Invest Like The Best
Episode 90 Investing in Artificial Intelligence
Invest Like The Best

Episode 90: Investing in Artificial Intelligence

Investing in Artificial Intelligence

Ash Fontana is a managing partner at venture capital firm, Zetta. We cover the stages in which AI will be enabled, major components of the enterprise stack that he focuses on for AI, and why companies that are AI from the start will have a significant advantage in the space.

This episode is brought to you by:

CFA Institute. CFA Institute is a global association of investment professionals, whose mission is to lead the investment profession by promoting the highest standards of ethics, education, and professional excellence for the ultimate benefit of society. CFA Institute serves a global community of investment professionals working to build an investment industry where investor's interests come first, financial markets function at their best and economies grow. The Chartered Financial Analyst credential is the most respected and recognized investment management designation in the world.

[00:02:25] – (First Question) – A look at their very specific investment strategy

[00;03:35] – Future of competitive advantage in the SaaS industry

[00:06:45] – How startups and new companies can compete against software giants that are pretty well entrenched in the market

[00:08:38] – How do copies with narrow focuses attract VC money which is looking for massive returns

[00:12:28] – The stages in which AI will be enabled

[00:15:55] – Framework of an AI company

[00:18:49] – Importance of the feedback in the AI company framework

[00:20:56] – Examples of AI companies

[00:23:50] – Why companies that are AI from the start will have a significant advantage in the space

[00:26:21] – How do companies change their thinking about compiling useful data

[00:32:18] – Regulation of AI

[00:35:03] – Preventing other companies from leapfrogging you in the AI space

[00:37:57] – Some of his favorite AI companies

[00:40:43] – How much has he seen in the finance world

[00:43:10] – Why the focus on B2B AI companies

[00:45:34] – Major components of the enterprise stack that he focuses on for AI

[00:49:30] – What impact will all of this AI have on the daily lives of people

[00:51:38] – Biggest problems that he is excited to see AI tackle

[00:53:04] – How do you value the intangible asset of an AI model

[00:57:13] – How Ash thinks about getting other investors into firms they seeded

[01:00:27] – Other investors that Ash really respects

[01:04:04] – Where would Ash invest outside of AI

[01:07:11] – More about his family nut business

[01:11:18] – Favorite macadamia nut story

[01:12:05] – Kindest thing anyone has done for Ash

Investing in Artificial Intelligence

Introduction

Patrick
My guess this week is Ash Fontana, a managing partner at Venture Capital firm Zetta. Zetta invests in companies that build software that uses artificial intelligence methods like machine learning to predict and prescribe outcomes. Ash's combined experience as a founder, entrepreneur, and investor gives him the perfect background to discuss with us one of the hottest topics in business and investing. This conversation is useful for anyone trying to evolve their own way of dealing with data. Of particular interest are the ways in which Ash and his team evaluate data sets and how they think about competitive advantage in this new world, where Ash advocates a new term to replace the concept of the moat, something he calls loops. If we can use data to do things better than humans, or if we can supercharge our intuition with predictive models, we can harness the power of this new technology. What Ash has taught me is that data itself is dumb, but great data sets can represent the fuel for incredible companies. Let's dive into how that may be. Please enjoy this conversation on how AI is changing business and how we might profit from that change.

Zetta's Investment Strategy

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