Adam Torres and Anthony Young discuss the AI Vibes Summit.
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Listen to coverage of the AI Vibes Summit in Santa Monica, California. In this episode, Adam Torres interviews Anthony Young, Serial Entrepreneur & Investor, explores entrepreneurship and AI.
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Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres and I am in Santa Monica at AI Vibes at the AI Vibes conference, and I’m having all kinds of fun. And I was able to snag Anthony before he goes on stage. He’s going to be a judge in an upcoming pitch competition.
So first off, Anthony, just want to say welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you for inviting me. Alright, so we’re in Santa Monica, we’re at an AI conference, you’re one of the judges, what brings you here? Well Pal, the, the, you know, the organizer of this event invited me to be a judge for the pitch competition.
You know, I, I met her at the last event. And because she also invited me. And so for this event today, she said, Hey, do you want to be a judge? I said, sure. I mean, why not? And I think it would be fun and get to know the people that are, you know, pitching their projects. Yeah. So, yeah. And you’re an angel investor, a serial entrepreneur.
Maybe before we get into the AI side of things, like just talk to me a little bit more about your background. So again, I’m an angel investor. So I, there’s certain verticals that I. Kind of look at one is biotech prop tech space. A little bit of hospitality and media and entertainment. So that’s kind of my world.
I want to go a little bit back in time, Anthony. What, when did, were you always an entrepreneur? Like, when did you know that was in you? You had, yes, I’ve always been an entrepreneur. I was not born in the U S I was actually born in Asia. And. Where I come from, we were taught at a very early age to do business.
You know, we’ve been trained. Yeah. So at the age of 10, my grandparents took me to my grandpa’s textile factory and I started learning accounting when I was 10, 10. That’s amazing. So yeah. And I started my first business when I was 15. What was that business? I got it and you brought it up. So I got, I gotta know what it is.
Well, at that time, there was an import issue in the country where I came from. And so, in terms of music, so there’s no new music coming in. So I found a way to bring music, so I was one of the major suppliers of music into a lot of the clubs. Wow. At 15. So by, once I hit 18, I’m done with the club scene.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s amazing. So that’s kind of how I started. So you grew up early in entrepreneurship. Pretty much. Yeah, for sure. It sounds like obviously if there’s music, like the tech side of things, how did, when did that start to grab you? Well, I’ve always believed in innovation, right? I’ve always believed in.
There are always new things coming, right? And so I’ve always like to explore what’s out there and what’s new. And that’s why I’m heavily in, I mean, you know, I invest a lot of these tech companies, right? Because I look at, okay, what’s upcoming, right? You want to snag it before everyone else does. Yeah. So that’s kind of my, my philosophy.
I invest in a lot of like seed startups because I want to get it early. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Before it even becomes IPO and all that. I mean, it’s a lot of high risk. So what I do is I just mitigate my risk by investing in a lot of them, but not like a big chunk of money, but small, you know, a small amount, but spread over like a lot of companies.
So all I need is one hit. Yeah. What do you look for? Whether it’s a founder or an investment, obviously there’s only a 10 minute, you know, I am not going to keep you for your whole investment thesis, but in general, what are you looking for in a founder and in a company? So. I have my initial three rules that I always use to gauge and to see if I would explore or I would, you know, look further, look further in.
So rule number one is I have to get to know you and I have to, you know, because a lot of this is trust, right? Yeah. So I need to know who you are, what kind of person you are, right? And I need to develop that trust. Hmm. The second rule is Do you solve a problem? Do you solve a need? Right. And in number three, do you have an order you cannot fulfill or do you have a curated audience or a curated customer?
Yeah. And once you have those three, then I will be more inclined to look. Talk to me about the founder. The founder piece. You said you have to know them, right? You have to like, what does that mean to you? I’m curious. ’cause, ’cause a lot of these founders, right, they have great ideas Yeah. Right. Of what they wanna do.
Yeah. But at the end of the day, I can read all the circular offerings and offerings and all that. Right. But at the end of the day, speaking of AI and generating a pitch deck quickly now or Yeah. All of that, right? Yeah. At the end of the day. How do you manage your business? Yeah. Right. Because a lot of these failures isn’t because the technology isn’t great, but it’s because the founders didn’t know what they were doing.
Right. So to me, that’s what I want to know. Who are you? Right. And do you really know how to handle business? Right. Because you have to, you can have the greatest idea, but if you don’t know how to handle your business, it’s still not going to work. Hmm. So to me, that is a really important thing. So I don’t just jump right away.
I maybe take you out for lunch or something, get to know you. Right. And all that good stuff. Hmm. I’m asking this question specifically because I know you’re judging a panel. You’re an angel investor. I mean, there’s VCs judging as well, all the above. So there’s a lot of entrepreneurs. There’s a lot of business owners, startups that watch this show.
And just to give them some tips, what are some of the things that you look for in a pitch? Well, basically if it’s a pitch session, of course, I won’t get the chance to know the founder yet. Yep, exactly. Yep. Then I will look at the two other things, which is, do you solve a problem? Do you solve a need? Right.
But even when you do solving a problem or a need, you still have to look at the whole business ecosystem of what they’re trying to do. Yeah. For example, let’s say this founder has. A tech that can solve a particular workflow, right. To make it easier, whatever, but you still have to look at the whole industry.
Is that industry a thriving industry or is there, you know, a lot of movement in that industry, right? Because if there’s no movement on that industry. It doesn’t matter. You can have the great, the greatest tech out there, but if no one’s buying your tech or using your tech, it doesn’t really matter. Fair.
Right. Fair. Yeah. So I look at that. What is that current climate? What is the current business ecosystem? What they have, you know, who are their competitors and all that. Yeah. And yeah, you do something, some sort of like a mini SWOT analysis and you try to figure out, okay, what is it? Right. And then I look at, okay.
Who’s your customer? Yeah. Have you curated this customer? Right. Cause a lot of founders, they always think like, Oh, I got this great idea. Right. And I’m sure a lot of people would like it. Then my next question with them would be. Did you ever test your market if they like it or not? Yeah. Right. Because if you don’t test it, that’s daydreaming to me, you’re just daydreaming that there’s going to be a market for it.
Hmm. So you have to test. Right. Unless you just want to blindly, you know, You like invest in it and just keep your fingers crossed, but that’s not my, you know, that that’s not the way I do things. Yeah. So looking at, I got, I got to have to work in at least one AI question into this. I know I was excited to get into investing in entrepreneurs about things.
Cause you’re, you’re a dynamic person as a serial entrepreneur, but I got to work in one AI, one for sure. What excites you right now about AI? Like what gets you like fired up? So I started looking into AI. way back in 2019. Mm. Right. And AI kind of just exploded around 20 21, 20 22. Yeah. Right. So a lot of the things I see in AI is how do they solve a workflow problem, right?
Mm-Hmm. , how can I make it more efficient? How can I make it more, you know, save cost, right? Yeah. In production, whatever it is, right? Mm-Hmm. . I don’t look at that. I look at what else can AI do aside from the workflow. Mm-Hmm. , because to me, workflow. You can just, you know what I’m saying? You can get it open source, pretty up and you’re done.
Right. So I’m not impressed with workflows. I’m impressed with what else can you do with AI? And I found a few companies that I am, you know, either helping them raise or investing in them that are doing something that is different than whatever everyone is doing. So I look for that because workflow issue, everyone’s doing that.
There’s. Nothing sexy about that, you know, it’s something that the next generation of what AI can do. Yeah. Well, Anthony, I know you have your session coming up pretty soon. So final question. How can people, I want you to look into the camera. How can people follow up? How can they learn more? How can they connect?
Whether it’s on social media or otherwise? Well maybe the best way would be to just come to events like this, you know, and then, Yeah. Because I, you know, a lot of times you get inundated with so many, if I give my, my social stuff, I’d rather not. Awesome. No problem. Well, Hey, for the audience, thank you for tuning in.
I hope you guys had a lot of fun watching this. If you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or that follow button, because this is a daily show. Each and every day we’re bringing you new content, new interviews, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way in your journey. So hit that subscribe or follow button so that you will get the notification tomorrow when the next episode comes out.
And Anthony, again, thank you so much for making some time for us and coming on the show. You’re welcome. Thank you for inviting me
