Our 2Q Letter to LPs

Author: Yoni Rechtman (Slow Ventures, 99d newsletter) URL: https://99d.substack.com/p/our-2q-letter-to-lps

Summary

Slow Ventures’ 2Q LP letter applies Carlota Perez’s general-purpose technology framework to the current AI moment: every such technology passes through an installation “Frenzy” before a deployment phase, and the biggest value ultimately accrues to consumers of the technology rather than its developers — just as cars beat steel mills, internet platforms beat ISPs, and electrified industry beat electric utilities. The piece argues we are clearly in the Frenzy today, but that value capture is gated by “customer prerogative” — how long it takes incumbents like banks, hospitals, and law firms to actually refactor their operations. Slow Ventures is therefore focused on backing “newly possible” companies selling outcomes (not workflows) using AI infrastructure, looking for “the planes and the cars” rather than the oil and steel.

Connections

• Carlota Perez — the framework structuring the entire piece: installation/Frenzy → deployment, with value accruing to technology consumers
• Technological Revolutions — the historical pattern (steel/cars, ISPs/internet platforms, electric utilities/electrified industry) that anchors the AI analogy
• Venture Capital — the investment context; this is Slow Ventures’ Q2 LP communication
• AI Infrastructure — the enabling layer analogized to oil, steel, and electric utilities — necessary but not where the biggest returns accrue
• Slow Ventures — the fund authoring the letter, focused on “newly possible” companies built on AI infrastructure