Giant Ventures

AI is eroding the economic value of software. And creating a brand new labour force. Software ate the world, now AI is eating software. Cameron McLain wrote about how this new dynamic is transforming the venture capital industry and startups to a brand new era. There has been an explosion of SaaS companies: close to 35,000 in 2024. In the future, these products will increasingly be launched by bootstrapped founders building lifestyle businesses. What was once a deep moat around general software companies—the specialised expertise and investment required to build —is no longer. The ability to capture value, market share, and charge premiums will diminish over time. AI is now creating a parallel labour force - altering the economics of labour by reducing the cost of delivery. In time, AI should be a deflationary force as it reduces the cost of inputs, leading to lower prices. Read more via link in comments.

Double Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee MBE is one of the world's best Triathletes ever to have lived. He's also famous for one moment of sportsmanship that showed the world forever who he was. In 2016, the sweltering heat at the the World Triathlon Series finale, Johnny Brownlee, Alistair's brother, is set to win. Victory is within reach. But with less than 1K to go, Johnny’s pace falters. Dehydration and heat exhaustion has kicked in. He stumbles. He loses his balance. He's in serious need of help. Behind him, Alistair, is battling a South African athlete for second place. Alistair makes a split-second decision: sacrifice his own race to save Johnny. Few people will remember the man who came first this day, but everyone will remember this moment - a moment of humanity Alistair has now retired from being a professional triathlete. We spoke to him for Giant Ideas about this moment, what it takes to be an Olympic winning athlete, why consistency matters more than mental toughness and what people should do to deliver on their fitness goals. Link to listen in comments!

The symbiotic relationship between AI, Energy and Big Tech continues to shape our world. On Friday, Anthropic announced that Amazon had poured in $4 billion funding, with AWS acting as Anthropic’s cloud provider. Previously, Microsoft invested billions into AI giant OpenAI, with Altman allegedly comparing the world’s data centres to electricity (The New York Times reported Altman had a wish to make AI flow like electricity). Earlier this year, Cameron McLain - Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Giant - wrote an article analysing this trend and what's ahead for data centers and the energy demand, how startups might play a role, and how these forces will shape our world. Read it in full here: https://lnkd.in/ghbe328V

For two days only, Giant became Géant! 🇫🇷 The Giant team headed across the channel to Paris for our annual offsite. Together we made croissants from scratch, had dinner at a famous French brasserie, and wore berets* (*Giant's resident Frenchman Ferdinand Vermersch admitted this last one was extremely un-Parisian). We were lucky enough to go behind-the-scenes at the Stade Français, with lessons from French rugby legend Benjamin Kayser on how to go from good > great, and from elite athlete Diane Marie-Hardy on why entrepreneurship is similar to doing 7 sports at once. We also discussed the strategy for 2025 for Giant (thank you BNP Paribas for hosting us!), had a great dinner, and some of the team made it up early for a meditation and a run down the Seine early the next morning 🏃🏽♀️ Bravo to Amanda Berinson and Angharad Price for the expert organisation. Here's to 2025!

The tiny Welsh farming village of Llanfyllin is miles away from Silicon Valley, writes Tommy Stadlen in The Times, but both produce world leading talent. The UK has signs of latent dynamism everywhere - from its biggest cities to its farming villages. This one village is where Chad Edwards, co-founder of Giant portfolio company CuspAI - advised by Nobel winner Geoffrey Hinton - and Eric Ramsay, former star coach for Manchester United both went to school. Tommy writes: "Their story says something profound about British dynamism: our world-class potential — and the very real risk that we waste our opportunity to escape a national doom loop through technology and culture." Read more in The Times via the link in comments.

The tiny farming village of Llanfyllin in the Cain Valley has more in common with America's Silicon Valley than you might first think, says Tommy Stadlen, co-founder of Giant Ventures. Both produce world leading talent, he points out. Stadlen highlights Chad Edwards, co-founder of CuspAI and his fellow Llanfyllin High School classmate Eric Ramsay, who is now head coach of Minnesota United FC, having previously been a first team coach at Manchester United. Stadlen writes: "Their story says something profound about British dynamism: our world-class potential — and the very real risk that we waste our opportunity to escape a national doom loop through technology and culture." https://lnkd.in/eQAKwJUr #entrepreneurs #tech #Wales #AI #success

Uncomfortable, uncertain, fulfilling. These are words used to describe being a founder. Or as one person put it: "you have to get used to scrolling through your phone, looking for the one missile that could derail your business" Tommy Stadlen - Co-founder and General Partner at Giant joined Antler Partner Adam French, Beams Founder and Former Bulb Founder Hayden Wood, and Legl CEO & Founder Julia Salasky, in a panel hosted by Houghton Street Ventures' Hannah Leach at the LSE about building businesses post-university. They discussed the highs and lows of being a founder, why you might want to channel those late nights at a corporate into your own company, and why you need to be relentless, persistent and willing to suffer pain as a founder. Thanks for having us The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and LSE Generate. If you're a student or alumni starting a purpose-driven business, reach out - we'd love to meet you.

Last week Ali Parsa, founder of the once-unicorn company Babylon, unveiled his latest act. He's building an AI-powered healthcare assistant. But what can AI *really* do for healthcare? Where are the limits, and what is possible? Listen to our latest Giant Ideas episode with Ali, interviewed by Tommy Stadlen, where Ali talks about his giant moonshot idea to transform healthcare. Link to listen in comments.

This week Ali Parsa - unicorn founder of Babylon - announced his next act: an AI Health Mega-Assistant Quadrivia AI. But how will AI change our healthcare? And what did he *really* learn from Babylon's meteoric rise to unicorn status, and its demise? Tommy Stadlen sat down to talk with Ali on the Giant Ideas Podcast to talk about it all. They discuss everything from from the listing on NYSE that Ali called an "unbelievable, unmitigated disaster", why losing control meant losing control of the company, to his unfiltered lessons from right at the top of American and British healthcare, and all the experience that he'll bring to building Quadrivia to bring healthcare to everyone. Listen or watch the episode via the link in comments!

The 'missing middle' of climate tech funding is holding progress back. Join Cameron McLain (Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Giant) and Rachel Slaybaugh (Partner at DCVC) with Carbon Equity today, to get closer to what's happening on the ground at purpose-driven venture funds. In today's online session from 4pm GMT / 5pm CET, they'll dive into the ‘missing middle’ funding gap in climate tech, sharing Giant and DCVC's latest experiences, portfolio realities and which companies are highest risk for the funding ‘valley of death’? Plus, they'll discuss if this funding gap differs in Europe vs. the US, when the gap will correct itself, and predictions for 2025. You can sign up in 30 seconds here: https://lnkd.in/eQ7vuyVz