Welcome to another episode of The Venture Variety Show, where I look at venture capital and startup trends and how they interact with storytelling.
In this new episode, I’m thrilled to bring you my chat with Gavin Myers, Managing Partner at New York-based Prudence, a firm that announced its third fund last year to invest in the build world, which includes real estate, construction, infrastructure and energy and climate adaptation through construction tech.
Myers starts our discussion by sharing his journey to founding Prudence and how his early experiences shaped his investment philosophy. Listen to him describe his initial draw to construction tech and how it led to focusing on the built world.
One of the highlights of this discussion is how Prudence leverages AI to address real-world challenges in construction and real estate.
Myers shares his insights into the transition from traditional SaaS to what he terms “vertical AI,” where technology supports and completes workflows.
In the podcast, Myers elaborates on the potential of AI to revolutionize the construction sector by automating complex processes and reducing the need for human intervention.
“Yeah, it’s not AI that is going to be built on top of existing large language models solely,” he says. “There’s a high degree of customization as well as ingestion of very specific data to power these solutions.”
This segment delves into how AI can take on tasks traditionally handled by humans, such as scheduling and quality assurance, allowing companies to do more with less.
AI in M&A trends
As our conversation continued, Myers offered his outlook on the M&A landscape, especially in the context of recent advances in AI. He predicts a surge in M&A activities driven by the need for legacy companies to rapidly adapt and integrate new technologies.
“I would expect that the next 12 months, we’ll just see a ton of M&A,” he says. “When all of a sudden AI capabilities are rushed to the forefront, legacy software companies have to make adjustments. And the question is, can they innovate internally, or do they have to acquire that innovation? Can they grow organically, or do they have to acquire that growth?”
As Myers points out, large companies usually focus on innovation and acquisition, but they mostly acquire, which fuels corporate M&A. This perspective sheds light on how technological change influences strategic decisions at the highest levels.
To dive deeper into how Prudence is leading the charge in integrating AI within the built world, listen to the full episode of The Venture Variety Show.
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🤔 For a deeper dive on Myers’ advice on founder communications, check out my accompanying Substack article (coming Tuesday morning, Feb. 11).
📬 I Want to Hear From You! Do you have ideas for future guests or topics you’d love to have me explore? Reach out directly or leave a comment below. I’m always looking for a fresh POV on venture and startups, especially as it relates to platforms and storytelling.
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