The spray-and-pray approach to AI Investing is dead. Join us as we discuss what it takes to stand out in a saturated market as we move beyond the hype to identify real moats and what’s next for investors in this space.
This episode was taped before a live audience at Web Summit Vancouver.
We meet:
Andy McLoughlin is a seed-stage investor at Uncork Capital focused on B2B software, developer tools, and applied AI — and before VC, he co-founded Huddle, an enterprise collaboration platform that was acquired in 2016.
George Mathew is a self-described “deep operator turned venture capitalist” at Insight Partners, with 20+ years building companies including as CEO of Kespry and President & COO of Alteryx, which he scaled through its IPO.
Emily Fontaine leads IBM’s $500 million Enterprise AI fund and quantum investing strategy — she’s spent 15 years at IBM, previously serving as Executive Advocate to IBM’s Chairman and CEO, and as AI Federal Leader for IBM Consulting.
Credits:
This episode of SHIFT was produced by Jennifer Strong with help from Emma Cillekens. It was mixed by Garret Lang, with original music from him and Jacob Gorski. Art by Meg Marco.
Jennifer Strong is an independent journalist covering the impact of artificial intelligence on the way we live and work. She’s the creator of top technology podcasts for public radio’s PRX, The Wall Street Journal, MIT Technology Review, ProPublica, and others. Her work has been reviewed by The New York Times and recognized by awards juries dozens of times, including six Webby and three Podcast Academy Award nominations. Her narrative podcasts about AI have been finalist selections at the New York Festivals the last three years, winning bronze in 2024.
Her current projects include serving as host and executive producer of a radio documentary for NPR stations called The Race to Superintelligence and of the podcast SHIFT with Jennifer Strong. She was a 2023 AI Accountability Fellow with the Pulitzer Center and she's been a keynote stage host and moderator for the MIT Media Lab, UN General Assembly, AI for Good Global Summit, The Future of Everything Festival, Web Summit and many other events worldwide.
Strong previously led long-form audio for The Wall Street Journal, where she created and hosted The Future of Everything podcast, among other shows. She also created In Machines We Trust, a podcast about the applications of artificial intelligence, and The Extortion Economy podcast about the ransomware epidemic. She's produced a business show for NPR and reported on national security topics for PRI.
