How AI Will Change Venture Capital Forever

In this episode of The Mark Haney Show, Mark sits down with Growth Factory partners Rick Spencer and Ali Mackani for a bold conversation at the intersection of artificial intelligence and venture capital.

They explore:
• Why AI is changing the rules of investing and startup building
• How "Venture Science" could reshape the VC industry
• The myth of job loss vs. the reality of augmented human potential
• What industries are being disrupted first—and where opportunity lies
• How AI can empower both technical and non-technical founders
• The importance of values, community, and youth preparation in the AI age

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor, or simply AI-curious, this episode is packed with insight, inspiration, and practical frameworks for building a future that works—for all of us.

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If this episode inspires you to be part of the movement, and you believe, like me, that entrepreneurs are the answer to our future, message me so we can join forces to support building truly great companies in our region. 
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Subscribe to my channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCom_​... 
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Mark Haney is a serial entrepreneur that has experience growing companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He is currently the CEO and founder of HaneyBiz 
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Instagram: http://instagram.com/themarkhaney​ 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/themarkhaney 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markehaney​ 
Website: http://haneybiz.com​ 
Audio Boom: https://audioboom.com/channels/5005273​  
Twitter: http://twitter.com/themarkhaney
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This video includes personal knowledge, experiences, and opinions about Angel Investing by seasoned angel investors.  This content is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal, tax, investment, or financial advice.  Nothing in this video constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement.

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Episode Transcript

Mark Haney (00:00):
Yes, this is Mark Haney's show on a mission
to ignite the entrepreneurial revolution
right here in the hometown.
We love, and we do that by building the
Backyard Advantage, the most connected
community in the world for local
entrepreneurs, and it's based around a
culture of love, but it's soon going to be
driven by artificial intelligence in many

(00:21):
ways.
And today on the show I have my partners in
the Growth Factory, rick Spencer, who has
today on the show.
I have my partners in the growth factory,
rick Spencer, who has been on the show
before, and our newest partner, ali Makani,
and these guys, well, I'm going to have
them give a little bit of their background,
but I'm going to set up the show.
I think today's show is going to be
interesting because these two gentlemen are

(00:42):
brilliant.
They both come from a tech background, but
they're also right at the heart of venture
capital as well, as we build out the growth
factory.
So it's an interesting concept to think
about the overarching economy, where we are
at as a country and all the different
things that we are facing, and then where

(01:05):
is technology and artificial intelligence
and the amount of productivity that that
technology brings, and it's the
intersection for where venture capital fits
in driving a lot of these solutions.
So we're going to talk about those three
subjects today, but before we get into it

(01:27):
too deep, maybe I'll have Rick why don't
you introduce yourself?
And then we'll go to Ali and give you a
little bit of your backgrounds and then
I'll sort of try to lead this conversation.

Rick Spencer (01:36):
Great.
Well, it's been a while since I've been on
the pod, Excited to be back.
As you know, we've been building the
backyard and approaching nearly 70
companies in the portfolio, seeing exits,
seeing great progress, and now we're
thinking about our next fund, fund 2.
We launched our first fund three and a half
years ago.

(01:56):
We launched the growth factory.
We created it from scratch and it really
was about how to build that community, how
to bring capital together in this region,
and you know, as you mentioned now, this
intersection of timing with technology, as
well as the culture and the community that
we built, really exciting.
And so, you know, as the managing partner

(02:17):
of the fund, I get to work with these
amazing founders day in and day out, and
from the beginning, we always said, look,
we can't predict the future.
The founders predict the future and we have
to bet on those founders.
And that is proving true, not only prior to
this AI boom, but in this AI boom.
We're betting on the right founders.
They're building the future and to be part

(02:38):
of that future is incredibly exciting.
And to bring on new partners that can help
us see the vision of not only how do we
choose those partners, but how do we think
as a firm, how do we change ourselves for
the future.
Yeah, I'm thrilled and I'm pumped and I'm
ready to do it.

Mark Haney (02:55):
Super excited about it.
So, ali, why don't we have you do your
background a little bit, and then we'll
sort of incorporate the three of us into
this conversation?

Ali Mackani (03:04):
Well, thank you for having me.
It's awesome to be here.
I think this is my first actual podcast.

Mark Haney (03:10):
Oh, let's break you in.

Ali Mackani (03:13):
There you go.
I try not to make too many mistakes or too
many predictions.
That may not be true down the line, but
it's great to be here.
I think it's an exciting time in regards to
entrepreneurs building and venture
investing.
So I've been on the other side for a long
time as an entrepreneur.

(03:33):
I have now six startups that I've been
involved in, fortunate enough to go through
that experience of up and down of building
a company, growing it, learning failing.
Up and down of building a company, growing
it, learning, failing.
But as I reflect back on the companies that
I've built in the past and think about how

(03:54):
AI could have really changed the trajectory
of those companies or how we could have
solved problems that we could only do now
because of the solutions that are available,
and not only, it's a great reflection to go
back and think about it.
But then you think about what if we could
do that?

(04:14):
How do we do that?
Why would we do it?
And I think it's an exciting time to look
at how do we invest, how do we be smarter
in the investment process?
But then, once we do invest, how do we
ensure that we're seeing around the corner?
How do we see the white space that allows

(04:34):
us to help our founders, our builders, to
build.

Mark Haney (05:05):
And you know what the art of investment
comes with art of pivot.
How fast can they pivot to get closer to
what eventually be the product that they
find the market for it?
So it's exciting times and I'm proud to be
part of this team and excited about what
we're going to build, moving forward as far
as Fund2 goes.
So thank you for having me, well welcome,
and I'm going to set up the conversation
with my overarching thesis about
entrepreneurs being the heroes of the
American economy.
They solve the world's biggest problems,
they create opportunity and they figure out
a way to change the world and they take a
lot of risk, and so I really have
entrepreneurs up there on a pedestal as
somebody that I look up to and I'm really

(05:27):
inspired to be around entrepreneurs.
But a lot of that is because of really what
they're doing for the world and our country
specifically, and I watch a lot of these TV
shows around the economy CNBC and there's a
lot of noise out there and there's so many

(05:47):
moving parts to what's happening in our
economy now that it's easy to be frightened.
Right, you have talk about tariffs, you've
got inflation and interest rates going up,
you've got wars, geopolitical unrest,
people are worried about the strength of
the consumer.
And now there's this big, beautiful bill

(06:08):
that may or may not pass and, you know, are
the Trump tax cuts going to stay in place,
and many, many more moving parts to what
might trigger different things that are
happening in the economy.
But I think the overarching issue that the
US faces is this debt that we're in.

(06:28):
We have $36 trillion in debt and growing
$36 trillion plus, and we're adding a
couple trillion to that every year in
deficit spending, and it doesn't look like
we're going to get that under control with
this new bill.
And so what are we going to do?
Like we're going to get that under control
with this new bill, and so what are we
going to do?
We're going to continue to print some money

(06:50):
and see interest rates tick up is what a
lot of people predict, and nobody knows the
future for sure.
But when I say that entrepreneurs are the
heroes of the American economy, one of the
things that they do is they build better
mousetraps and they drive efficiency.
So, as we think about you know how we're

(07:10):
going to, you know, raise more money with
the federal government through taxes.
If we're going to keep taxes low, it means
we're going to have more profits at the
corporate level and you know, overall we
have to drive more profits so that we pay a
little bit more in tax and we can make up
and maybe get this spending issues under
control and basically grow our way out of

(07:31):
this situation that we've got ourselves
into.
To get you guys' perspective on that issue,
am I overstating the possibilities of what
entrepreneurship is going to be able to do
for our country?

Rick Spencer (07:51):
Yeah, I mean I'm going to set this up for
Ali a little bit, because he's been
thinking deeply about, you know, this idea
of venture science and you're exactly right
with you know, historically, entrepreneurs
being the heroes of the American economy
and they will be in the future as well.
I think when you talk about, like a better
mousetrap, some of that derivative thinking,

(08:11):
I think where we're at now and it is easy
to get distracted with all the noise of
things that are, you know, incrementally
changing the economy and, you know, not
having the impact that you know AI and
technology has the potential to have and so
when I think about it, I think, like this
moment in time, we're building a new future.

(08:33):
It's not derivative thinking, right, and
these entrepreneurs have to be trained and
have the tools to build that new future,
which is not just capital, right, it can't
just be the same as before.
And I think about this personally a lot too,
because I think about my daughter's 14 and
I talked she just turned 14 and I say I
don't know if you're ever gonna have a
driver's license, I don't know if you'll

(08:54):
have to have one, right like when that
conversation hasn't happened before.
Right like I don't know.
And your daughter's 14 yeah, she's just
yeah, just turned 14.

Mark Haney (09:03):
I mean, yeah, in four years you know how
many years before she's got a self-driving
car In two years maybe we say why do you
need a driver's license?

Rick Spencer (09:11):
Don't worry about it, I don't know, right,
right, but we've never had that
conversation.
Right, when I talk about where are we going
to need and the things that we think about,
I think about her learning experience Will
you have teachers or will you be have your
own teacher?
That is AI that learns you and teaches you.

(09:34):
Right, we have not had these conversations
before and I share that just because it's
easy to tell those personal stories.
And then I think about the founders, who
we're investing into, who we want to invest
into the things that we want to build.
And we're not just building more companies,
we're building the future, and I think that
requires more of a system science

(09:58):
methodology that still takes that grit and
that passion, that courage, but is not just
capital and let's get lucky, right, there
is this mashup of building that future.
To me, that are these foundation of tools,
this foundation of community and this
timing that creates that future.

(10:20):
And so maybe, ali, you want to share a
little bit about how we've been thinking
about that and how that helps today.
And then, maybe, in five years, what does
that look like for entrepreneurs?

Ali Mackani (10:32):
Yeah, I mean it's kind of interesting
listening to the way you explain your
daughter's potential for the future, right,
and that's you know.
You think back or you know when we were 14,
like if, imagine you know I was my first
year in the United States, or not, like,
imagine when you were 14 and what you were

(10:54):
doing, right.

Mark Haney (10:55):
I was driving by the way.

Ali Mackani (10:56):
That's right, that's right so and and
imagine the progress that we lived over the
last you know, 35, 40 years, right, and how
the last five years have accelerated the

(11:17):
change.
The multiplier in change has been amazing
and I could only imagine what the next five
years is gonna look like.
You know, you talk about not needing a
driver's license.
You know I'm going well, she's gonna fly to
go to her first day at college in a

(11:41):
personal flying vehicle.
That's a reality in five years, when she's
ready to college, she has that option,
right.
So when we think about venture and how do
we empower these heroes, as you mentioned,
as entrepreneurs, they need better tools.

(12:05):
We need better tools, which means that we
have to be more deliberate on how we source
and then, beyond sourcing, how do we
actually validate and how do we create
opportunities for these entrepreneurs to be
able to move faster than the change in
technology?

(12:26):
Because the multiplier is really hard right
now to keep up.
So if we decide to invest in something and
we predict that in 12 months is gonna do
this, we're wrong because the change is
faster than what we can predict and in
order for us to meet the demand and the

(12:47):
change in the industry and support our
entrepreneurs, we believe you know that we
have to take a different approach.
So what is the approach?
The first approach is we really have to be
testing it differently.
We should validate it differently and we
should be ready to pivot much faster.

(13:12):
And our entrepreneurs need to have that
type of a system around them as builders to
be able to test, remove the bias and only
move forward when you actually have
indicators, the signals that are true
signals, not gut feel right.
So I've been on both sides of this now and

(13:34):
as entrepreneurs, we kind of get into this
mode of if I just have three more months or
if I have one more million, right, but I
think on the investor side we're more on.
Do I like this founder?
Do we think the team is good?
You know, I think those are all great and

(13:55):
it has worked for the last 30, 40 years.
I think things need to change and that's
where the venture science as a playbook
should become a way for us to at least do a
better job of identifying what the problem
is, how are we going to solve it and how
we're going to truly measure it.
So that's kind of the framework of the

(14:16):
venture science that I think will allow us
to do a much better job, much faster job
and hopefully because of that that we are
returning a much higher return to our
investors, right?
So that's kind of how I think about the
venture.

Mark Haney (14:33):
Science will play in a role in what we're
going to do in the future so, of course,
venture capital, like every industry, is
going to be utilizing AI and using
technology to get better and do it better.
So let's dive into that in a second.
But what industries are going to be, I'd
say, the first adopters?
You talked a little bit about education,
transportation.

(14:55):
Where else are we seeing AI adopted more
early?
Because I know we're investing into these
companies at the startup level and I can
tell you that I haven't even Googled
anything in months.
It's been.
You know I'm, I'm using uh, you know I'm
using the chat, gpt or something else.
So which industries are getting disrupted

(15:17):
and where do we want to, I guess, be
focused?

Rick Spencer (15:21):
Yeah, I think disruption is the key word,
right?
So I think every industry needs to have an
AI strategy.
You know, if they don't, they're going to
get beat by their competition, right?
So it's not optional anymore, it's
necessary the ones that can truly be
disrupted.
We still don't know that yet, but you know
some of the early things we see when it

(15:43):
comes to life sciences, and you know new
medicine for the future, right, like?
We have a company called Symphony in our
portfolio that's looking to take all this
virus data and predict future vaccines,
right?
So you think about that.
That's been reactive Vaccines, the flu
vaccine, for example.
They wait, they see what the predominant

(16:03):
strand is, they develop that.
And why do you get one every year?
It's because it changes, right.
It modifies, it mutates, and so what if you
could have a vaccine developing for where
you see that the virus is going?
So you have the vaccine ready for two years
out and as soon as that mutation happens,

(16:24):
it's ready, it's in, it's in in.
You know inventory if there's a
distribution plan, all those things I mean
that fundamental change you know would be
massive for the economy for the health for
the prosperity of the US and I think
similarly with even just health care in
general.
Right, like.

(16:44):
Will you have a doctor in the future?
Right, will you go to a doctor's?
Like.
Will you have a doctor in the future?
Right, will you go to a doctor's office or
will you have your own personal assistant
in your pocket and you ask them questions.
The tests come to your house.
You never go to a doctor's office again.
Right, like.
Never before have we thought that is
possible right.
And so some of that is technology, some of

(17:06):
that is the disruption of the standard way
that businesses work Healthcare is a great
example of we have so much infrastructure
around medical billing and insurance and
all these things, and so that is one of the
things I think about, which is which of
these industries will drag down the

(17:26):
innovation because of the infrastructure
and the thinking that they have and the
mental model that requires a change okay um,
and that same with you can look at military
right, like so many.
So I don't know what you think, ali, but I
always think about, like, where are these
industry?
You know there's both, I think, a maturity,

(17:47):
but also who's going to disrupt, right,
like you?
Look at Elon Musk, right, and how many
things you know.
Whether you like him or you're not, you
don't, right, like the disruption he has
introduced.
Spacex is a great example, right, a
historically slow, bureaucratic aerospace
industry that was mainly government driven,

(18:09):
and now the government is relying on his
spaceships to manage the international
space station.
Right?
If you would have asked someone at nasa 30
years ago, do you think a private company
can come in and build a spaceship in a way
that's reliable and that we would use to
operate our in-house?
Everyone would have said no, no way, never
gonna happen.

(18:30):
Right?
So you know that's.
A big part of it is that you either have a
disruptor that you know has the ability to
change an industry, um, or you have
industries that are maturing and are more
ready for change okay, wally, you want to
comment?

Ali Mackani (18:46):
I would say that I mean, we don't know how
AI is gonna change.
I think there's a lot of opinions and we
see it.
We have now, in just less than 18 months,
for most people, their vocabulary has
changed.
How we conduct our family business around,

(19:08):
ai has changed.
You know how AI has changed how we manage
our family dealings.
So I think we're in a kind of a time
capsule that it's going to be interesting
to look back.
And you know, for me, the sad part about
this is well, the great part is I'm living

(19:29):
in it, right?
The sad part is that will I be here 50
years from now to reflect back, to go?
We were in that time, right?
So I think that we are in a crossroad of
technology impacting humanity like no other

(19:52):
technology change in the history of
humanity, right?
So I believe that we will see significant
changes when we're thinking about
productivity.
I believe AI will change how we experience
things.
You mentioned it.
I haven't Googled in, you know, but I'm

(20:14):
like AI is going to make you do things that
you're like, oh my God, what do you mean?
I don't have to do that anymore, right?
So I think it's really going to change how
we operate.
So I can't tell you this is the industry or
this is how it's going to really change,
because it's going to change everything.

(20:34):
I imagine how we watch TV in a few years is
going to be changed.
We're not going to be bound to a screen
anymore, because AI is going to enable us
to have experiences in ways that we could
only imagine or we thought in movies that
those would never be a reality in our time

(20:55):
frame.
So we're going to see a lot of change and
we just have to be open to it and
experience, experiment and experience it,
experience, experiment and experience it.

Mark Haney (21:07):
I feel like we're seeing like centuries of,
or about to see centuries of technological
improvement in decades.
Right, it's just happening so fast.
Just an incredible.
I'm excited to be alive right now and
excited to be, I guess, at the heartbeat of
where a lot of this stuff is happening, be

(21:27):
around these startups and around the
technology.
As a non-tech guy, it's really interesting
to be up close and personal with a lot of
these companies, but one of the things that
we're seeing in real time with a lot of
companies is people are using AI to augment
their workforce.
I haven't seen it really replacing a lot of

(21:50):
jobs yet or eliminating a lot of jobs, even
though there's a lot of people that fear
that that's coming.
But how would you envision companies
becoming more productive because they have
AI agents or AI agents managing AI agents
and swarms of agents really driving things

(22:10):
that really maybe changing the way we do a
call center or changed?
I heard Amazon is spending $200 billion on
AI for their logistics and factories, so
it's like wow, the investment is coming at
the big company level and a lot of these
small companies are at the heart of the
innovation.
Yeah.

Rick Spencer (22:29):
We have a company, our portfolio, called
Hulu, and so they deploy AI agents to do
mundane, repeatable tasks, and this is, you
know, one of the core things that their
customers reveal.
So, like they're having a lot of progress
with banks and you know, banks are
notorious for not being innovative right,
there's a lot of just moving around paper

(22:51):
and moving around data, not actually
driving value, and so you think of a bank
that wants to have better relationships
with their clients.
They want to know their clients more, they
want to have used data and have better
intelligence.
So now you can take that person who 50% of
their job is just emailing PDFs and
tracking PDFs right.

(23:11):
Like that exists, and if you can change
that to an AI agent and that person, now
you can say call the customer and figure
out their pain points, go, research this
and use that data to inform our customers
so they can build better businesses, right?
So that's a very simple example of a bank
that can improve their deposits the same

(23:33):
personnel, but their business changes.
They improve their deposits, they have
longer relationships with their customers.
Right, I mean meaningful change applying AI.
And I think those are the examples where
it's everyone.
Most people worry about oh, if that task is
eliminated, that person is eliminated, and

(23:54):
not about what does that person learn to do
next?
Right, we stop and say this is going away.
We don't say and what do they do next?
And that's where we have to be thinking,
not only as companies responding to AI, but
as entrepreneurs what do we do next?
What do we do next?
And so that's why I think we have to, even

(24:17):
with entrepreneurs, get them to think
differently, because traditionally,
entrepreneurs have been saying, oh, I found
a problem, let me build a solution, but is
that solution?
You know, ai is moving so quickly, we don't
know if that solution is gonna be viable in
three months, six months, nine months, and
so you know that's a really, I think,

(24:37):
important mindset, not only for companies
but for entrepreneurs.

Ali Mackani (24:42):
I would say venture has to change how it
thinks as well.
If we're seeing founders and startups
accelerate how they built and we demand
them to go faster because AI right.
If we think about the narrative of how AI
has played in a venture role, we're putting

(25:03):
these pressure on our founders that says,
oh, two founders and AI should build a
billion dollar company in 12 months.
So if that's the kind of North Star that
we're setting up for what the future AI and
startups going to be, how is venture

(25:23):
thinking about keeping up with that venture?
Thinking about keeping up with that?
Right?
How's venture looking at AI to say how am I
going to run my business?
Not investment, yeah, we have to invest in
it, but how do we run our business, the
business of venture, the principal
operating system of venture that AI allows

(25:44):
us to accelerate.
When founders now building product using
these vibe coding systems and AI driven
solution, how are we going to do the
diligence on that?
How is venture going to come up with
solutions?

(26:05):
To start thinking about AI-built solution
and validation of that?
Not only should, but how can it change the
trajectory of our success by having it at
the fabric level of our operation?

(26:29):
Right, and that's how I think about AI will
impacting us, enabling our entrepreneurs
moving forward.

Mark Haney (26:37):
Interesting.
So, as I think about us, we're building the
backyard advantage right the most connected
community in the world centered around this
culture of love.
I talk about it all the time, but a lot of
that is engineering wins.
So we make helpful connections, meaningful
connections, to drive positive outcomes.
We help people get to third base a lot.

(26:59):
You, rick both of you do a tremendous job
of bringing people together to solve
problems through introductions.
So now my question of us is how do we use
AI and technology to be a force multiplier
for this tribe that we built?

Rick Spencer (27:19):
Yeah, I think it goes back to some of the
things I was saying about preparing the
entrepreneurs, right, and so one of the
things that we do well with this
engineering of wins is, you know, it's not
just, oh, let me email this person and
connect them.
It's no having a conversation with the
founder saying, let me educate you on who
this person is, let me give you the
questions that you need to ask.
Let's talk about your objectives, right,

(27:41):
and so there's a lot the way that we do it.
There's a lot more that goes into just, you
know, giving someone a business card, right,
and AI will only help us do that more where
we can say, look, you know, these are the
prompts.
You need to go, use our engine.
You need to create the report that you're
gonna use for that meeting.
You're going to need to set up your
objectives, right.
I mean, this is like where it changes
everything is that it's that you're going

(28:01):
to use for that meeting.
You're going to need to set up your
objectives, right.
I mean, this is like where it changes
everything is that it's not cold calling,
where you're like, hey, let me just keep
dialing and hopefully I get lucky right,
and yeah, I have a script, but a lot of
this is did I catch this person in the
right mood?
You know all those things.
It's like no, the level of planning and
preparedness that you can have.

(28:22):
I mean, think of like an athlete, right?
I mean now athletics has changed so much
with the data that you have and how
athletes prepare, entrepreneurs have to
prepare the same way, and so, as we think
about our future and what we're building,
it's like how do we educate the
entrepreneurs, prepare the entrepreneurs
and give the entrepreneurs the best chance

(28:43):
of succeeding?
And when we talk about de-risking in
venture, yeah, how do we reduce that risk?
Where it's like, oh, don't just call on.
You know SMUD, you know you need to be
prepared for that meeting and this is how
you prepare, yeah, and not only for the
first meeting, but every you know
subsequent meeting and and and getting the
contract right.
Every you know subsequent meeting and
getting the contract right and you know,

(29:05):
using the right way to deploy, right, like
the whole plan.

Mark Haney (29:08):
Yeah, I think about you.
The word data has come up a couple of times
already in this conversation.
I think you talked about it with the
vaccine company, you talked about it with
you know just now, and I think about these
pockets of data that are, I guess,
proprietary in nature.
And then there's obviously the data that's
out there, that's available to everybody.
But identifying those pockets of data that

(29:32):
we have unique access to or somebody has
unique access to, and how to bring that
together for a solution, solution yeah, I
mean, I think you're hitting the nail right
on the head is that it's about that data,
that information, right?

Ali Mackani (29:48):
So when we think about how are we going to
leverage AI as part of our operation, we
think about it you know, we call it
VentureOS and it's about how we
systematically understand every interaction.
To me, every interaction is a data, and how

(30:08):
do we capture that, how do we analyze it,
how do we create the patterns out of it and
how do we make it part of our decision
making?
I think, when you think about venture and
as you put it, Rick, how are we going to
prepare our founders to take advantage of
every opportunity and it's not just a
business card, but it is a plan we have to

(30:31):
have a system that allows to do that.
We're not talking about AI as a tool.
We're not talking about uploading a deck in
ChatGTP and say what should I do with this?
Right?
We're talking about that the fabric of
understanding data from not only the
ingestion part of it, but the extraction,

(30:52):
to be able to have the truth of the matter
that you it's in front of you that you need
to make a decision, right?
I think, in a traditional way of venture.
We rely on CRMs and Excel spreadsheets and
the general partner's memory and their past

(31:13):
success right.
I think, as we're accelerating, we need to
augment all that with data, which is facts,
truth, predictions, modeling and be able to
understand the opportunities much faster
and at a much greater depth and levels.

(31:36):
And that's where our philosophy around how
do we run our business on AI and how do we
have an OS that helps us to ensure that not
only we understand the opportunities that's
in front of us and the growth trajectory
that it could have, but all the other

(31:56):
things that we decided to pass on?
Where are they now?
Why did we pass on them?
How do we learn from that?
So next time we're trying to invest, we had
good enough loopback feed from our
activities, our investments, our founders,
their pivots, their opportunities to learn

(32:18):
faster and better in how we do our job next
time that there is a deck in front of us
that we have to evaluate.

Rick Spencer (32:25):
Yeah, and I think that just kind of
continuing on the data theme, two things is
moving.
You know we need awareness and education,
which the data can help with.
But then there's the preparation, right.
So imagine, you know, one of our portfolio
companies is preparing for a big pitch to
Google and they've got their plan and their
ideas and we said, hey, we've created a

(32:45):
simulation for you.
Now, you don't just like the athlete thing,
you don't just show up to the game and you
don't have any reps, right, they've, we've,
we've created a scenario and they're
actually going to practice three scenarios.
And so now they go into that meeting with
Google and they're prepared.
They're not just educated and aware, but
they've actually pitched the AI model three

(33:07):
different ways, based on three scenarios,
and they've learned from that.
And so now, going into that meeting,
they're ready, right, more ready than they
would be.
And so, moving from awareness, education to
preparedness, and then to Ali's point, the
other thing, specifically with data and
venture, is all this IP right.
Venture is very much you know invest or

(33:29):
pass, and when you pass, you know, it just
kind of goes away.
Right, we're not tracking those things,
we're not thinking about those things,
right.
But what if we said you know, oh hey, we're
looking at this company and or we invested
in this company and they need to go to the
next level.
Didn't we hear it?
We try to do that as humans now and connect

(33:50):
the dots.
Didn't we hear about a company like this?
Could we do this, could we do that?
But what if it gave us the game plan?
and said hey, this is your portfolio
company.
They need to get here.
You, three years ago, saw this company and
you also saw this founder.
And if you got that founder and that IP and
you applied it to this company, here's your

(34:11):
projected return.
Right Now we're talking a whole different
level.

Ali Mackani (34:15):
That's right, yeah, and I'll just add that
I think it should.
If it's not already a demand, it will be a
demand of our LPs that how are we thinking
about, you know, quicker return, higher
returns, right?
I mean, there's no you know, mystery in

(34:37):
that the last 10 years has been, you know,
a kind of a challenging venture time in
regards to exits and returns, and that
demand will be upon the VC industry to go.
How can we, you know, move faster and how
do we return better to our LPs?
And I think the understanding of all the

(35:00):
touch points, understanding of all the
touch points, which, to me, that's every
piece of data, every piece of information
that comes across our desk has to be
understood, has to be evaluated, has to
have the relationships built that we could
reference it on quickly.
And this is not about replacing, you know,

(35:21):
a general partner or an associate, an
associate.
No, it's actually about the productivity
and ability to make better decisions faster.
Right today, you're probably dealing with
30 to 60 days of, you know, venture
evaluating and deciding if they're going to
invest in a particular startup.

(35:44):
I find that to be a little bit ridiculous
in the day and age that we live in, right?
So how do we bring that in?
How do you turn that into a?
I'm not suggesting instant, but how do you
make that so you are moving forward faster
because our world is moving faster?
And that's how I believe understanding of

(36:06):
data and managing data and running it as an
operating system that helps us run our
company from a principles level will allow
us to become a leader inside of the venture
ecosystem.

Mark Haney (36:20):
I think about the relationships that we've
built with, obviously, our investors.
We've got a hundred plus investors, but we
have all these other partners and many
within the venture capital industry who all
have portfolio companies.
So the relationships that we've built so
far and we're just getting started they
extend beyond the ones that are in the top

(36:42):
of our mind.
They extended venture capital firms,
portfolio companies and so on.
So the relationships go deep and I try to
imagine how to utilize that data in order
to engineer wins better, make better
decisions and really build better companies.
So it's really interesting and I also think

(37:04):
about the companies that we invest into.
Many times we see a technical visionary and
maybe a technical co-founder or somebody
who's more of a product market person and a
technical person and maybe a financial
person is kind of the founding team.
It makes me wonder and I think about the

(37:25):
example that comes to mind.
Is Apple right?
They started with Steve Jobs and Steve
Wozniak.
One is a technical visionary, one is the
technical co-founder right, and so will
companies be built in our near future that
don't need Steve Wozniak, they just need

(37:46):
Steve Jobs, and I am a fan of Steve.

Ali Mackani (37:52):
Wozniak, by the way for a very technical
founder to leverage tools and technology,
AI driven, to be able to build a company

(38:13):
that achieves the highest level of success.
I think that's the same as us saying there
will be a unicorn inside of 100 companies
that we invest in, but there will be others
who's going to do things a little bit
different, right?
So, yes, there will be that.

(38:34):
I think that the writing is on the wall
that the AI is going to.
Ai is going to enable a single founder who
is very technical I think it's actually
going to be a lot more of non-technical
founders liberated to be able to do things

(38:56):
that they never thought they can, and I
think that's, to me, is the exciting part,
right?
You know I geek out with.
You know, Farzad, our CTO, you know working
on different things, but we're techie guys.
But then I see a couple of people that are
part of my group that are not technical,

(39:19):
are becoming technicals.
I have designers that are now saying, oh,
I've built my own product when before they
just designed and they needed an
engineering team to help them.
I think AI is going to actually empower
non-technical people to do a lot of
technical innovation, and that's the

(39:40):
exciting part about how this could become
an interesting path forward.

Rick Spencer (39:44):
Yeah, I actually I don't disagree with that
and I look at it a little bit differently
of, like you know, we know the Apple story
because it's a huge success, right, but for
every Apple, there's a thousand Steve
Wozniaks that just haven't met their Steve
Jobs.
Right, and they've got a brilliant idea and
they could do something incredibly
disruptive, but they don't have that person

(40:05):
that can tell the story, set the vision,
close the deal.
And so when I think about AI and I think
about the thousand Steve Wozniak acts that
we don't know because they never met Steve
Jobs, I think that's where AI can now help
those people get to the next level and
there's the acceleration of innovation that
can happen with that now, because you don't

(40:27):
hear about those people, because they're in
their garage tinkering and geeking out with
their engineer friends and they don't have
the skill set, the drive, the vision to
take their innovation and break it through.

Mark Haney (40:43):
Okay.
So I want can you elaborate on that a
little bit?
So you're seeing the tech, the Steve
Wozniak of the world Not that there's,
they're everywhere but there's a lot of
technical people in there that are out
there that are brilliant and have great
ideas.
Are you saying they're going to be able to
build the companies without the technical
visionary, or they're going to use AI to
build the companies without the technical
visionary, or they're going to use ai to

(41:04):
find the visionary?

Rick Spencer (41:04):
that can both sell.
Yeah, I think they'll be able to get more
progress than they would using ai, because
they can put it and say, like I, I need
help telling the story right.
Like I can explain the technical roadmap, I
can explain the architecture, I can geek
out all day long, I don't know how to tell
a story.
Um, not only do I not always tell a story,
I'm scared of telling stories, right, and

(41:26):
so now they can get AI to help them tell
the story.
They could practice with AI right, and so
now they have more chance of sharing their
technology innovation with the world.
Could they also find someone?
Yes, they could say look, you know, let me.
I want my AI model to interview 10 people,
right, and now I'm not out there kind of

(41:48):
randomly dating folks.
I'm focused on the things that are going to
fit, the things that I need.
So all of that can help and all of those
are.
Again, we don't have the data to know how
many Steve Wozniaks had ideas better than
Apple, but they never had Steve Jobs, and
so that potential it gets me really excited,

(42:10):
because you know that acceleration of
innovation can happen with these use cases.

Mark Haney (42:16):
So we're hyping this up pretty big on this
show because it's our.
It's not our job to hype it up, but it's
our.
We get hyped up about it because we're
right in the middle of you know, I know
we're at the beginning of the first inning
and it's exciting.
You think it's overhyped right now.
You think AI and technology are people

(42:36):
overhyping it, or where is it overhyped and
who's missing the boat?

Ali Mackani (42:44):
Honestly, I don't think it's overhyped.
I think the part that is overhyped and I
may be wrong is what AI is going to do as
far as taking away jobs.
I think that is a little overhyped is
outlining from how it's going to change our

(43:06):
lives, how it's going to improve our
ability to experience and reach the goals
that we want to have and even solve
problems that we never thought could be
solvable Cure cancer that we never thought
it could be cured, right.
But I think the overhyped part to me is how

(43:27):
many people are fixated on it's going to
take out our jobs.
I think we look at how technology has
changed humanity and our requirement to
scale up over the last hundred years.
It just moves us to a different level of

(43:49):
set of scales that we need to have, and I
believe AI will allow every skilled worker
to be able to accelerate, achieve and live

(44:10):
a better life because AI helped them to be
more productive.
That I wish more people talked about that
and hyped that opportunity up, because
that's how.
I see it, you know, I feel like I'm a
pretty capable person when it comes to
doing the things that I do on a daily basis.

(44:33):
I think that I'm a better person because AI
is there to help me.
It's not replacing me, it's helping me.
I'm able to do more, I'm able to be more
educated, I be more informed, and I believe
that is going to be the factor that's going
to increase productivity.

(44:57):
And it's more underhyped than I wish it was
overhyped.
You know that more people hyped that
opportunity versus AI being hyped itself.

Rick Spencer (45:05):
Yeah, I would say two things.
I would agree with the fear.
You know that.
So people are consumed with the fear and
not seeing.
Look, I have 99.9% confidence that AI is
going to drive innovation we've never seen
before.
Now we don't know exactly how, we can't
predict the future, but we know that
everything is in place to drive innovation

(45:28):
that we have not seen before and to
literally shape the future of our world.
So I have ultimate confidence in that, and
I think, again, we talk about, you know,
typical kind of human mindset we're fearful,
fear, uncertainties and doubts, so we let
that consume us versus saying what's next,
what does the future look like?

(45:49):
Let's dream a little bit, right, and so I
think that's a humanity mind shift that's
going to need to take place to truly unlock
the innovation opportunity.
I think on the venture side, we have to
change our mindset too, because for so long,
venture has been about you know you set a
thesis, you have a prediction and you're

(46:11):
kind of married to that.
I don't think the future of venture is who
has the best prediction skills.
I think the future of venture is who's the
most agile.
And that is a big shift right when you say
you know, I can't arbitrarily say we're
going to invest in these kind of companies
with these kind of check sizes and these

(46:32):
kind of stages.
You know, I think you're going to have to
use this data to say look in this month,
based on our pipeline and the markets and
all of these data points, this month, this
is the best investment we can make.
Next month may be different.
And if we can't move that quickly, we don't

(46:54):
have the data to move that quickly, we
don't have the mindset to move that quickly,
we don't have the systems to move that
quickly.
That's where I think there will be a new
class of leaders in venture and the rest
will either have to learn and adapt or will

(47:14):
become obsolete.

Mark Haney (47:16):
All right, I'm going to bring this back as
we wrap up A couple more questions or a
couple more, I guess, topics.
If you will, I'm going to bring it back to
where I started.
You know we're all really patriotic people,
we love our country and it's it's talked
about a lot that there's this AI arms race
out there and in the U?
S is doing really well in some areas and

(47:39):
probably the leader it's some of this
cutting edge stuff, but there's competition.
It's happening all over the world and so I
think about, like this race that is out
there, seems to be out there from a
national security standpoint, from a
economic security standpoint, which is
national security, and what are we doing to
position our youth to help drive this over

(48:04):
the long haul?
So that you know there's going to.
You talked about your 14 year old daughter.
It's going to be her age and even younger
that really drive a lot of these shifts
over the coming, you know, five, 10 years.

Rick Spencer (48:17):
Yeah, this is becoming a topic in our
community where we're testing this concept
of something called legacy lab.
So we're just in the initial stages of
building something that empowers the youth
to take control of their future right, and
yeah, I mean from our investors to our
community partners.

(48:38):
So many people are concerned that how is
education preparing them for the future?
Is it preparing them for the future?

Mark Haney (48:46):
Schools may be a little bit slower in
adopting some of this stuff because of the
bureaucracy and a lot of reasons.
The future Is it preparing them for the
future Right?
Schools may be a little bit slower in
adopting some of this stuff because of the
bureaucracy and a lot of reasons.
But you got to.
As a parent, you got to take matters into
your own hands.

Rick Spencer (48:58):
Right and I think you know there's.
So there's the intersection of education,
government.
What is government's influence?
Many people in this country feel, oh, I
need to wait till the government tells me
what to do.
And those people are smart and responsible
and so I'll let them lead me Right.
Is that the right mindset to have for
building the future we want?

(49:18):
I mean, you know, you look at China and
they're all rowing in the same direction
because of their structure, and I'm not
saying we moved to that structure, but
they're rowing in the same direction and
they're moving pretty quick, saying we
moved to that structure but they're growing
in the same direction and they're moving
pretty quick, Right.
And so you know how do we empower the youth
to to push past?
You know, oh, I got to wait for someone to
tell me what to do.
I have to wait for that.

(49:38):
And that goes back to the entrepreneurial
story, right Of how do we teach them that
entrepreneurial skills can save their
future.
And I think that's the big mindset for the
youth is they're scared, they don't know
why they should be hopeful in some cases
and they're just confused in many cases.

(50:00):
And that we could talk about all the
reasons why.
But you take that fear, confusion and lack
of hope.
That's dangerous for our future.
And so you know, this is something that
excites me, not only because the you know
connection with with my daughter and my
niece and nephews and friends and family,
um, but you, you started with like where

(50:22):
are we going?
Where's this economy going?
Where's the society going?
I mean, this is like an existential
question that we have to, you know, because
we're going to be part of it, but we're not
going to, we're not going to build the
future, that's right.
Right, we're just helping get it started
and you know the people are going to build
a future your grandkids, your kids, my

(50:42):
daughter, Right.
And so if we're not preparing them for that
opportunity, what does that say about us?

Ali Mackani (50:50):
Yeah, yeah, I love that, and you know I
listen to this podcast called Acquired.
I'm not sure if you guys have listened to
it, but highly recommend it.
They go back and, you know, replay and
educate you on a journey of some of the
most well-known companies you know over the

(51:11):
last few hundred years.
Right, the one that, as you were, you know,
sharing this opportunity of our kids and
our next generation is what's going to
build.
So one of the episodes that I was listening
to is about Hermes, the fashion company.
They're now in their eighth generation of

(51:36):
family-ran business.
When was the last time you heard that
someone's kids are taking over their
company's business?
It's becoming less and less right.
So I believe that everything else needs to
happen.

(51:56):
Yeah, education needs to be better, faster,
at a greater level, with more discipline.
That takes time and I think I go back to
you started by talking about entrepreneurs
are the heroes of this country and could
really change the trajectory.

(52:17):
I believe we, as both entrepreneurs and
investors, we should encourage our founders
to involve their kids in their business and
we should encourage them to have them be
part of their build, the building of their
companies, because there's nothing better

(52:38):
than actual hands-on experience and, you
know, watching and watching an 80-year-old
kid today and the language that they use,
the vocabulary that they use it's so
different and we need to close the gap.

(53:11):
Do we bring our experiences closer to our
kids, to our grandkids and the future?
And having them be involved in our venture
building is the way for us to move
entrepreneurship.
So the Legacy Lab, as you mentioned I think
it's a fantastic vision for how we could
educate, but we should encourage more.
We should encourage our founders to get

(53:32):
their kids and families involved.
We should actually incentivize them to say
do you have a teenager that is doing part
of your job?
Maybe we do a grant, maybe we write a check
for them to go get you know for college
education.
That's what we could do to really
accelerate the passing of the

(53:53):
entrepreneurship to the next generation of
entrepreneurs.

Rick Spencer (53:57):
Yeah, we need Haneyville to not only be a
beacon of family, but a beacon of
entrepreneurship.
Ooh, I love it.

Mark Haney (54:01):
I love it, okay, so I guess I'll just ask
you any closing thoughts, or I guess I'll
just ask you any closing thoughts or
predictions, any bold predictions about the
future, whether it be three, five, 10 years
out.
Any, any bold predictions or any closing
thoughts.

Rick Spencer (54:23):
Well, I'm not going to.
I'll maybe issue a challenge, and I think
it's for us and the community that we're
building which is holding true to the
values.
So I think you know you talk a lot about,
uh, values, mark of, of commitment, of
character, you know of, you know the things
that it takes to succeed in this life.
I think it's easy, um, to get so focused on

(54:45):
technology and innovation and lose touch
with those, and that is, you know, it's not
a prediction, it's a concern of mine of
that we lose touch with the values and that
we go off the rails.
And so I think we have to, as much as
people get excited about this conversation
and what we're building and how we're
helping and the growth of you know,

(55:06):
companies and the financial success, we
have to say, it starts with the values.
And if we lose sight of those values, even
if we see the most amazing innovation in
the world, what do we really accomplish?
And so, as our chief dreamer, as our chief
evangelistist, I would just challenge you

(55:27):
to make sure that those values stay true to
us and that we never stop talking about
them thank you.

Ali Mackani (55:40):
I've learned not to make predictions
anymore, but I think that how we experience
things in life is going to completely
change.
I think AI is going to allow us, as humans,

(56:03):
to experience not only technology, but
experience life differently.
We could get to places much quicker,
physically or through technology.
We could experience things faster than
Amazon same-day delivery.

(56:26):
We take a lot of that stuff for granted.
I just think that the next five years or so,
the on-demand experience is gonna be so
different and I'm I'm fearful of it, but at
the same time, I'm really excited about it.
Right to be able to walk in into a fully

(56:47):
immersive experience and be able to live it,
touch it, feel it.
I'm excited about that and that's what I
would say that five years from now we're
gonna have, we're gonna live in a fully
immersive experiences powered by AI, and we

(57:10):
will experience humans and things in ways
that we've never had before.

Mark Haney (57:15):
Yeah, I love it.
I'll reiterate my bold prediction, and I
haven't really talked about this a lot.
I've never talked about it other than with
you guys, but this idea that we're gonna
print more money as Americans feels almost
inevitable at this point.
But I wear a shirt a lot of times that says
everything is figureoutable and I believe

(57:37):
that entrepreneurship and innovation
whether it be big companies, small
companies, startups they're going to figure
out a way to drive enough productivity to
outgrow the wasteful spending that we are
doing as a society, and everything's going
to be okay because entrepreneurs are on the

(57:59):
way.

Ali Mackani (58:00):
Couldn't agree with it anymore.

Mark Haney (58:02):
Amen.

Ali Mackani (58:02):
Amen.