Nico Wittenborn, founder of venture capital firm Adjacent, describes how the evolutionary biology concept of the 'adjacent possible' explains technological progress.
“Evolution happens usually as a combination of the existing phenomena and in a relatively deterministic way.”
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More from Nico Wittenborn
Insight
Wittenborn: Macro growth drivers matter far more than execution
“And so I believe that those companies benefit from growth drivers that are much more meaningful than any execution.”
Nico WittenbornMay 22, 2023▶ 57:31Nico Wittenborn: Consumer Subscription Apps; Using Evolutionary Biology to Invest; Solo GP's | E1017 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Wittenborn: The US has a higher caliber of venture investors than Europe
“That being said, I've met many more investors that I'm impressed with in the U.S. Than in Europe, right?”
Nico WittenbornMay 22, 2023▶ 1:06:30Nico Wittenborn: Consumer Subscription Apps; Using Evolutionary Biology to Invest; Solo GP's | E1017 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Wittenborn: Paywall display frequency is top driver of subscription conversion
“And so what Superwall is doing is optimizing paywalls. And so one of the learnings that we have from that is that the number one indicator for driving conversion is how often do you see the paywall, right?”
Nico WittenbornMay 22, 2023▶ 20:44Nico Wittenborn: Consumer Subscription Apps; Using Evolutionary Biology to Invest; Solo GP's | E1017 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
Wittenborn: VCs Dislike Consumer Subscription Until Tens of Millions in Revenue
“Because people don't like consumer subscription until it does tens of millions in revenue.”
Nico WittenbornMay 22, 2023▶ 32:54Nico Wittenborn: Consumer Subscription Apps; Using Evolutionary Biology to Invest; Solo GP's | E1017 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
PredictionNot checkable as stated
Wittenborn: Existing consumer subscription apps will win most value from AI
“The way I think about it from an adjacent perspective is we're going to have companies that are already consumer subscription companies that are implementing this to make their products even more sticky, more functional and give features that were not possible…”
Nico WittenbornMay 22, 2023▶ 59:23Nico Wittenborn: Consumer Subscription Apps; Using Evolutionary Biology to Invest; Solo GP's | E1017 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
PredictionHeld up
Wittenborn: Venture capital fund sizes will shrink in coming years
“It's certainly hard to make a blanket statement, but I think that fund sizes will go down.”
Nico WittenbornMay 22, 2023▶ 1:00:57Nico Wittenborn: Consumer Subscription Apps; Using Evolutionary Biology to Invest; Solo GP's | E1017 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
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