On this week's Stansberry Investor Hour, Dan and Corey welcome Adrian Fenty to the show. Adrian is the founding managing partner of MaC Venture Capital, an early-stage venture-capital ("VC") firm investing in visionary founders. Before breaking into VC, Adrian was the mayor of Washington, D.C. from 2007 to 2011.
Adrian kicks off the show by discussing how he transitioned from politics to VC, starting with investing in education-technology companies and working at established firm Andreessen Horowitz. As he explains, VC is still the Wild West of investing, so he searches to find "technical" founders with big ideas. Adrian also covers which sorts of companies MaC is invested in right now and how he helps them grow. (0:00)
Next, Adrian talks about AI investing in the VC space – what conversations are happening and how companies are keeping up in this new and rapidly evolving ecosystem. He says that the U.S. is "building the future through technology," and it's drawing talent from all over the world. Adrian then discusses why he doesn't encourage early exits, the pattern of larger companies "acqui-hiring" AI engineers and founders from smaller companies, and how he finds promising startups to invest in. (17:26)
Finally, Adrian talks politics. Once D.C.'s youngest mayor, he shares his thoughts on city governments and politicians not doing enough for their people, especially in terms of trying to reduce crime. His solution for this problem involves putting someone ambitious and qualified in charge of the efforts. Adrian says that, similar to management at successful companies, city officials need to tackle problems head on and not let them fester. He then finishes with a discussion about Americans "letting politicians off too easy," gives his opinion on the upcoming New York City mayoral election, and argues that the government needs to be held to higher standards. (35:20)
