Thoughts going into 2024

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• AI will continue to dominate the headlines. Those who think they missed the AI wave will begin to realize we are still at the earliest of stages. We will start to see some big winners at the application layer. Use cases in specific niche verticals will start to emerge with real revenues.

• We will see more pitch decks with seasoned founders who have a plan for profitability and no need to raise capital after their seed round. These businesses will spit off cash giving the founders more optionality on their future for the business

• Roll ups will start and become more visible. Founders that have found product market fit and profitability will start to look at rolling up assets. Smaller PE-like vehicles will emerge with rollup themes in different verticals. I continue to believe there are a few data focused roll ups that are ripe for execution

• Raising money as a startup will continue to be difficult.

• My hopes are that new consumer finance ideas will emerge. Ideas where customer acquisition can be done for close to $0. Viral ideas.

• The opportunity to invest in and around sports will continue to be interesting. As teams become more and more valuable, owners will look for every edge possible. This reminds me of hedge funds many years ago. The opportunity to leverage cutting-edge technology, data, and push the limits of innovation. Companies building to give teams insights, analytics, and capabilities to use AI on internal and external datasets will thrive.

• The investment world will embrace more AI capabilities. From asset management to wealth management to trading. AI use cases and tools will flood the market. AI analysts for research, prospecting tools, compliance, and everything in between. The key will be finding the founders with big visions, innovative products, unique data access and brilliant teams.

• Information and content will grow exponentially. Sifting through information will continue to be a pain. I believe we will see new tools emerge for delivering the content you care about. They say “there isn’t information overload, just filter failure. “ - well I’d love a robust tool or AI assistant to filter for me perfectly.

• As data grows exponentially, I get excited for what I recently launched with Initial Data Offering. A community of people who love data, buy data, and sell data. I hope that we see the vendors embrace this platform and plan their dataset launches through the IDO website. Give the community of potential buyers and partners a look forward, an initial data offering calendar of what’s coming….

  That’s all for now. This time of year when we have quiet time at home with family is great for recharging. I also think it’s a time for next year’s goals and reflecting on the past year. I find this is the time of year when I have the clearest thoughts and I get excited for the future.