Houston built an e-commerce company to half a billion in revenue in under five years, minting about 100 millionaires along the way. It's also home to a rocket engine 15% more efficient than anything else on the market. None of it required moving to San Francisco.
Blair Garrou, co-founder and Managing Partner of Mercury Fund, has been investing between the Rockies and Atlanta since Texas’s biggest funds were declaring venture dead. He joins Nilanjana Bhowmik to explain why the value in AI is moving to the application layer, why the Fortune 500 keeps ripping out horizontal AI tools, and why the founders who win that layer tend to come out of the industry rather than out of a lab, which puts them in Houston, Chicago, Denver and Dallas, not in Silicon Valley.
Middle America isn't a consolation prize. It's where the domain experts are, and in this wave of AI, domain expertise is the moat.
Inside The Episode:
Why Mercury began investing outside traditional coastal technology hubs long before it became fashionable
How the economics of investing in Middle America historically differed from Silicon Valley venture capital
How access to coastal growth capital opened the door to much larger outcomes outside Silicon Valley
Why Blair believes the application layer of AI could create another major opportunity for Middle America
What large enterprises are discovering after experimenting with ChatGPT, Claude and other horizontal AI platforms
How Collide is building AI around workflows inside the energy industry
How OmniScience is applying AI to clinical trial data and winning business from major pharmaceutical companies
Why founders should think carefully before automatically choosing a famous Silicon Valley investor
How Cart.com grew to roughly half a billion dollars in revenue in less than five years
How generative AI contributed to the development process behind Venus Aerospace
Why manufacturing, aerospace and industrial technology could become major AI opportunities for Middle America
Watch Full Episode On Youtube
About Blair Garrou
Blair Garrou has spent the majority of his career advising and investing in technology entrepreneurs. He is co-founder and Managing Partner of Mercury Fund, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in disruptive technology startups outside Silicon Valley. With nearly $1 billion in AUM and $15 billion in startup value creation since inception, Mercury uses an operationally focused investment strategy to help companies achieve rapid, sustainable growth.
Blair has also played an active role in building Houston’s innovation ecosystem, launching startup accelerators and investment organizations designed to expand educational and funding opportunities for entrepreneurs. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Rice Jones School of Business, where he teaches venture capital, and received his B.S. in Management from Washington and Lee University. He also serves in board and advisory roles across a number of business, university, healthcare and cultural organizations.
Connect with Blair Garrou: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bgarrou/
About the Host
Nilanjana Bhowmik is a General Partner at Converge and host of the Post Money Podcast, where she speaks with founders, investors, and industry leaders shaping the future of technology, innovation, and venture capital. Through in-depth conversations, Post Money Podcast explores the ideas, decisions, and trends driving the next generation of transformative companies.
Connect with Nilanjana Bhowmik: linkedin.com/in/nilanjanabhowmik
Converge VC website: converge.vc
