When to Call Me
My majors and minors, congestion pricing, AI talent agents, the three kinds of investors
I get asked a lot “when should I call you/what are you thinking about?”
At Slow we’re all generalists and invest in anything that we think is good and makes sense for our money (as a seed fund). We mostly don’t divide up the world into sectors and coverage groups. But we do have areas of interest that we each lean into with a bit of pure stock picking along the way.
Majors - most
SMB platforms. Empowering long tail, real economy entrepreneurship makes markets more efficient and decentralized, and brings more software into the real world. I’m making bets across vertical market software, marketplaces and orchestration, and integrated systems (franchises and biz in a box).
Pre-seed. If I can get to a founder/newco early enough, I’m down to invest as a total generalist. The specialization is the stage, not the sector. Sometimes that means spending months collaboratively diligencing an opportunity w/ a founder before we go through the one way door together.
Minors - many
Growth Buyouts and vertical companies. Software is eating the world but that doesn’t mean infinite scaled software companies. Instead, we’re backing new business models and capital structures for innovation. Sometimes that means funding product companies to buy and transform operating companies and own all the upside. Sometimes it means vertically integrating around novel technology from day 0.
20% Projects - some
Healthcare. This started out as a major but my focus narrowed over time. I’m investing in companies that revitalize private practice and put providers back in charge of healthcare whether through generational transition, new practice formation, or improving economics/viability of existing practices. But there’s only so many deals to do.
Angel. We have a carveout from our fund to write smaller checks. I help manage that portfolio and love going super early with a collaborative check behind trusted friends/funds/angels in areas I want to support and explore.
As new ideas bubble up, they’ll find their way onto this list of 20% projects and then maybe something more as a “core” area.
Right now I’m exploring and keen to learn about technology modernization and implementation (SIs, consultants, etc.) and healthcare payments. I’m generally excited about playing out the story of what happens as the cost of software goes to/near zero and eventually finding bets to make in fintech again.
Abundance
It was so awesome to hear from so many people passionate about improving New York together and working on the abundance agenda for NY. I’m putting together a list and a group - for what purpose I don’t exactly know yet but reach out if you want to be included.
Congestion pricing is just the start. Now we need to save the MTA
Obviously implementing congestion pricing is a win for the city, transit, the environment etc. Traffic in the city is terrible and getting worse and the MTA is decrepit on its way to death. But merely passing a toll is not an unmitigated success, not by a long shot.
First, this shouldn’t have taken so long. New York needs better processes and good governance for innovative ideas. Without permitting reform, obviously good ideas like congestion pricing languish for years in committees and reviews long after they should be living in the world.
Next, now that we’re raising the revenue we have to spend it well. We can’t just raise tolls/taxes for their own sake. Revenue is the goal, improving the MTA is. So while it’s great to celebrate the win of good policy over bad politics, now the money has to be put to good use. Spending the money is easy. Any government can do that. But spending it efficiently to improve the lives of NYers is important, and hard.
Using congestion pricing tolls to revive transit in NY would be a huge win for livability and affordability. We have to prove a point and establish a precedent.
So don’t celebrate taxes and spending, celebrate impact and outcomes.
I Wrote
Do you want to 1) win 2) make money or 3) be right? Which are you? Which do you want to raise from? #1 fails by doing the hottest thing (beating other people feels good) #2 fails by doing shitty, quick trades or managing too much money #3 fails as a reflexive contrarian and/or by bad position sizing.
AI talent agents for the middle market. As AI makes it easier for recruiters to spam outbound, short term talent (construction, caterers, substitute teachers, travel nurses) will come to rely on talent agents to book jobs, optimize schedules, and increase earnings. This is the same phenomenon that will push "buyers agents" for the enterprise to make purchases in a sea of salespeople and a cambrian explosion of vendors.
"Anora," directed by Sean Baker, has garnered significant attention for its portrayal of Ani, a young sex worker from Brooklyn who impulsively marries Vanya, the son of a Russian oligarch. The film's narrative combines elements of high-concept comedy and screwball traditions reminiscent of classic cinema.