Andy Dunn

The most rewarding work we do as founders isn’t raising capital or signing clients. It’s helping kids in Detroit discover technology The next generation wants heroes 🦸🏾‍♂️ that look like, grew up like and think like them. As parents, we often complain that kids want to be YouTubers or TikTokers instead of NASA Scientists, Doctors etc. We complain that they stare at their phones instead of looking at or listening to us. But too often, we ask kids to dream big without showing up to support them. A student recently asked me: “What are professionals like you doing to make education in Detroit better for students like me?” I told them: “I help get Detroit high school robotics teams sponsored.” Michigan has over 600 FIRST Robotics teams, more than any other state. In Detroit, the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation hosts 10 high school teams through the Robotics Engineering Center of Detroit, funded by The Ideal Group, Inc. This year, Team 4680, the Aztech Eagles from Cesar Chavez Academy High School, won at Wayne State University and qualified for the FIRST Robotics World Championships in Houston. They couldn’t afford to fly, so they took a bus. But they made it and had the time of their lives, thanks to support from local businesses. That’s why Eric C. from Detroit Manufacturing Systems (DMS), Alexander Montesinos and I spend our time outside of work supporting STEM students in Southwest Detroit, connecting them to the resources they need to compete with peers in better-funded districts. Their success is our success. We are building bridges between Detroit’s young inventors and local startups at Newlab like wheel.me and Penny Pickup at Kinetyc like LIVAQ, connecting students with internships where they can thrive. Kids who learn here, feel supported here, will want to work here. We are creating pathways for students to explore STEM, compete nationally, and see that careers in tech and manufacturing are not just possible, but are here right now. If you are interested in this initiative please reach out to me, Eric C. from Detroit Manufacturing Systems (DMS) or Alexander Montesinos Teams need build space and corporate sponsors. If you want to learn more about STEM opportunities in Metro Detroit, take a look at CODE313, Google Code Next Motor City Alliance Michigan Engineering Zone Black Tech Saturdays Michigan Economic Development Corporation The Michigan Office of Defense and Aerospace Innovation SHPE Detroit Professional National Society of Black Engineers Women In Defense.

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Pete Martin-Calling out Midwest VC risk aversion and misaligned incentives is not a character attack. It’s an accurate diagnosis. And I disagree with “we’re in this together.” Founders are the only ones going unpaid, taking existential downside, and absorbing failure. While investors collecting fees, fund managers, program operators, intermediaries, ecosystem builders, are compensated regardless of whether any founder wins. That asymmetry matters. A meaningful portion of capital here is state managed, often with higher management fees and lower carry. Top ecosystems are overwhelmingly funded by private dollars. Michigan relies far more heavily on public capital. That shifts incentives and shows up as smaller checks, lower conviction, reluctance to lead, and founders leaving the region to raise real rounds. It also shows up as tranches, reimbursements, and restricted spend because the system does not fully trust founders with capital. Then founders are expected to produce venture scale outcomes with constrained resources and assigned contractors instead of empowered teams. When it predictably doesn’t work, it reinforces the narrative that founders weren’t investable. At the same time, an entire layer of programming and intermediaries positions itself between founders and actionable capital. Activity gets rewarded. Outcomes don’t. Capital gets diluted before it reaches the builder. And then there is the theater. The ecosystem has to sell the version it hopes to become. But too often that story is built on the backs of current founders, who are asked to tolerate worse conditions today so the region can claim success tomorrow. For us to be “in this together,” current founders would need to be centered in the system we’re building, not treated as the cost of getting to a better future ecosystem.

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Most people do not understand AI. ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, and Gemini are all elite. Just in different ways. But none of them are business specialists. They can help you monetize. They cannot think like an operator whose money and reputation are on the line. So I built JT1. Just in Time AI. The most advanced business knowledge LLM backed by powerful business system commands. Then I asked the obvious question. Why are people using 4 AI websites with 0 shared memory? That is friction. So I combined the Big 4, JT1, and your brain into 1 command center. Power 5. 1 place. 1 memory. 1 operating system that compounds decisions and builds vectors over time. Then that intelligence trains AI Employees so execution stops breaking. And instead of paying 100 dollars plus per month across tools, you can access all of it for as low as 70 cents a day. If you want to try it, link is in my profile. Thoughts?

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This insight from @Appcharge underscores the power of optimized web stores for conversion! 📈 It's clear that focusing on the user journey truly pays off. Great work, Roei Barassi, Maor Sason and team, driving such impactful results. Moneta VC is proud to support this innovation!

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Resale is one of the fastest-growing sectors in commerce, but scaling it is complex. Product intake, authentication, pricing, and listing are still largely manual, slowing growth and limiting margins for retailers entering the resale space. HAMMOQ Inc. solves this by automating resale operations. Their AI-powered platform handles product listing, content generation, pricing optimization, and marketplace management, enabling retailers and recommerce platforms to scale sustainably and profitably. At Silicon Road Ventures, we invested in Hammoq because they’re powering the operational backbone of the circular economy, making sustainability not just a value, but a viable business model. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gyeuJgu9 Discover the exceptional founders who are forging the future of commerce: https://lnkd.in/gyikTJ3c #PortfolioCompany #CircularEconomy #AI #RetailTech #Automation #Recommerce

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“After your second purchase, please do not purchase on my store anymore.” That was one of the most surprising things Andrew Andriano, founder of Flourish, said during our conversation. It sounds crazy in a world where founders are constantly told: Build DTC. Own the customer. Protect your margins. But Andrew saw things differently. When an accelerator asked him to apply, they wanted the usual things: Business plan Financial projections Market sizing Andrew’s response: “How about I send you a video of myself… if you want me you can have me… but I’m not filling out this crap.” So he filmed a video on his iPhone explaining the business. At the time Flourish was doing a few hundred thousand in revenue. And in the video he confidently said: “Next year I’m going to do 100 million.” The accelerator accepted him anyway. Today Flourish is the #1 pancake mix brand in Canada. What really stuck with me about Andrew’s thinking was his philosophy on DTC. For Flourish, direct-to-consumer was never the destination. It was simply the front of the train but a way to drive awareness and trial. Once customers loved the product, the goal was retail distribution at scale. That really struck me because it goes against everything I had learned earlier in my career. I was CEO of LATAM for Jeffree Star Cosmetics during the period the company grew from $0 to over $100M in less than three years, largely powered by direct-to-consumer. In that world the playbook was simple: Drive traffic. Own the customer. Maximize DTC. Andrew’s approach flips that logic on its head. Great founders don’t follow playbooks. They rewrite them. Full episode with Andrew Andriano is live. Link in the comments. #entrepreneurship #startups #founderstory #ecommerce #directtoconsumer #podcast

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