Lee Arthur

What’s old is new. Funny to watch VCs flood back to out-of-favor business models—hardware-enabled software, marketplaces, consumer tech—which are now viewed as more defensible because AI can't easily replicate physical infrastructure, network effects, or brand.

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What age did some of the best GP founders start their firms? The data might surprise you. Stable's Project Legends dives into the data ... hear from Founder & CEO Erik Serrano Berntsen (who started Stable well before 33!) on the latest Alt Goes Mainstream podcast. https://lnkd.in/eRQKt-b5

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"Don't listen to the ecosystem. Listen to the founders." I've worked to get more capital flowing to founders for the last 15 years -- seven years at Kiva, and eight years at Wefunder. I've seen thousands of people and organizations ("ESOs" -- I have always hated the acronym) try to empower entrepreneurs and build thriving local startup ecosystems. Most "practitioners" get it horribly wrong. Zap ⚡️ gets it right. If you're working to build your local startup ecosystem, I would highly recommend watching this discussion, which I had with her last year. A big part of her success -- listening to what *founders* want, and trying to serve them. A customer-centric approach to her mission. It's not rocket science, but it's sadly far too rare in this field. https://lnkd.in/ervE8UHS

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I spoke with Christien Louviere of BDE Capital about his journey from a $330mm exit to becoming an independent sponsor. Christien shared excellent insights for folks looking to partner with business owners, rather than buy sellers out completely. Below are a few of the topics we covered: - Why he moved from “zero-to-one” startups to a buy-then-build strategy - How Christien's background shaped a focus on growth vs. cost-cutting - Why 20–40% rolled equity is central to his deal structures—and how it builds trust with sellers - Using scenario analysis with AI tools to evaluate management teams and uncover hidden key-person risks - How to identify when a $3–5M EBITDA company truly has a middle management layer—or is still founder-reliant For anyone investing in or buying small businesses, Christien’s approach provides a fresh lens on growth, alignment, and deal structuring. 🎥 Watch the full interview here → https://lnkd.in/ekfkaiej 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/e86Agx6V

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Technology always arrives faster than society can fully adapt... ...and this week’s edition of CAIS' newsletter explores three frontiers reshaping how we think about truth, learning, and power: "This Past Week in AI Agents in the News: Education, Deepfakes, and Quantum Leaps (Aug 10–17th, 2025)"; check it out here: https://lnkd.in/eEXMEnUW How do you future-proof your AI? You need to use an agenticOS like CAIS' that is a baseline software for the communication of swarms of AI agents, thereby creating cross-departmental AI employees rather than just tools. Some ideas brought up in the newsletter: 🔢 From Calculators to ChatGPT History shows every new tool in the classroom sparks fear, then becomes invisible. What today’s debates about AI in education echo from past tech panics—and how we can ensure AI sharpens, not dulls, critical thinking. 👁️ When Seeing Isn’t Believing Deepfakes have taken us beyond Photoshop tricks into an era where any media can be convincingly fabricated. We trace the arc of visual trust—and the AI agents racing to restore authenticity online. ⚛️ Quantum + AI Agents = What’s Next Quantum computing is moving from labs to real-world deployment. Paired with autonomous AI, it could become a force multiplier, thereby solving problems classical computers can’t, from drug discovery to finance. 🌉 The Big Question Across all three threads runs a challenge: how do we design innovation to amplify human potential rather than undermine it? 📊 Did you know? -Only 25% of U.S. adults feel confident spotting a deepfake -A single AI-generated fake image once erased $500B in stock market value -By 2030, quantum investments could soar to $20–50B annually We also address things like when AI should be taught in schools and how to navigate the newest AI news from even just one week ago. If you’re curious about the crossroads of AI agents, trust, and the quantum future, and a bunch more, check this out: https://lnkd.in/eEXMEnUW

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Big milestone for Firmable. We’ve raised $14m Series A led by Airtree. Sales has moved through a few big waves: intuition-led, CRM-led, data-led. We’re now entering the next one – intelligence-led sales. The opportunity isn’t just better data. It’s turning that data into clear direction and action, without adding more work for sales teams. That’s what we’re building at Firmable: a foundation of trusted external data, layered with intelligence that helps sellers know who to focus on and when. Led by Airtree, this round supports our expansion across Asia and into the US – and accelerates the build-out of AI agents that take the admin work off sales teams so they can focus on what they do best. Proud of the team, grateful to our customers and investors. We’re just getting started. Read the exclusive in the AFR. https://lnkd.in/gr66uknb Leigh Jasper | Tara Salmon | Karthik Venkatasubramanian| Chester Thompson| Chath Widanapathirana

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**The Rise of AI in Retail** As the landscape of retail continues to evolve, the 28% year-over-year increase in ChatGPT referrals to retail apps, especially for giants like Walmart and Amazon, underscores the growing reliance on AI for consumer engagement. At ElevenX Capital, we recognize that this trend highlights the importance of integrating advanced technology into traditional businesses to drive growth. How can retailers strategize their digital transformation to harness AI's potential effectively? #investing #innovation #venturecapital #entrepreneurship

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Diving into Atlanta-based VC deal activity in 2025: Last week, I shared a post on ATL 2025 Early-Stage VC deal flow (link in comments), focusing on investments into Atlanta-based startups. This week, I’m shifting the lens to Atlanta-headquartered VC firms (ATL VC)—specifically, the number of early-stage deals they participated in. I’m focusing on deal count because it’s difficult to isolate how much capital in each round came from individual investors. In 2025, ATL VCs: • Participated in 230 early-stage VC deals • Led 41 of those deals Deal participation by sector: • 🤖 AI-enabled: 67 deals | 40% • 💻 SaaS: 36 deals | 26% • 🌱 Climate / Cleantech: 26 deals | 15% • 💳 FinTech: 21 deals | 12% • 🏭 Manufacturing: 12 deals | 7% • 🚀 Space Tech: 2 deals | <1% A few observations: • While Space Tech accounted for only two deals, both involved Atlanta-based startups and together represented 21% ($167M) of all Atlanta-based startup funding last year. This category is likely to grow meaningfully, and Atlanta is well-positioned to be a major player. • Climate and Cleantech often aren’t associated with ATL VC activity, yet the sector ranked third by deal count, ahead of FinTech. That said, only 7 of the 26 deals involved Atlanta-based startups. We can—and should—do better in 2026. • Despite the strong pipeline of Georgia Tech–educated AI engineers, there’s a notable gap between the share of AI-enabled deals ATL VCs participate in (62%) and the share of AI-enabled deals from Atlanta-based startups (34%). This is a trend worth watching closely in 2026. Would love to hear your thoughts if you are either an Atlanta-based VC or startup that raised/ tried to raise capital last year: Bill Nussey, Sean O'Brien, Michael Cohn, Andy Marshall, Aly Merritt, Jennifer Singh, Hannah Turner, Donnie Beamer Jr., CFA, Raghupathy Sivakumar, Anthony Oni, Elizabeth Blankenship-Singh, Chadd Evans, CFA, CAIA, Anthony Clark, Sean Banks, Christopher Klaus, Hernando B., Mike Dowdle, Blake Patton, Frank Tighe, parichit kumar, De'Havia Stewart, Henk Both, Erin Keller, Barry Givens

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