Andrew Ackerman

🚨NEW EPISODE: Recorded live at FUTURE TITANS 2026 - Jeff Perry of Carta sat down with the iconic Seth Levine, co-founder of Foundry. Seth has been in venture for 25 years, built Foundry from scratch as an emerging manager himself, and has backed about 50 emerging manager funds through his fund of funds. He has genuinely seen every side of this table. They went deep on building Foundry, why VCs are in the influence business, not the decision business, and why the concentration problem in venture is not only bad for LPs, but also for the innovation ecosystem overall. And why Seth's new book, Capital Evolution, is so important for the future of America. 🎧 Links to listen... Apple: https://lnkd.in/ehQUQ2EM Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eU4FExpg

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I'm baffled hearing VCs justify investing in contech because of a lack of efficiency gains in our industry. However, they are putting a lot of money into AI 2D take-off. AI 2D take-off will not materially improve preconstruction. It's really simple. You do not spend months and years in precon doing takeoff. You do months and years in precon validating scope and cost. You don't buy quantities. You buy work. Real gains are going to be made buy companies, like Ediphi, that help you justify cost and scope early in precon. That's before the drawings have accurate quantities. https://lnkd.in/gdHcYCXC

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What could the future of fund administration look like with a tech-forward approach and the application of AI? Fresh off of a $130M Series D round led by Ribbit Capital, Juniper Square CEO and Co-Founder Alex Robinson came on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to share fascinating and thought-provoking perspectives on the future of fund administration and why post-investment processes need a combination of both automation and human touch. Alex and I covered both the current and future states of fund administration and how GPs can navigate a new world of tech and finance. We discussed: ➡️ Why Alex started Juniper Square and how his two entrepreneurial endeavors has informed how he’s built the firm. ➡️ The problem Alex set out to solve by building Juniper Square. ➡️ After dealing with FedEx’s to make investments, how he set out to build an investor experience that was digital. ➡️ How AI will impact fund admin. ➡️ Why every GP should have an AI agent according to Alex. ➡️ Why Juniper Square decided to move from a technology firm to add fund administration capabilities in-house. ➡️ Does AI benefit larger firms or smaller firms more? Thanks Alex Robinson for sharing your wisdom and unique perspectives on private markets, fund administration, and AI. Thanks Juniper Square for your support of Alt Goes Mainstream. https://lnkd.in/eetYyce2

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AI-Powered Construction Blueprint Interpretation Platform Bild AI Raised $3.1 Million Seed Round. Founded by Roop Pal and Puneet Sukhija, Bild AI has raised $3.1 million in seed funding led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Mission Street Capital, Ryan Sutton-Gee, and Ooshma Garg, to make it cheaper and faster to build. Read More At: https://lnkd.in/gEFVWeuu Source: https://lnkd.in/g3yXsdiv

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Great conversation with Taylor Anderson at Inman on the state of PropTech and whether the "PropTech winter" is finally ending. The past few years have been defined by a capital markets, financial, and emotional malaise across the PropTech ecosystem. The Cambrian explosion of companies that followed the COVID boom collided with rising rates, frozen transactions, and a sharp reset in valuations. Many didn't survive. The companies that did have adapted. They built across fundamentals, repositioned their businesses, and focused on where technology truly intersects with real estate. Now there are signs of renewed momentum. Leadership is returning to the category. Capital is re-entering the market. More enterprise value is being created than destroyed. The thaw has begun. Read the full piece: http://bit.ly/3WnWxxU

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💡Emerging GP Fundraising Insight #9: Portfolio Construction Questions Will Come Early LPs will press you on: • Follow-on strategy • Pro-rata participation • When you don't follow on • How much concentration risk you'll tolerate You don't need perfect answers but you do need thoughtful ones. If you haven't considered these scenarios, LPs will question your ability to manage a portfolio. Takeaway: Even hypothetical scenarios deserve a thoughtful response. Lack of prep reads as lack of capability. What's the toughest portfolio construction question you've gotten from an LP?

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**Boston's Startup Ecosystem Awaits: Founder Summit 2026** As the startup ecosystem continues to thrive, events like the TechCrunch Founder Summit provide invaluable opportunities for founders and investors to connect. ElevenX Capital recognizes that concentrated deal flow facilitates impactful partnerships and consistent innovation in the VC landscape. How do you leverage industry events to enhance your investment strategy? #investing #innovation #venturecapital #entrepreneurship

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Two weeks ago on Swimming with Allocators, we sat down with David Clark, CIO at VenCap, to talk about what decades of venture data can teach allocators. One takeaway that stood out: discounts don’t matter as much as people think in venture secondaries. Because venture is such a power-law asset class, outcomes are driven by exposure to a few massive winners. Whether a stake is bought at a small discount, or even a premium, often matters far less than the quality of the underlying company and its upside. Great conversation on venture returns, manager selection, and the nuances of how allocators should think about secondary investments. 👇 Link in the comments.

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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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Founders make dozens of decisions every week. Make sure you're one of the founders who go back to check how those decisions played out. It's easy to remember the wins and explain away the misses. If you don't actively work against that, you end up with a growing confidence in your own judgment that's never actually been tested. I was in a session with a founding team that had been running for years. Experienced, sharp, deep domain knowledge. When I asked how they make product and prioritization decisions, the answer was honest: "From experience. But we don't always revisit those critically." Their experience had created assumptions that felt like facts. Hardwired beliefs about customers, pricing, and priorities that hadn't been questioned since they were first formed. In another company, a founder had a real "lightbulb" moment when she realized they'd been tracking customer data for billing and sales, but never for learning. The data to evaluate their own assumptions was sitting right there. They just hadn't thought to look at it that way. This isn't really about "data vs. gut." Most founders use both, in some mix, all the time. The deeper question is whether you have any feedback loop on your own decision-making. When you made a bet on a customer segment six months ago, do you remember what you assumed? Did it turn out to be true? If not, what did that teach you? The founders who build the best companies hold themselves accountable for their own calls. They go back, check what happened, and adjust their compass. That's how intuition actually develops. Not through experience alone, but through experience that's been honestly examined. Every correction makes the next decision a little sharper. Don't let your ego or the pace of the business stop you from developing the one asset that compounds over time: your judgement.

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At nextNYC’s recent Pre-Series A Offsite, we hosted a full day of panels designed to give founders a window into how investors really think. In this clip from our Projections & Hockey Sticks panel, moderated by Brian Raphael of Propeller Industries, Nicole Naidoo of Telescope Partners explains why financial projections aren’t about perfect accuracy, they’re about alignment. It's less “get the numbers right” and more “make sure we see the world the same way.” The model is a conversation starter, not a scorecard and when founders and investors are grounded in similar assumptions, that’s where trust begins. Thanks to our sponsors Propeller Industries, Foley Hoag LLP and Fonzi AI for helping us bring this offsite to life! Mario Ruiz, Eugene Wan #nextNYC #PreSeriesA #VentureCapital #StartupFundraising #FinancialModeling #FounderAdvice #EarlyStageStartups

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HealthVC x Lusha: Unlocking Smarter Fundraising and Sales Workflows We’re thrilled to announce our newest partnership: HealthVC has teamed up with Lusha to bring next-gen data and prospecting tools to founders, fund managers, and operators across our community. Lusha recently launched a powerful suite of AI-powered features that redefine how go-to-market teams research, prospect, and convert. Now those capabilities are coming to HealthVC Pro subscribers. ✨ With this partnership, you’ll be able to: Surface real-time, accurate, and compliant B2B contact data Use AI Prospecting Chat to instantly uncover new investor or customer leads Tap into CRM-triggered recommendations to stay one step ahead Turn insight into action with Sales Streaming, Lusha’s smarter, connected selling framework. But Lusha’s superpower isn’t just the AI; it’s that the AI sits on top of best-in-class data. That means every signal, every recommendation, and every lead is not just fast, it’s trustworthy. At HealthVC, we’re building more than a newsletter; we’re building the operating system for venture, and this partnership helps our members move faster, pitch smarter, and close better. Available now to all HealthVC subscribers, link in comments.

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I’ve spoken to over 2 dozen MDs at PE firms I can confidently say that the arb of figuring out how to implement Vertical AI at portfolio companies is very real right now It will fundamentally change underwriting for those who can do it predictably and unlock generational returns. Most are aware they need to act. Very few have.

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The New Space race isn't just about getting to orbit, it's about what you can do once you're there. Whether it's landing on the Moon or satellite servicing in LEO, you need reliable, high-thrust propulsion across civil, commercial, and defense space applications. Agile Space Industries delivers the design, 3D printing, and vacuum hot-fire testing capabilities all under one roof, and this vertical integration allows them to move at the breakneck speed the market now demands. Their Series A raise is a huge validation of that vision, grateful to be along for the journey with Denver Ventures. Big congrats to the Agile team on the announcement!!! 🚀

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Every #VentureStudio GP knows some portfolio bets won’t hit. That's expected - and it's one of the reasons studios are such a powerful vehicle for innovation. And while a venture's failure might be what's visible to the outsider, what keeps them up at night isn’t failure at the venture level — it’s failure at the systemic level within the studio. One bad entity design. One IP misstep. One governance gap. That’s how studio operations fall apart. We break down how to spot (and fix) these cracks before they turn into fault lines in our latest paper, "The GP Dilemma" - DM me and I'll send you a copy!

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Two articles I've been thinking about together this week: Amir Kabir at Overlook VC on "the defining tension of 2026: extraordinary concentration at the infrastructure layer, extraordinary democratization at the application layer" Take a read: https://lnkd.in/gyaFg-nB And Isaac Arnold's framework for what actually makes an application layer company durable: workflow entanglement, domain specific knowledge, and data that compounds from usage rather than just intelligence. Take a read for yourself: https://lnkd.in/gSDXA-vH Amir identifies where the opportunity is, Isaac identifies why most companies building there won't capture it durably and what separates the ones that will.

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Revolutionizing Art Stewardship: Strobe Ventures portco Winston Artory Group (WAG) is using blockchain and unique data to redefine trust in a $3 trillion industry A core Strobe thesis is that specialized vertical marketplaces (particularly those underpinned by blockchain rails) will serve to 'unbundle Sothebys' and provide better user experiences for cheaper, as compared to the expensive, gated and inefficient generalized incumbents WAG is a technology platform operating at the forefront of intelligent art and collectibles stewardship. They count 30% of the world’s top billionaire art collectors as clients, and have a legacy of appraising over $100 billion in art and have tokenized another $2 billion With new collection management software and a right-to-win in the art-lending space, WAG is just getting started -- read our full piece here: https://lnkd.in/ez4r9Gxc

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