Mordechai Hartman’s Post

🏗🍎🏢 I love the concrete jungle, but it desperately needs to be reimagined. Feel free to share your radical ideas on how to push the city we love into the future. #nyc #thebigapple #realestate #skyscrapers #future #concretejungle #innovation

#investing #buylowsellhigh #realestate #startups #crypto #stocks #nervesofsteel

#secondaries #deals #psychology #vc #venturecapital

Tech Week Musings (4/4) Fusing tech with the physical world is so epic. While information technology has grown at a hyperbolic rate over the last half-century, traditional sectors (agriculture, hospitality, etc.), have lagged. Some of the companies I met at TECH WEEK by a16z are at the crossroads between tech (yes, #AI, I said it) and physical matter/tasks. Check out these guys: HeiQ (biotech), Viome (health), and Kitchen Robotics (automated machinery). My favorite company in this multidisciplinary field is OXMAN. They're merging design, tech and biology seamlessly and beautifully. Watch them harness nature to automate skyscraper building. Wild prediction: the revolutionary founders of the future will emerge from non-tech backgrounds. Farmers, roofers, physicians, and sewage plant managers. Young talent are chasing tech careers. But tech is already so advanced. The people who'll be in hottest demand are the chimney sweepers who've gotten their hands dirty with real matter.

Tech Week Musings (3/4) Crypto is thriving. Precisely because it seems dead. No grifters, flashy G-Wagons, or NFTs on gold chains. Before AI's ChatGPT moment, AI was also dead. I recall an MIT friend in 2016 droning about “machine learning”—I nearly fell asleep. Yet, here we are. When will the masses wake up to the young geniuses *quietly* building crypto projects that will change the world? I suspect soon. Many crypto companies with top engineers are laying the groundwork to revolutionize trust: no more government IDs, paper deeds, title insurance, counterfeit olive oil, or DMV lines. Indeed, cryptography extends far beyond finance. But let’s start with finance because it’s the first meaningful use case. Coinbase @MichaelSaylor, you’re serious about crypto as a decentralized financial system, and you've invested billions believing it's the next big thing, here’s a thought: Forget NY, Miami, SF, and Texas. Distribute $1B in crypto to 2M of the poorest US families—$500 each—with the condition they can't convert it to fiat. These families will find ways to spend it on essentials, accelerating mass adoption. Landlords, grocers, convenience stores, and cabbies will need to accept crypto payments. The revolution will happen as fast as it takes to say “ChatGPT.” Crypto is currently in the hands of the privileged, who are just speculating. Let's change that and make it real. TECH WEEK by a16z #bitcoinpalooza #crypto #blockchain

Tech Week Musings (2/4) We’re on the brink of the fastest tech revolution ever. Billions have smartphones with free AI access. The question is no longer “if” but “how fast" is AI going to radically change our world: days, weeks, months? The gap between AI users and non-users will be deeper than the Mariana Trench; you’re either an early adopter or left in the dust. I used ChatGPT for a JV between two parties with different needs and risks (ofc no personal info, just conceptual details). A 5-minute voice note to ChatGPT gave me three deal structures. One clicked, and after 5-10 minutes of tweaks, ChatGPT drafted a contract. The result? Phenomenal. Unlike human lawyers tied to precedent, ChatGPT created a tailored contract, like a custom suit for an oddly-shaped guy. I’m sharing 5 recent ChatGPT prompts in a 🧵 The results were mindblowing. Try it yourself! (Please don’t ask me why any of these prompts were of importance to me, they were.) TECH WEEK by a16z OpenAI #AI #tech #vc

Tech Week Musings (1/4) AI is here! (Obvs.) And it’s the central theme of nearly every convo I've had at TECH WEEK by a16z. I’m bullish on professionals turned founders leveraging AI to make their old jobs obsolete. These founders are driven by disappointment (maybe anger), figuring out that 90% of their trade is better automated. Most professionals start their careers with aspirations to provide human-focused, creative, high impact work. But they soon learn that this prize is reserved for the folks who've already "done their time" by pushing papers for decades. The lack of satisfaction in the average professional job is an *existential pain-point*. The post-AI world will be beautiful, freeing our time for truly "human" pursuits. This is written for you, analyst, architect, accountant - I know you're reading it even tho you can't like it :) 💪 #AI #tech

[read about our M8K merch] Our clients are smart, creative, and hardworking – but most of all, they’re unique. Our business is all about the people we work with, far beyond a few tabs in Excel. @KalBlassberger, I love the line you quoted: “The merchant bank’s services… run the gamut from big picture strategy… offered by McKinsey… or Bain… to organizational psychology for the kind of intimate, delicate counsel usually tendered only by the closest consigliere.” Tag your favorite #finance bro/gal with: “#whatsamerchantbank?” for a chance to win M8K branded merch (a vest, obvs), or a BLADE helicopter ride to the Hamptons (if we get more than 250 tags). Will chose winners next Monday evening!

What is a Merchant Bank? Simply put, a merchant bank combines elements of an investment bank (advisory services) and an investment fund (providing capital). So is that what M8K does? Sure is. 1. Financial Advisory: We provide business owners with advice on how to scale their businesses and prepare for a sale. 2. Investments: We seek opportunities to strategically inject capital into our clients’ businesses when necessary and desirable. Our Initial Focus: We are advising visionary businesses owners on everything relating to growing, buying and selling businesses. Our Role: We leverage our network of bankers, financiers, lawyers, accountants, wealth managers, and estate planning professionals. Our goal is to find the best partners for you and present your unique vision to potential buyers and investors. You focus on being the visionary; we handle the advocacy and presentation. Future Plans: 1) We plan to hire investment bankers to expand our advisory offerings.  2) We plan to collaborate with family offices and private equity firms to launch an investment fund. Target Audience: Businesses with $25-250 million of revenue, and private equity funds looking to deploy capital. We are eager to chat with you! Kal Blassberger #MerchantBank