Kendall Crocker

It's an analogy I hear often: VCs have the same high-risk, high-reward DNA as gamblers. From the gold seeking 49ers at Sutter's Mill to the naming of the largest podcast in our space (“All-In”), there's an undeniable connection between gambling and venture risk-taking. There's a certain "go west" or gambling spirit inherent in building a company from the ground up and backing lots of early startups. Sometimes, you do have to shoot blind, relying on gut instinct about a founder's compelling vision and little else. But here’s where the analogy breaks down: in venture, we aren't simply throwing chips on a roulette table. Our "adventure capitalism" is governed by structure: A Clear Target: Even when we have few signals to evaluate at an early stage, we are aiming at a fast-growing market and/or a proven founder profile. We are not shooting wildly; we're aiming in the right general direction. Due Diligence: We conduct market sizing, reference checks, financial modeling, etc. This is the opposite of blind faith. Fiduciary Responsibility: This is the ultimate check on the "gambler" impulse. This is not our money. We are custodians of other people's money—funds entrusted to us by LPs (current and former Fortune 500 CEOs, successful founders, etc.). Our job is to be disciplined allocators of capital, not reckless adventurers. We are risk-takers, but successful VCs are calculated ones as well. #VentureCapital #VC #Startups

15

2 Comments

Maybe it’s old-fashioned, but at Adaptation Ventures we actually write our own newsletters - and my favorite part is looking across history, industries, and cultures to share insights about disability, innovation, and capital allocation. This past quarter, it was Ludwig van Beethoven, who composed his Ninth Symphony while profoundly deaf, turning constraint into creative advantage. The quarter before, it was “Crumbling Barriers: Graham Crackers and Growth Mindsets”: Paul Graham of Y Combinator and Benjamin Graham, author of The Intelligent Investor and Warren Buffett’s teacher and primary mentor - two very different, but deeply influential guides for founders and investors alike. Before that, we dug into Epictetus, one of history’s most influential Stoic philosophers, born into slavery nearly 2,000 years ago and disabled as a child, whose ideas still resonate with how resilient founders can navigate adversity. With the speed of information and constant innovation, it can be grounding to pause and explore how the themes of history apply to the modern world. As the saying goes, it may not repeat - but it often rhymes. If you enjoy this lens on disability, neurodivergence, and accessibility - our quarterly digest is for you. Check out the latest edition and sign up for the newsletter for the most timely access.

62

4 Comments

What do creative technologists build? At Baukunst, we’ve spent the last few years answering that question in real time. We are a collective of builders — operators, designers, engineers, and investors — committed to advancing the art of building at the frontiers of technology and design. We lead pre-seed rounds with conviction, often as the first institutional capital a founder takes, and we invest deeply in the messy, magical early days of company creation. This deck is the portfolio behind that philosophy, or rather that portfolio that has grown up out of it. We have chosen to champion these companies, and they chosen to co-create with us. These are companies built by creative technologists, founders who think in systems, design for real people, and push beyond the familiar. 

55

6 Comments

Talking to users and thoughtfully integrating their needs and wants was woven through everything we did at IDEO—threaded through every prototype and product decision. Reading my colleagues Joanne and Leo's latest work brought that to mind. They describe a future where research runs continuously, with AI agents recruiting participants and instantly surfacing insights. Synthetic personas, carefully trained on consumer signals, mirror human behavior closely enough to extend live studies and compress timelines from weeks to hours. Today user research mostly runs in fits and starts, prohibitively expensive and locked away in dedicated project cycles when it could be a constant companion, seamlessly integrated into the product development process. Joanne and Leo lay out the full vision here: https://lnkd.in/gEUBSG_J

35

3 Comments

"Build the event you wish existed" That's what we at Monadical did last week at #NYTW. We wanted an AI Engineers discussion for Engineers. There's always a lot of events out there for VCs to network, or for startups to learn about G2M, but very little on lessons learned from actual engineers in the field. So that's the event we hosted. Big thank yous to our awesome panel, Roy Pereira, Ben Cohen and Corey J. Gallon. Here's the key takeaways and the AI tools we're using. 🚀 All three panelists independently called AI Agents the most transformative LLM application they’ve used. They specifically called out Claude 3.5 Sonnet for its accuracy and reliability. 🪨 We dug into how LLMs are “jagged”, not general. They can be shockingly good at some tasks and completely fail at others. Everyone agreed: good evaluations are critical (and hard.) 🧪 Corey noted how public benchmarks and reality are two different things. Most public evals are saturated or gamed. ♊ Ben emphasized that AI projects are actually two projects: building the tool and building the evaluation process. 🧱 We explored how falling dev costs may impact startup defensibility and labor demand. Roy shared that founders are already shifting strategies in response. ⚒️ In a world of daily AI launches, the panel discussed how they decide what’s worth attention, and what’s just noise. They called out tools like Goose, Aider, Claude Code, and Monadical’s own Cubbi, which helps run agentic workflows safely in dev environments. (links in the comments). CTA: What would you want to hear in an AI Applied Engineering talk you attended?

33

5 Comments

We're excited to lead Clarium's $27M Series A, with participation from General Catalyst, AlleyCorp, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, TMC Ventures, and 1984 Ventures. Healthcare supply chains represent a critical but overlooked component of patient care. In an industry where nearly $30 billion of the $140 billion spent annually on medical supplies is wasted, Clarium is building something revolutionary: Astra OS, the first comprehensive resiliency platform for healthcare supply chains. What makes Clarium special is their holistic approach. While most solutions offer band-aids for specific pain points, Clarium's platform unifies fragmented data across providers, manufacturers, and distributors, applying AI to help health systems anticipate disruptions before they impact patient care. In today's world of climate disasters, global consolidation, and increasing tariffs, supply chain resilience isn't optional—it's essential. When Hurricane Helene recently knocked out a facility producing 70% of America's saline supply, Clarium's platform gave customers critical early warnings and alternative supplier recommendations. Founder Steve Liou brings unique insights from his background in healthcare investment banking, VC, and portfolio management at Point72, Citadel, and Millennium. He's built a team that understands both the complexities of healthcare operations and the power of modern technology. We're proud to back Steve and the entire Clarium team as they build the infrastructure for a smarter, more efficient healthcare future. p.s. If you want a free tariff assessment for your health system, get in touch! CC Northzone Wendy Xiao Nick Boesel

50

3 Comments