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Like at the other last few major commerce conferences (e.g., NRF, Fashionology, our own Commerce Capital Summit), “AGENTIC COMMERCE” was inescapable at Shoptalk Nashville. The recent launches of Claude Commerce Agent, Instinct, and Muse, and the subsequent hullabaloo, made it a particularly exciting summit - as Gwyneth croons in my favorite country song from a movie, “Timing Is Everything.” In between walking the floor and moderating a panel on operational agility with some awesome operators, I tried to get a pulse on what’s actually happening on the ground with real brands and how they’re navigating this fast-shifting and murky market. So let’s dive in!

Another New York Climate Week is in the books, and once again the conversation started with that same word it always has - “Climate.” It remains one of the most politically charged labels in today’s environment and at this point everyone in the room at this year’s Climate Capital Summit knew it, and still more than 3,500 people applied for roughly a few hundred seats anyway.

Today, I’m incredibly excited to announce the addition of my long-time friend Garrett Koehn as a Venture Partner. I first met Garrett through my dear friend David Mort of Propel Ventures. Garrett was at CRC, one of the largest insurance wholesalers in the industry, serving as its President and eventually as its Chief Innovation Officer. While CRC was Garrett’s day job, anyone who has met him knows that startups are his true passion. Garrett’s name came up consistently across the startups I met with, so I made it my mission to get to know him better at the conferences we attended.

There is a lot of hot debate amongst VCs about the state of the market and lord knows I have some strong opinions on it as well. One camp of managers preaches the rise of American Dynamism, Manufacturing, Defense, Energy Infrastructure, Space, etc. These are large, but massively capital-intensive sectors that have traditionally relied more on infrastructure finance (which historically would be happy with levered yields at 5-8% above LIBOR) that now have become the dominant receivers of venture capital. The growth of these categories over the last few years has been historic and the gains on those companies equally so, showing some impressive returns for those who committed early to these companies and this school of thought.

Earlier this year, we announced the promotions of Ali and Chelsea to our partnership at Equal. With >15 years of combined experience working with these two, it’s been great to see them elevate into these roles and I’m excited to see what the future will bring for them. As a firm, we are looking to expand, but as a small team, hiring is deeply surgical. Finding the right folks for a small team is different from hiring in big firms, especially in VC where a single person can ultimately be responsible for a tremendous amount of capital. Just as important is the impact that person has on the culture, direction and reputation of the firm. A great teammate makes everyone around them better, so you aren’t just hiring for the right skillsets, but for the right person.