Buyers and Builders
00:42:40 · Cyrus Hessabi, Mikk
[00:42:40] S1: Just to clarify your question, you were saying learning from who? Sorry. [00:42:44] S0: Like the people you've met, all the entrepreneurs, because these are people who are solving very hard problems. They're trying to. Sometimes they need additional capital for that. Sometimes they don't because the company is profitable. So the lessons from this type of people and the founders of, for example, the previous firm you were working.
00:43:02 · Cyrus Hessabi
[00:43:02] S1: So many people, so many different lessons. So where do I start? First is... I mean, I think, honestly, the the biggest of the... All of this is that you can't do everything what at once, And that you have to be very deliberate and assertive, even in the face of your VC board or whoever is kind of pressing you to go left and right. I think you have so many concurrent priorities at once. I think one of the things I'm learning a lot as I assess new people is a bit to be very clear on the net net type of decision making, where they're allocating their capital. Build AI enabled roll up. Right now, we're not doing any AI. We're gonna do just roll ups because I know we have to acquire customers. I don't care what others are saying that's what's happening or the reverse. I think I respect that a lot, and I think it's the right call because especially with these AI roll ups, it's hard to have more to parallel process a ton at the same time. You'd rather get things right kind of step by step versus an everything everywhere all at once strategy. I think that's one. I think the second thing I've learned a lot is around think it's confirming instincts, my instincts around just saying things as they are. And I think there's a lot of temptation to come up with narratives for everything. Company is doing great. We still have the downsides. Or trust me, the AI really is creating that much value, but, like, actually is not. Or you can come up with so many examples of narratives everywhere. And I think I think narratives are good. Storytelling is great. I think, however, some of the best people I've worked with, some of the best whatever the jobs is is... They've been very kind of clear on, you know, this is what I don't know. This is what I know. This is what I'm confident on, what I'm not confident on. These are the five risks in my view, and I'm an advocate because I'm... You wish... You... You're investing your money. I'm investing my time. It's probably even more valuable. People who've taught me a lot of lessons in that in in that regard. And I think the third thing I'd say is coming up with some sort of internal framework to be able to read people and people driven situations. You know, who's gonna be here for the long term? What are people's motives? Where are they here? What are they trying to do here? Like, I think that's helpful.
00:45:15 · Cyrus Hessabi, Mikk
I think if you're a founder because you're trying to hire people. And, you know, to my point on the ship being in the middle of the of the store, you need people who can take care of various areas without you being everywhere. I think it's probably around those things. [00:45:32] S0: And now coming back to today, what companies, what industries you are most excited about today? Like, right after finishing this meeting, things you're working on, what are you most excited about?
00:45:44 · Cyrus Hessabi
[00:45:44] S1: I mean, I'll tell you this. I think there is a I can list so many sub industries, like a laundry list doesn't necessarily add value. And I think also the laundry list is going to be full of these niche names now, niche sectors that I think are not necessarily kind of more like abstract. Think I'll tell you directionally what I like. I think I continue to be very excited about spaces that are just, you know, out of the beaten path in a way, like that are not intuitive, and that you need to... There's some sort of barrier to entry in terms of interest and research to get to them. I think industries that are... Services industries that are continuously facing supply demand bottlenecks kind of to Shore's point, but I think that's, you know, something I share. With a highly localized right to win, it's much better if you're not competing with someone across from the... On the other side of The US and you're competing with your own your own local competitors. And I think also with a high share of work that AI can now do. So I really care about kind of an AI approach as well, and where you could create a lot of value in doing so because there isn't that many other people who are thinking about it because just the kinds of people that are going into these industries are not, you know, still in a limited pool. And I think also really, really spending time on like non cyclical stuff. I think one thing I'm realizing is we live in a world increasingly that is very, very volatile. You might say in the course of history, it's normal, but we rather left a normal period to go back to normal. But anyway, I think with that in mind, it's very hard in a way also to make this to back stories that are for ten years from now. I don't know what's happening next week. Like, how can I make a bet on ten years? So businesses that are kind of, you know, I think one thing that that that drives a lot of my investment thesis, and it's funny, I've waited until the fifty fifth day of this podcast to say that. But I think I wrote this piece on my Substack called Investing in What Does It Change? And I think that is the crux of my investment thesis personally is one of the we always talk at VC, we love to talk about what's going to change. This is what's changing. This is what's happening. This is how the world's going. Impact of XYZ.
00:47:59 · Cyrus Hessabi
I think for the most part, actually the world doesn't change. I think people are driven by the same things they are today as they were Egypt five thousand years ago or in Roman Empire two thousand years ago, whatever. I think because the species doing it are the same, I. E. Humans, the drivers and the incentives are basically the same. And so I think the industries around the societies that we build are also fairly the same. And I think as a result, especially now with this convergence of so many things at once, AI, geopolitical changes, demographic changes, you name it, climate change, you just add so many things that are shifting at once that are fairly structural to how we really live and work. I think the best things in my view that I like to spend time on are things that don't change. You know, industries that we always need. We always need to be insured. We always need to fix things. We always need to have a house. The house always needs to be repaired. We always need to file taxes and accounting. You know, I can go on and on, but I think if it doesn't change over time, fantastic. That's what I like, by the way, one more thing. And by the way, to bring it back to AI enabled services, the crux of what I like about AI enabled services is to leverage the positive change brought by AI to further cement something that doesn't change. You know, maybe I'm gonna say something a bit controversial, but if you're backing like an AI agent business, you're betting on the change itself that people adopt your AI agent business, right? AI agent for debt recovery. I don't know. I don't wanna name any names. But if you're backing the service, the service isn't gonna change. We need it. But the AI is just help... The change that whichever form it takes, you're backing, you're benefiting from it because you're on the side of the equation that stays the same. Is is that making sense?
00:49:49 · Mikk, Cyrus Hessabi
[00:49:49] S0: Yeah. It makes sense. It makes sense. [00:49:51] S1: I think that's that's that's the crux of of of why I've been so excited about AI for the traditional economy, because the traditional economy doesn't change, in my view, for the most part. [00:50:00] S0: Okay, Cyrus. Really, we went to all sorts of different places sometimes because I don't see me understand all those things so well. But thanks thanks a lot for doing this. Last question. What is your favorite book? You've seen a lot, you do a lot, different industries, different things you've done. What is something you really enjoy reading?