1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Darshan Vyas of LOUD Capital (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: It’s interesting to see that you guys are seeing AI in the midwest as well. It’s good to know that that’s a pervasive trend even in your part of the universe. From your fund’s point of view, what kind of ventures are you looking to invest in? What is your investment thesis and where do you really want to focus?

Darshan Vyas: We’re really interested in artificial intelligence. When we invest in companies, I try to identify companies where we can add value by incorporating our network into that company. If we can add value to that company, then we will make that investment.

Sramana Mitra: Help us understand where your network is so we can send those types of companies your way. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With David Blumberg of Blumberg Capital (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: This is an area of differentiated well-merchandised consumer products in existing categories and sometimes even new categories. This is a very interesting area because Facebook has created an unbelievable platform for entrepreneurs to hyper-target. That hyper-targeting capability never existed until now. It’s amazing.

For $20, the kind of hyper-targeting you can do is incredibly efficient. There’s some good news for the consumer entrepreneurs who are trying to build something. There is some good news and bad news in the story that you told. Amazon has locked up distribution and logistics in such a tight way that all the big categories are locked up. However, the niche and new products is where the e-commerce opportunity is. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Darshan Vyas of LOUD Capital (Part 1)

Responding to a popular request, we are now sharing transcripts of our investor podcast interviews in this new series. The following interview with Darshan Vyas, LOUD Capital was recorded in September 2017. 

Darshan Vyas, Co-Founder Managing Director, LOUD Capital, discusses seed investing in the startup eco-system in the Mid-West from Ohio.

Sramana Mitra: Tell us about LOUD Capital. What is the focus of the firm? How big is your fund? What size investments do you make? >>>

196th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Ankit Jain, Gradient Ventures

Ankit Jain is Founding Partner at Gradient Ventures, Google’s AI venture fund.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With David Blumberg of Blumberg Capital (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: What you’re describing is not contrary to the point they’re making. The point they’re making is that we’ve gone through a 30-year extensive innovation phase. The company that really disrupted Nokia is Apple. To some extent, the Samsung world followed. Sitting in 2016 and looking ahead, it seems like there is a bit more of too many superstars dominating and playing monopolistic roles in their individual areas.

Facebook doesn’t really have a competitor right now. Google doesn’t really have a competitor in search. These are dominant industries. On the cellphone side, there’s competition. The business software faces a lot more competition. There’s Salesforce, Microsoft, SAP. They’re all still acquiring companies and staying relevant. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Don Hutchison (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Talk a little bit about your investments. First and foremost, what have been some of your most interesting and satisfying investments so far?

Don Hutchison: If I look at deals that have graduated, I would say Sugar Media would be one. They’re a software stack for managing personal media at home. It was sold to 2wire. It was a really good outcome. It helped accelerate the management and the installation of higher-order applications and fundamental broadband hardware in the home. 2wire is the preferred hardware and software on the media sell side and others would be for cable. It helped move the market forward.

At the same time, it was a very good outcome for the company and investors. Recurrent Energy is very active. I actually put a team >>>

399th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast With Steve Beck, Serra Ventures

Steve Beck, Managing Partner at Serra Ventures, discusses his firm’s non-Unicorn investment thesis. Refreshing to hear.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With David Blumberg of Blumberg Capital (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: I was actually reading last week’s Economist expose on superstars. Being a history buff, you may have already read this. Every time there is a major technological revolution, there’s this very disruptive period of 20 to 30 years when there’s a tremendous amount of startup activity and experimentation. Then, that period settles into an oligopoly.

Right now, we do have a bit of an oligopoly in tech. We have four or five companies that are in very dominant incumbent positions that are very difficult to compete with. The amount of data that Facebook has accumulated and the amount of precision with which they’re able to target ads is impossible to compete with. The only other people who have even a remote chance is Google because of their search and intent data capture. >>>