Investor Sheel Mohnot debates historical seed pricing trends with TBPN hosts John Coogan and Jordi Hays.
Insight
Mohnot: Mega-funds writing small seed checks make a strategic mistake
“If you're a multi-billion dollar fund, and you write a two million dollar check into, to a company, and you invested in the wrong company in the category, Like, you don't get a chance to write a two hundred fifty million dollar check into the right company. So…”
Opinion
Mohnot: Trump tariffs aim for reshoring, not reciprocal trade
“I think that's bullshit because, like, you have Lutnik saying, like, we need millions of Americans screwing in tiny iPhones or whatever. And you, and they also say that the tariffs are going to replace income taxes. So if those things are true, then it's not a…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Mohnot: US regulations prevent AI from revolutionizing credit underwriting
“So anyway, I think it can be used and can be super useful, but because of those regulatory bound like guidelines, I'm not sure it's going to like be a step change in underwriting.”
Assertion Supported
Mohnot: The Jones Act is highly protectionist to US shipbuilding
“So like the Jones Act basically says that if you, if you're shipping goods between two U.S. Ports, you need to use a U.S. Built ship crewed by U.S. Citizens and owned by U.S. Citizens. So like it's super protectionist to the U.S. Shipbuilding industry and U.S.…”
Opinion
Mohnot: China is an enemy and should not get US data
“China specifically, I do think China's playing unfairly and they're our enemy and we shouldn't let our enemy get data on the United States.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Mohnot: Skeptical seed round valuations will re-accelerate over next year
“I'm skeptical that this is gonna happen again. Or that it's gonna re-accelerate and prices are gonna go up. I don't know. We'll see. Well, we should make a bet and have Peter Walker from Carta give us the data in a year.”