Clutch Impact Group

Some events hit home more than others… I’m excited for this invite to the AI Infra Summit in San Francisco later this month…thanks Bill Barry! It’s def a must-attend for anyone interested in the future of AI infrastructure plus the lineup has some fantastic speakers from AMD, SuperMicro, Google’s Gemini, Scale AI and tons more… If you’re an AI, ML, semiconductor fan this is a good opportunity to learn and network…not to mention the dope VIP after party. See you there!

I was speaking with a young Kenyan tech founder of an amazing startup and realized something. The Silicon Valley mindset, despite its good intentions, has perpetuated the notion that 'lifestyle' businesses are inferior. As a tech ecosystem, we need to unlearn this. Creating sustainable, impactful businesses that our future generations can manage and grow is not only honorable but also crucial for lasting success and stability. Building multi-generational wealth in tech, one contract at a time, is truly honorable. Not every founder should strive to create a venture-scale business. Many underestimate the immense time and resources needed to scale across regions and countries. Beyond the allure of TechCrunch and other flattering articles, we must ask: will your kids, who inherit the business, be able to manage a startup spanning from East to West Africa?

Welcome to the Afri Future Tech Summit in Toronto on Oct 3-5 this year

Here you can join 500+ LPs & GPs. Before this post, Single Family Offices with $100M+, $1B+, and some with multibillions in AUM registered for the event. Online on Zoom. Get 6+ hours of recordings & a list of ~3000 participants open to networking: inniches.com/conf 1. Family Office Trends 2024 by Ronald Diamond, Diamond Wealth, $1.2B AUM, invests with 100 FOs, AUM from $250M to $30B. 2. VC Trends in 2024 with Jaclyn Freeman Hester (Foundry, $3B AUM, 320 deals & 70+ exits), Jamie Rhode, CFA (Screendoor, an LP & platform for new managers) & Ihar Mahaniok (Geek Ventures, 100+ deals with 15 exits, incl. 6 unicorns). 3. Value Proposition of Funds of Funds – Chuck Tedeschi, Top Tier Capital Partners, $7.9B AUM FoF. Chuck worked at Pacific Western Bank and deployed $3B+ in debt to venture. 4. How Did We Oversubscribe Our PE FoF in 2023? – Kevin Campbell, Taurus Private Markets, LLC, $320M+ AUM. 5. The Shortcomings of Traditional VC Entrepreneurship and How Venture Studios Solve It – Adam Pase, Stackpoint Ventures. Adam is a serial entrepreneur ($2B+ value created). 6. 2024 Investment Trends in Billionaire Families by Angelo Robles, SFO Continuity, author of "Effective Family Office." 7. Due Diligence on VC Fund Managers. How to Identify the Top 1% of GPs? – Scott Sherman, Mesa Lane Capital (target $300M AUM), 7y. at Tiger Management, ex-Managing Director at Blackstone (now $1 trillion AUM). 8. How to Raise a VC Fund in the Current Market? – Winter Mead, Coolwater Capital – "YC for emerging VCs," helped launch 200+ managers that collectively raised $2B+. 9. Why Do FOs and Large Corporations Struggle with Venture Development and How to Partner with Them? – Chris Golden, Sterling Select Group, a venture development firm affiliated with Sterling Equity, a multi-billion family-run group of companies. 10. How VC Investors are Using AI, Technology & Analytics as a Competitive Weapon? – David Teten, Versatile Venture Capital. Ex-Managing Partner @ HOF Capital (now $1.2B AUM). 11. Venture Studios vs VC – John Boyce, TigerGene LLC, Co-Founded & Funded by Julian Robertson, Tiger Management. 7 exits, incl. $575M. 12. Why the Evergreen Structure is a Better Choice for Investing in VC? – Oliver Oster, AlphaQ Venture Capital – a FoF that screens 2000 funds annually, invested in 20. 13. Why are LP secondaries on the rise during the VC downturn? – Luca Mannucci, Sella Venture Partners SGR, a $170M AUM FoF. 14. Family Offices as a Source of Funding for Venture Studios and Venture Funds – John Milanovich, Family Office Club, 25+ y. exp. with family offices. Moderated by Danielle Patterson, Family Office List. There are more to join. LinkedIn limits the number of tags & the post length. Sorry for the short bios/topics.

Challenge accepted

On African lending: I wonder how many Kenyans understand that if you were to get a $1000 phone with M-KOPA monthly interest rate of 3.1%, the total amount you would pay after one year would be approximately $1442.46. Is there a transparency around financing an E-vehicle and how much the payback is? What about the longevity of the vehicle? Is it a sound investment? It's crucial to question how much Kenyans truly need or understand the true cost of such financing options. Furthermore, M-KOPA's self-reported revenue for 2022 was $224M, and they were part of a consortium that raised $250M this past week, while many local, Kenyan-led startups solving core problems struggle to raise funds. This situation is reminiscent of the credit card crisis I witnessed during my college years. I hope laws and policies will be enacted to protect Africans from predatory lending practices. Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but it's really sad to see that this is happening to my home country.

On inflection points… Go Google! I love to see infrastructure plays. ‘We are excited to announce Umoja, a new fiber optic cable connecting Africa to Australia, and our expanded cybersecurity collaboration with Kenya, furthering our commitment to Africa's digital transformation.’