital, in 2019. But what exactly that firm has achieved is open to interpretation.In 2021, BI reported that Narya only had five investments, just one of which was in Ohio, the state Vance had pledged to help. And more than a year later, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/30/jd-vance-job-creator-ohio-senate-00064119">Politico reported</a> that Narya had four employees, including Vance. The 750 jobs that Narya claimed to have created in Ohio that year were established by a group of 46 firms together, not just Narya alone, Politico reported.When Vance first started running for the Senate, one VC expert cast doubt on Vance's self-proclaimed business acumen."There are a thousand red flags," Jeff Sohl, the director of the University of New Hampshire's Center for Venture Research, previously told BI. "You're either going to be a really great VC and a bad senator or a bad VC and a great senator. Or what will likely happen is you're worse at both because you can't do both jobs."Vance's VC dreams may need to take a back seat to a new aspiration: reaching the White House with Donald Trump.

JD Vance tried to be a VC. He didn't do much, old colleagues said. 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</li></ul>Welcome back! If you're like me, you might not eat the healthiest on weekends. But a dietitian highlighted some <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthy-snacks-dietitian-eats-instead-of-ultra-processed-foods-2024-6">healthy snacks you can substitute for ultra-processed foods</a>.In today's big story, we're looking at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/artificial-intelligence-is-coming-for-venture-firms-2024-6">how AI could completely upend venture capitalism</a> amid <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venture-capitalism-funding-market-contraction-scott-stanford-acme-2024-6">a wider shakeup for the industry</a>.What's on deck:<ul><li>Markets: Bobby Jain's highly anticipated hedge fund is <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bobby-jain-global-hedge-fund-launch-2024-6">finally ready for primetime</a>.</li><li>Tech: OpenAI's GPT Store developers are finding creative <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/developers-adding-ads-and-affiliate-links-to-their-chatgpt-apps-2024-6">ways to get paid for their work</a>.</li><li>Business: Jeff Bezos' plan for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-plan-for-washington-post-imploding-winnett-lewis-2024-6">The Washington Post is imploding</a>.</li></ul>But first, how the tables have turned.If this was forwarded to you, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today">sign up here.</a><h3 id="7fa5f018-5b05-4a37-a8dc-d3f89138bcb3">The big story</h3><h2 id="5fd547b9-ec52-41fc-8e08-4f4b27dd8097">AI comes for VCs</h2><div type="image" title="Photo illustration of a robot hand with money floating" height="882" width="1654" msid="111237229" hostid="261" sizebytes="180536"></div>Like turkeys setting the table for Thanksgiving dinner, VCs are backing tech that might lead to their demise.The generative AI boom was a welcome change for a venture industry looking for a new trend to back (and hopefully profit from).But the transformative technology <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/artificial-intelligence-is-coming-for-venture-firms-2024-6">could greatly impact the people bankrolling it</a>. The result could be a reduction of roles and changes to how the job is done, writes Business Insider's Ben Bergman.Some of the adjustments aren't novel to the VC industry. Back-office roles everywhere are ripe for automation from AI, and venture capital is no different.But things get really interesting when it comes to actual investing. Finding and assessing new startups — often key responsibilities of junior employees — is the type of work large-language models could do more efficiently at a large scale.VCs won't get entirely automated away by AI — after all, how could they still justify all those fees if they only relied on AI? But a human-AI hybrid approach seems like the future, according to some insiders Ben spoke to.However, balancing between man and machine for investment decisions isn't easy. Just ask hedge funds.Long before the generative AI boom, funds dreamed of combining the best of machine-based quantitative strategies and human-led fundamental approaches. The concept — known as "quantamental" — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/man-group-bridgwater-schonfeld-explain-quantamental-and-how-it-works-2020-5">struggled to find success</a> as the two cultures often clashed.Now consider venture investing, where ultimately, a singular decision needs to be made: invest or don't. When push comes to shove, does man or machine reign supreme?<div type="image" title="Scott Stanford, ACME Capital's cofounder, believes major changes are coming for the venture-capital industry." height="2202" width="2936" msid="111237239" hostid="261" sizebytes="401568"></div>The VC industry might be doomed with or without AI.Scott Stanford, a cofounder and partner at early-stage VC firm ACME Capital, told BI's Blake Dodge that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venture-capitalism-funding-market-contraction-scott-stanford-acme-2024-6">half of today's VC firms will shutter in the next decade</a>.Stanford's theory is pretty simple: There are too many VCs and not enough exit opportunities. And this isn't a knee-jerk reaction to how chilly the IPO market has been the past few years.VCs' explosive growth over the past few decades created an "overcrowded, overcapitalized, and overvalued market," Stanford and ACME's cofounder Hany Nada told investors in a recent letter shared with BI.The writing is already on the wall. Look no further than the rise of "zombie" VCs, or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/2024-year-of-vc-reckoning-2024-2">investors running out of money</a>.But if anyone can fix things, maybe it's… VCs? After all, venture investors tout themselves as disruptors who pride themselves on finding and helping to grow solutions for big problems.Now, VCs might have their toughest task yet: Saving themselves.<h3 id="77f31a4c-8462-4e3d-a71f-838cb79493fb">News Brief</h3><h2 id="1fcd294b-3f53-425f-9f20-4093e8623b59">Your Monday headline catchup</h2>A quick recap of the top news from over the weekend:<ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-needs-to-stop-fighting-the-war-russia-wants-2024-6">Ukraine needs to stop fighting the war Russia wants</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prosecutors-recommend-doj-federal-criminal-charges-against-boeing-report-2024-6">Prosecutors recommend DOJ file criminal charges against Boeing: report</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-starts-new-beef-with-lucasfilm-chief-kathleen-kennedy-2024-6">Elon Musk starts new beef with Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-openai-ilya-sutskever-ai-revolution-2024-6">Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang shouts out OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever for sparking 'the big bang of deep learning'</a>.</li></ul><h2 id="8120060b-ae66-48dc-b149-f0489a30ffa2">3 things in markets</h2><div type="image" title="bobby jain" height="975" width="1300" msid="111237241" hostid="261" sizebytes="45284"></div><ol><li>A top Jain Global executive explains how the firm will stand out on the eve of its massive launch. Bobby Jain's hedge fund launch has been the talk of Wall Street. Jonathan Barton, Jain Global's chief operating officer, spoke to BI about <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bobby-jain-global-hedge-fund-launch-2024-6">how the fund is built to quickly grow once it starts trading on July 1</a>.</li><li>The end of a US-Saudi deal could dent dollar dominance. Saudi Arabia chose not to renew the landmark "petrodollar" deal that ensured the use of US dollars in the oil trade. That's <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/dollar-dominance-dedollarization-petrodollar-saudi-crude-greenback-china-yuan-brics-2024-6">bad news for the dollar's supremacy</a>. The move is part of the kingdom's grand plan to diversify trade and expand beyond US and European partners.</li><li>There is a light at the end of the interest-rate tunnel. A July rate cut, while still a longshot, could be on the table, according to one economist. Jobless claims and housing data show an economic slowdown, which <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fed-interest-rate-cuts-july-economy-recession-forecast-housing-jobs-2024-6">could lead the Fed to finally offer some relief next month</a>.</li></ol><h2 id="f4b54806-7f81-450c-ba32-92560d4fae9b">3 things in tech</h2><div type="image" title="A red electric car on a spinning globe" height="1500" width="2000" msid="111237234" hostid="261" sizebytes="247238"></div><ol><li>Chinese EV makers are slowly taking over the world. Despite efforts from the US and Europe to shut them out, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/byd-saic-chinese-ev-makers-plot-world-takeover-2024-6">Chinese EV firms are expanding rapidly in developing markets like Brazil and Southeast Asia.</a> This poses a major problem for legacy automakers like Ford, who risk being left behind.</li><li>OpenAI's GPT Store developers are finding new ways to get paid. OpenAI has yet to widely roll out plans to pay developers making applications for its GPT Store — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/developers-adding-ads-and-affiliate-links-to-their-chatgpt-apps-2024-6">so some are getting creative</a>. They're turning to ads, affiliate links, and "freemium" models to get paid.</li><li>Apple accused of breaching EU rules. The European Commission has accused Apple of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/european-regulators-accuse-apple-of-breaching-new-rules-2024-6">stifling competition with its App Store</a>. Regulators said the company breached new tech rules by preventing app developers from steering customers to alternatives.</li></ol><h2 id="9260fa45-d397-4b3c-b4f8-4bb193976216">3 things in business</h2><div type="image" title="Jeff Bezos distraught on top of Washington Post logo" height="900" width="1200" msid="111237236" hostid="261" sizebytes="111624"></div><ol><li>Jeff Bezos' plan to revamp The Washington Post is imploding. Incoming newsroom editor Robert Winnett pulled out of the job Friday morning after a slew of revelations about his past as a writer in London. Meanwhile, Will Lewis, the Washington Post's publisher, has also come under fire. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-plan-for-washington-post-imploding-winnett-lewis-2024-6">That's bad news for Bezos</a>, who needed the two men to breathe new life into the newsroom.</li><li>The American dream of home ownership is becoming an American fantasy. A recent Harvard study found monthly payments for a median-priced home after taxes and insurance have hit about $3,100. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/home-prices-housing-costs-market-affordability-crisis-harvard-mortgage-payment-2024-6">That's the highest level it's been in more than three decades</a>. That payment requires a household income of at least $120,000 a year, which only 6% of renters have.</li><li>The silver lining of sports betting scandals. The series of high-profile gambling scandals that recently rocked the sports world thrust the long-overlooked issue into the spotlight. Leagues are now focusing on educating athletes who may be betting-prone, and the industry's gotten <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-more-betting-scandals-are-pervading-us-sports-2024-6">a lot better at catching bad actors</a>.</li></ol><h2 id="1ad7b482-3f4b-44b4-81b6-a864aa386478">In other news</h2><ul><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-third-child-with-neuralink-exec-shivon-zilis-2024-6">Elon Musk confirms 3rd child with his Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis.</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/yellowstone-timeline-of-controversy-criticism-conflict-kevin-costner-2023-4">Kevin Costner is leaving 'Yellowstone' before the final season is over. Here's a complete timeline of the behind-the-scenes drama</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/perplexity-ceo-advice-startup-founders-2024-6">Perplexity CEO explains why you need to understand your 'dopamine system' if you want to start your own company</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-jensen-huang-ai-demand-chips-microsoft-apple-2024-6">Jensen Huang's Nvidia sure hopes the AI bubble doesn't burst anytime soon</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-timothy-mellon-robert-kennedy-donald-trump-billionaire-2024-6">The reclusive billionaire who's spent $75 million on Trump and $25 million on RFK Jr</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alpine-investors-ceo-training-program-application-interview-tips-2024-6">This exclusive CEO training program doesn't care about your 4.0 GPA</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-democrats-republicans-etf-performance-demz-vs-maga-2024-6">Companies that give money to Democrats are beating Republican donors in the stock market.</a></li></ul><h2 id="9f5d80ac-3466-429f-a50a-2ffbb70c65ff">What's happening today</h2><ul><li>Paris Fashion Week begins.</li></ul>The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Annie Smith, associate producer, in London. Grace Lett, associate editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, fellow, in New York.

Venture firms could be the latest target for AI disruption, and that's not the only threat to VCs

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Growth Warrior Capital is launching a new tool Elevo, an AI-powered pitch deck generator. </li><li>The firm's managing partner, Promise Phelon, came up with the idea to help founders. </li></ul>Promise Phelon wants to help startup founders make their pitches to investors stronger.As the managing partner of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/black-vc-investors-firms-invest-diverse-underrepresented-startup-founders-2022-2#promise-phelon-growth-warrior-capital-30">Growth Warrior Capital</a>, an early-stage venture capital fund, Phelon invests in founders that have great ideas for what she calls "dangerous" startups that could "fundamentally change the way we work, earn, and build wealth." Most of these startups are in categories like fintech, insurance tech, artificial intelligence, and the future of work, but their founders are often overlooked by other venture capitalists because of their race or gender, she said.For Phelon as an investor, the sheer amount of pitch decks that she was sorting through began to become overwhelming. "It's hard to cut through the noise, and you have limited time to view each presentation," she said. "I wanted to spend less time deciphering narratives and more times meeting with founders and CEOs."Luckily, Phelon had a secret weapon on her team — her venture partner Ashley Pilipiszyn, a former technical director who was one of the first employees at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-chatgpt-openai-ceo-career-net-worth-ycombinator-prepper-2023-1">OpenAI</a> in 2018. Phelon's background as a long-time operator for marketing tech companies like JazzHR and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-VCDB-18898">TapInfluence</a> also gave her the skills needed to launch a new product as a VC. "I thought, what if we could take the most successful pitches from a VC's perspective and from founder outcomes, like getting the valuation they wanted or getting funded quickly, and build a generative product that that enable you to do that quickly?"To solve this problem for founders and investors, Growth Warrior Capital is launching a generative AI-powered pitch deck builder, called Elevo. Elevo's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.growthwarriorcapital.com/founder-resources">waitlist</a> officially launches today, Phelon said, and founders can sign up for first access once the product officially goes live in October.The team sourced <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/searchable-database-of-business-insider-pitch-decks-2020-7">hundreds of pitch decks</a> from publicly available databases and from reach outs to other VC firms for great startup decks they had on hand to train Elevo's AI model, she said. When using Elevo, founders put in certain details, like the funding stage they're trying to raise for, details about the team, the product, and market size. Elevo will then generate a pitch deck for them with the key details that VCs are looking for. "When I look at a team slide, for example, I'm trying to assess founder-market fit, problem-founder fit, how pedigreed is this team, how does their background match what they're looking to do," Phelon said.Elevo will be sensitive to which stage a founder is planning to raise at, and will prompt a founder with targeted questions that can educate them on what VCs are looking for at each stage.<div type="image" title="A look at Elevo, a pitch deck builder launched by Growth Warrior Capital " height="1294" width="2014" msid="103254273" hostid="261"></div>The designs are typically simple and the slide numbers are short, but that's oftentimes what investors who see dozens of decks a week prefer. "You want the pitch to not tell the entire story, but you want it just to be enough so the VC says, 'I understand it, it matches what we care about, and I'm intrigued,'" she said.Phelon and Growth Warrior Capital have no plans to monetize the deck builder tool once it launches, she said, likening it to other venture products that firms have launched, such as the <a target="_blank" href="https://signal.nfx.com/login">Signal</a> database by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nfx-software-for-pitch-decks-warm-intros-web-series-masterclass-2022-9">NFX</a>. "We want the ecosystem to be more productive, with the side benefit that we're able to see pitches that are better and faster for us," she said.

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