Michael Dempsey

Investor and writer behind the Curiosity Phase framing of AI company-building, affiliated with Eads Bridge Holdings. He authored Company Building In The Curiosity Phase of AI, the 2022 essay that names the current moment in AI as a “Curiosity Phase” — the “everyone wants to try it” phase — where effective demos lead to a barrage of AI-first products that see high short-term usage followed by material churn driven by collective industry curiosity (source: Company Building In The Curiosity Phase of AI).

His central, contrarian claim is that in this phase the seemingly endless user demand is a trap: founders “must at times ignore the seemingly endless user demand and instead litigate each decision they make with a lens for building long-term defensibility and value” — product expansion, prioritization, go-to-market, and customer success all become minefields amid rising industry sentiment (source: Company Building In The Curiosity Phase of AI). Kyle picks up the “Curiosity Phase” label directly in The Enchanted Notebook, placing the present moment past the Peak of Inflated Expectations and Trough of Disillusionment — exciting enough to lure people in, while still a difficult spot in which to build an AI-powered company (source: The Enchanted Notebook). He also appears in the source roster for Kyle’s The Productization of Venture Capital research.

Where this appears

• Company Building In The Curiosity Phase of AI — author; the essay that coins the Curiosity Phase framing and the “ignore endless demand, build for defensibility” thesis.
• The Enchanted Notebook — Kyle cites his Curiosity Phase to situate the AI company-building moment on the hype cycle.
• Eads Bridge Holdings — the firm listed as his affiliation.
• The Productization of Venture Capital - Research — included among the research sources.

Current role

Managing Partner at Compound — profile.