2023 Summer Reading List

AI Everywhere

We are here to hype books this month, as is our tradition in late summer. After all, we are in the ideas business, so sharing each other's favorite reads of late helps us gain insight broadly. Anything that helps us and our portfolio companies' leaders expand our perspective is welcomed and appreciated. Any recommendations you have can be sent to us at mcasady@vestigoventures.com.

Hype is a good word to use as conversational AI takes off (beware of over-promises on this turn of the tech!). Yet while it is very early days for these new models, it is certainly still exciting. At Vestigo, we love start-ups focused on unique data sources or solving specific problems such as customer service or adding the guardrails needed to check on AI being deployed in the world (much to do here!).

As summer comes to an end, and as you catch up on family time or on a good book, think about aspects of your business or life that will be impacted by AI. It will be pervasive. It will be frightening. It will be fun. Our perspective is driven by our investing activities since 2017 in AI startups. And in the spirit of exchanging ideas, we include some of our findings:

  • Massive 10x productivity can be achieved in processes that are today dependent on humans
  • Insights on behaviors that cannot be observed by the human cognitive process are possible now
  • Joining processes across the enterprise or an industry holds great promise for creating new business models
  • Predictive AI is still very difficult when it comes to financial market investments versus taking on tasks like allocation of assets or evaluating financial decisions

We hope you find this month's issue engaging and entertaining!

- Mark & Dave


Summer Reading List

Laura Spiekerman, President/Co-Founder @ Alloy

Recommendations:

Peter McKee, CEO/Founder @ Aeqium

Recommendation:

Oliver Belin, CEO/Founder @ Calculum

Adam Braun, CEO/Co-Founder @ Climate Club

Recommendation:

Carlson Choi, CEO/Co-Founder @ Cork

Recommendation:

Austin McChord, Co-Founder @ Cork

Recommendations:

Jon McNeill, Partner/Co-Founder @ DVx Ventures

Recommendations:

Bill Conners, CEO @ ForMotiv

Chaz Perera, CEO/Co-Founder @ Roots Automation

Recommendations:

Team Vestigo

Recommendations:


X Marks Its Spot

Everyone loves financial services - high margins and recurring revenue are great. This seems to be Elon Musk's perspective (and certainly his experience with PayPal) as he has now decided the blue bird can fly off and leave an X to mark the spot for his next financial foray.

Will it work? One key issue in financial services is trust. Twitter seems to be shedding that rapidly under its new ownership. Without trust, which comes from stability and transparency, it seems less likely that X will mark a success.

This doesn't mean you should count Elon out, nor his backers at the firm formerly known as Twitter. They know the right talent to create some amazing solutions for consumers so we believe something interesting will come out of this shift. But what is it?

It could be the all-in-one "jack-knife" of financial services with banking, asset management and the like. Yet that feels a wave (or three) behind the consumer journey of today. On the other hand, utilities to make life easier, like a verification/ identity certification platform to use in financial services or to assist in AI, is interesting. An X Worldcoin (do check out what Sam Altman is doing to verify humans), now that's brilliant.

But these aren't the only possible ways forward. Alternatively, one could use X as the place to crowdsource any number of activities that companies need done, from marketing research to proof of concept, that allows an X user to get paid. That payment could then be in their neo-bank or be invested. Or what about developers using it to crowd-build technology for payment? Many are already on Twitter now so that would work.

But all this begs another question: why hire a media executive to run a financial services app at X? This is the part that leads us to believe it's more about content monetization and the financial services needed for that to be supported.

Whatever the case, stay tuned! It's sure to be an amazing show.

- Team Vestigo


Just Another Day V-Sea'ing

In what's quickly becoming an annual excursion, the Vestigo team spent an afternoon out on Boston Harbor for the summer offsite. We lucked out on weather (big thanks to Nick for choosing the best day) and included some pictures below!


Boston VC Meetup

Vestigo was thrilled to host a meetup for Boston-based VCs in our Cambridge offices at the end of July where the focus of discussion centered around AI adoption and opportunities. 

Portfolio Updates

Acorn Finance Partners With Momnt

By partnering with Momnt, an embedded lending solution for businesses, Acorn Finance builds on its ability to provide financing options for home improvement merchants.

Acorn Finance on LinkedIn: #contractors #homeimprovement #fintech #acornfinance #momnt
Our new partnership with Momnt has deepened our commitment to providing home improvement Merchants with best-in-class financing options to help them grow their…

The Wagmo CEO and Co-Founder joined the latest podcast episode to take a deep dive on pet insurance. Be sure to check it out if you're a pet parent!

Wagmo on LinkedIn: Tune in on the latest episode of the “Life With Pets” podcast, with our…
Tune in on the latest episode of the “Life With Pets” podcast, with our trailblazing Founder and CEO, Christie Horvath. Listen in as Christie shares her…

Check out this great interview with ZenLedger's Jonté Harrell, as he describes the tips, tricks, and tendencies that all contribute to his success as a CFO!

The 6 a.m. CFO: How ZenLedger’s Jonté Harrell Starts His Day
Harrell shares the mental model he uses for time management, how his West Point education shaped his leadership principles, and which podcasts he follows for lifelong learning.

Interesting Reads

Cryptography may offer a solution to the massive AI-labeling problem
An internet protocol called C2PA adds a “nutrition label” to images, video, and audio.
What the Finance Industry Tells Us About the Future of AI
What will artificial intelligence do to industries and jobs? For a preview, look to the finance industry which has been incorporating data and algorithms for a long time, and which is always a canary in the coal mine for new technology. The experience of finance suggests that AI will transform some…

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