s16vc - Founders for Founders Fund’s Post

𝗔𝗜 𝗥𝗼𝗹𝗹-𝗨𝗽𝘀: 𝗩𝗖 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗧𝘄𝗶𝘀𝘁, 𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗘 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁? Join us to listen in & ask questions of the leading builders what it's like to be in the AI Roll-Up race in 2025. Don’t know about you, but I feel queasy when the 100th AI notetaker app (verticalized for dog walkers or plywood practitioners) comes through the door. And when 9-year-olds are building functioning tools on Lovable (true story), I get even queasier thinking about the value of software in 2025. How do you sell yet another intelligent assistant to a disinterested, overwhelmed SMB owner? Sure, they get some efficiency. But do they care? Will they implement it? And can you even reach them — before the CAC kills you and the LTV never comes? 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳, 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗠𝗕, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗶𝘁? What if you embedded your tech directly into the revenue base, rewrote the ops from within, and scaled the margins post-acquisition? That’s the AI roll-up play.  It’s essentially a PE strategy — except instead of just leverage and cost-cutting, you bring prompts, fine-tuned models, and a dream of rebuilding old industries from the inside out. 𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱-𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿. We’ve been actively investing in this space, and thinking deeply about what actually makes these plays work — and where the bodies might get buried. Our mental model is simple: three angles must intersect:  🟡 A real industry wedge  🔸 A scalable AI uplift  🟢 A team that can execute at speed across M&A Capital goes right there, in the middle. The strategy makes intuitive sense: Find fragmented, low-tech industries with sticky revenue and high human cost. Consolidate. Automate. Compound. But intuition isn’t execution. The margin uplift doesn’t always show up. The AI doesn’t always integrate cleanly. The acquired teams don’t always survive contact with startup culture. And the exit strategy? Still a question mark. To discuss all this, we're teaming up with Zeynep Yavuz of General Catalyst, the firm that has been pioneering this thesis, for a podcast with three founders building AI roll-ups in the wild: 🔹 Dan Lifshits Dwelly  Leading AI roll-up execution in the UK property sector. 🔹 David Alonso Martinez, Zinco AI  Cracking the pro services market in Spain — the EU’s 4th largest economy. 🔹Leo Shangin, Pioneers  Bringing the AI roll-up thesis to America’s oldest staffing rails. If you’re watching this space, building in it, or just wondering why all your VC friends suddenly sound like junior PE associates, this one’s for you. 🎧 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁.