WEBVTT - Tesla’s Annual EV Sales Drop for First Time in Over a Decade 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:10.520 Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. This is Bloomberg Business Week, 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:14.080 Insight from the reporters and editors that bring you America's 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:19.080 most trusted business magazine, plus global business, finance and tech news. 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:23.560 The Bloomberg Business Week Podcast with Carol Masser and Tim 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:25.880 Stenebeck on Bloomberg Radio. 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:29.240 I want to bring in Bloomberg News Audo reporter Keith 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:32.000 Naughton for more on this and then some other Tesla 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:35.239 news that we learned a little earlier today that Tesla's 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:37.440 annual vehicle sales dropped for the first time in more 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:39.360 than a decade, to spite a year and push that 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:42.920 sent deliveries to a record in the fourth quarter. Tesla 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.199 shares selling off as a result. We're going to get 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:46.839 to that in just a minute, Keith, but I do 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:49.519 want to start with the news just moments ago that 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:52.320 we learned from officials in Las Vegas that members of 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:54.920 Tesla's staff are on their way to Las Vegas to 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:59.480 assist law enforcement agents with finding information from this cyber 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:04.160 truck that yesterday had an explosive device or explosive devices 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:08.840 in it. I'm curious what types of information they can 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:12.279 get from what happens inside of Tesla what happens outside 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:15.480 of Tesla, Because for people who aren't familiar with these vehicles, 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:18.520 these have quite a few cameras recording at all times 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:20.720 on the outside well for sure. 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:25.280 So you know, modern vehicles, particularly Tesla's, are highly sophisticated. 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:29.119 They have a lot of devices that record what goes 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:31.920 on in the car, Cameras being one of them. And 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:34.199 so while they're not for the level of a black 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:37.080 box on a jet or something like that, it can 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:39.680 provide a lot of important information if you're doing an 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:44.000 investigation like this. You know, we have two incidents yesterday, 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:47.560 the one in Vegas with the Tesla cybertruck and then 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:51.360 the attack in New Orleans on Bourbon Street, and that 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:53.720 was with a Ford F one fifty lightning. 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:56.720 I've been on the phone with Ford this morning, and they. 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:00.000 Are also cooperating with authorities to provide them any information. 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:02.760 And they can glean from that F one fifty lightning. 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:07.000 So the weight modern cars, particularly electric vehicles, so these 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:10.040 are both electric vehicles, both rented from turo B any way, 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:13.880 and so they can provide all sorts of interesting and 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:16.560 helpful data as this investigation goes on. 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:18.000 I got to ask you, Keith. 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:20.320 Okay, and again forgive us folks, because we're trying to 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:22.680 be very careful here and really just talk about facts 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:23.000 and stuff. 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:25.280 But is it interesting that both were electric vehicles? 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:26.680 Yeah? 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:28.320 Well, I mean one way to look at that, and 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:29.920 again I don't want to go too far into the 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:33.960 speculation exactly, but electric vehicles, in the case of the 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:37.920 New Orleans attack, they are powered by a battery that 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:38.920 is very heavy. 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:41.920 That adds thousands of pounds of weight to the vehicle. 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:48.040 So you know, if you're looking to maximize destructive properties, 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:49.800 more weight will do that. 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:52.680 Keith, what do you make of the Turo connection here? 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:55.519 I think a lot of folks might be familiar with 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.079 traditional places to rent a vehicle, but are now hearing 0:02:58.080 --> 0:02:59.320 about Tururo for the first. 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:02.679 Time, right and Turo, you know, it can be a 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:07.000 little bit like automotive Airbnb. Sometimes it's individuals who are 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.040 renting out their exotic cars. 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:12.359 Turrow has been known for exotics and for electric vehicles. 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:15.200 We don't know, or I don't know the details of 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:18.280 how these two were rented and where they come from. 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:19.840 I know that in the case of Forward from my 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:23.400 conversations with them, they're trying to help with that, but 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:29.120 it is it is a rental traditionally that has rented 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:33.679 more exotic cars, different cars, electric vehicles, not your standard, 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:35.000 you know, Hurtznatus. 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:37.560 All right, we're going to move along, and obviously we're 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:40.480 going to continue to monitor any headlines that might come 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.680 out on either situation in New Orleans or in Vegas. 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:44.880 But Keith, we. 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:46.960 Initially thought we were going to talk to you about 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:50.320 Tesla's sales numbers, which we'd given everybody a heads up 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:52.480 on New Year's Eve that we expected there to be 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:56.480 some disappointment. I am curious, though Tesla's shares are selling off, 0:03:56.680 --> 0:03:59.960 our investor's right to be disappointed. 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:02.360 Is it a big deal for Tesla? 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:05.520 It is a big deal because it's the first decline 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:08.600 in annual sales in more than a decade. And to 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:11.760 put it in context, when that last drop happened between 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:16.000 two thousand and ten and twenty eleven, Tesla was selling 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:19.200 about twelve hundred vehicles a year back then. It's now 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:23.560 selling close to two million, So it's a completely different situation. 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:26.239 And you know, everyone, once in a while, the market 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:29.640 is reminded that, yes, Tesla is a car company, and 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:33.080 if they don't sell enough cars, they don't make enough money. 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:36.040 The stock has been on a tear, particularly since the election, 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:39.799 because everyone was excited about the political influence. 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:40.520 That Elon Musk would have. 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:44.680 It's been also rising since Elon Musk has focused so 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:48.320 much more on AI and the robotaxi they're developing. But 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:51.760 when it comes down to it, Tesla needs to sell 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:54.600 electric vehicles and they're having a harder time doing that. 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:58.520 Is Tesla having the same issues that other EV companies 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:02.560 are having competition from China less of an interest in 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:06.280 evs and more of an interest in hybrids, high ticket 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:09.599 prices that many Americans and people around the world can't 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:12.840 necessarily afford, especially when you compare it with those Chinese 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:16.600 evs and then cars from with the traditional internal combustion engines. 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:17.520 Is that what the issue is? 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:22.400 Yeah, absolutely, Tesla is facing those same headwinds as the 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:25.680 rest of the industry. But Tesla has an additional headwind 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:28.320 and that is the rest of the industry. You know, 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:31.320 they basically had the EV market to themselves until a 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:34.200 few years ago, and particularly in this past year, we 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.880 now have I think seventy five evs on the US market, 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:40.640 So you have GM coming finally with their evs and 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:44.160 their lower price, where Tesla doesn't have much product to 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:44.640 play with. 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:47.600 But Tesla really needs to get its volumes back up. 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:52.360 Is this model y refresh known as Juniper that's coming 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:55.320 next year, that's supposed to be in the mid thirty 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:59.240 thousand range. Right now, Tesla's average prices are above forty thousand, 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:01.719 and they've come down a lot because Tesla's resorted to 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:07.960 the old fashioned, you know, marketing incentives that normal carmakers do, 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:11.240 like zero percent financing and free charging. 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:13.000 So they've they've done. 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:14.640 That and their prices have come down a bit, but 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:17.040 they're still a little high for mainstream buyers. 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:19.039 I mean, is Tesla getting to the point, you know, 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:21.760 we often talk about a tech company that's, you know, 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.880 an upstart, you know, on a growth trajectory, kind of 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:27.120 owns its market and then it matures a little bit. 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:29.720 Is that kind of what's happening, Keith? I mean, can 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:33.719 we kind of put that label on Tesla? Are not necessarily. 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:38.400 Definitely from its you know, traditional EV selling business. 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.080 It has matured at a very time, at the very 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:41.560 time that. 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:44.920 As we said, the EV market is slowing, so you know, 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:47.920 it's just a harder sell with evs right now. The 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:51.039 growth rate of EV's last year was in the mid 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:51.960 seven percent. 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:54.760 You know, the year before was forty seven percent. 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:57.960 So we're in a very cooling market for pure electric 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:01.159 vehicles and that's all Tesla sells. And test Tha's lineup 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:04.920 is really aging, so they desperately need new and refreshed 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:06.800 product to reinvigorate their sales. 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:08.720 All right, going to leave it on that note. Keith Noughton, 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:10.520 thank you so much. Auto reporter O at Bloomberg News 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:11.600 joining us from Detroit. 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:15.480 You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week podcast. Catch us 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:19.000 live weekday afternoons from two to five pm Eastern. Listen 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:22.559 on Applecarplay and the Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app, 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:24.520 or watch us live on YouTube. 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:27.400 All right, let's get out to someone who's got to 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:30.440 make investment bets. And he recently wrote about the parallel 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.680 between the dot com bubble and today's AI driven euphoria. 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:35.480 He says, we are in the late stages of a 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:39.320 major financial euphoria episode. We welcome back Bill Smeed, cio 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:42.520 over at Smeed Capital Management. They've got approximately seven and 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:45.840 a half billion dollars in assets under management. Bill, joining 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:50.000 us on this Thursday. It is Thursday, it's a new year. 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:52.440 Joining us from Phoenix, Arizona. Bill, Good to have you 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:53.920 back with us. Happy new Year. 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:55.680 I don't know. 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:58.480 Tell us about this parallel between the dot com bubble 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:01.600 and the AI. We've talked this actually a fair amount 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:05.360 here at Bloomberg. Does it burst then at some point? 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:08.080 And how do you tell or any indication of when 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:08.640 that happens. 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:13.280 Well, I listened to your prior segment. This won't be 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:16.840 a black swan, that this will be an in your 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:23.440 face duck. In other words, it is absolutely inevitable. Here's 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:26.960 what I love about the current euphoria. All the other 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:33.000 euphorias front loaded the stock prices of the beneficiaries of. 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:34.960 The new legitimate business development. 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:38.559 So in twenty nine it was front loading the excitement 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:42.400 about radio and RCA was the Nvidia, And. 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:44.760 Then in sixty nine to seventy it was landing on the. 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:48.240 Moon in the semiconductor and ultimately peaked out with a 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:51.280 nifty to fifty, And then in ninety nine it was 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:52.240 the Internet was going. 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:52.920 To change our life. 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:55.120 Did they succeed? 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:58.199 Did all those legitimate developments play out and. 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:04.439 Get used dramatically more and completely changed the way Americans operated. 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:09.080 The answer is yes. And did people get crushed in 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:12.400 the stock market in all prior cases? 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:16.640 And the answer is yes. So if you own the 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:18.080 momentum trades of. 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:21.120 The last three or four years, whether it be a 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:24.880 year from now or a month from now or three 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:28.240 weeks ago, the pain that people are going to get 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:32.280 exhibited on them versus the trade off of an additional 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:36.040 year of glorious success like the last two years will 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:39.199 be It's a bad risk reward relationship. And it's right 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.720 in front of everyone's face. It's not a black swan, 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:46.240 it's not hidden anywhere. And your friend in London made 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:52.280 the right call. We've got fifteen different indicators, not just 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:57.439 the option trading. Virtually every measurement tool for measuring historical 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:02.120 stock market valuation is at the absolute ninety eight percentile 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:04.439 or higher right now? 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:05.040 All right? 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:09.400 So then if we agree with you, then what happens 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:11.559 like how much of a market decline, how much has 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:13.440 to be kind of taken off? What kind of froth 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:15.559 needs to be taken off in your view to make 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:16.720 it more normalized? 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:21.800 Yeah, I think you go to seventy three seventy four, 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:28.000 And the problem is seventy three seventy four was a 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:31.720 fifty percent decline in the S and P over two years, 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:37.920 and then didn't come out of it until nineteen eighty two. Right, 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.880 the Dow used to be the primary benchmark at that time, 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:45.520 and the Dow kept peeking out at one thousand, including 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:49.680 in nineteen seventy two, and then we started from seven 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:52.440 to seventy five on the Dow at the bottom in 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:54.280 August of nineteen eighty two. 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:56.719 But Bill had been we. 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:57.680 Only have a couple of minutes. 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:00.640 But I want to ask you, though, it's safe to 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:04.120 say that today's marketplace maybe not the same as seventy 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:06.160 or what was going on in the seventies. And maybe 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:09.440 I just think about the frequency with how information kind 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:13.680 of flies through the market and social media and the velocity, 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:16.240 and when things don't look right, they kind of get 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:17.480 taken down pretty quickly. 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.360 Yeah, it's different this time, I think, is what you're asking. 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:22.920 It is different. 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:26.840 It's always different this time, it's always different. 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:29.360 But the similarities is what kill you. 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:32.480 So I happen to read a piece this last week 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:37.280 from twenty fourteen from Warren Buffett, and this is twenty fourteen, 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:40.560 he said, you know, the market spends most of its 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:46.679 time reasonably priced, and he calls that reasonableness. But in 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:51.640 twenty fourteen he said in his career five times it 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:56.400 lost its reasonableness, and that was in twenty fourteen. 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:59.520 So I think when his partner Charlie Munger said this 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:03.000 is the big financially forty episode of his career because 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:07.080 of the totality of a few years ago, I think 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:11.520 Buffett is demonstrating through raising cash that he thinks this 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:13.360 market lacks reasonableness. 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:16.439 So where the just we have thirty seconds left, where 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:18.079 the opportunities for this year. 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:24.080 The opportunities are spelled E N E RGY. 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:25.160 We've heard that from you before. 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:29.640 Electricity forty percent of electricity is made with natural gas. 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.760 That I'm not a commodity trader, but that's what I'd 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:34.560 be all over on oil and gas stocks. 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:37.280 The price of oil is not going to go down. 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:41.240 By the way, pertaining to your prior conversation, people that 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.040 live in China their body temperatures ninety eight point six. 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.800 It's the oldest civilization in the world, and they're very 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:49.880 intelligent people. The chance of them pulling themselves out of 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:53.600 This is one hundred percent and American exceptionalism is way 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.800 overcooked because we're just ninety eight point six and that's 0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:57.880 all wherever going to be. 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:00.000 All right, Gonna have to leave it on that now. 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:00.800 Thank you so much. 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:02.240 We know we had a lot of breaking news and 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:04.160 we had to jump around a little bit, but Bill Smead, 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:07.160 we really appreciate getting some time with you. Bill Smead, 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.120 Chief Investment Officer. It's Meet Capital Management, coming to us 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:11.600 from Phoenix, Arizona. 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:15.960 You're listening to the Bloomberg Business Week podcast. Catch us 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:19.000 live weekday afternoons from two to five ese during Listen 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.600 on Applecarplay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app, 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:25.160 or watch us live on YouTube. 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:29.080 This is not going to surprise anyone who has listened 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:31.480 to or watched our show in the past because we 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:33.920 talk about this a lot. But women founded startups get 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:36.240 only a fraction of the VC funding of male startups. 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:38.680 I mean we're talking single digits here. I mean depending 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:41.400 on by far so much, depending on which data you 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:43.840 look at via you know, Pitchbook or others, it's like 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:47.319 single digits. Yeah, but they made gains last year. Women 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:50.199 in non binary VC investors have gained a foothold in 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:53.440 the tech industry, five years faster than the advocacy group 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:57.520 all RAYS expected, but leaders say a national backlash diversity, 0:13:57.520 --> 0:14:00.960 equality and inclusion initiatives threatens the progress that's been made. 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:04.000 So Carol, about eighteen percent of decision makers at USVC 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:07.200 firms are female. It's double from twenty eighteen when all 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:09.040 Rays was founded and set a goal of reaching that 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:11.120 number by twenty twenty eight that's according to the group's 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:14.360 in Your report that was published last year. So some progress, 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:16.000 some progress, some progress, some progress. 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:18.440 Let's see what Jesse Draper has to say about that. 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:21.840 She's founding partner of Halogen Ventures. The VC firm has 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:24.680 invested in more than seventy five female founded tech startups, 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:28.760 including baby List, Flex, everly Well, and more. She joins 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:31.400 us on this Thursday from Los Angeles. Jesse, good to 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:34.920 be talking again with you. It does feel like, first 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:37.440 of all, that there is a backlash on all things 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:41.640 DEI how is that potentially going to impact the VC world, 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:46.080 which already when it comes to female founded firms, I mean, man, 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.680 they have to struggle to find funding. 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:52.640 They do have to struggle to find funding. But you know, 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.520 the best companies will get funded. I think the most 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:59.480 important thing right now that we think about is just 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:02.720 getting capital into the hands of women, and that could 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.840 be a female and the founding team. Like at Hallajenventus 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:07.560 when we invest, there has to be a female in 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:10.280 the founding team. And we were still part of one 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:13.480 of the largest raises of twenty twenty four, which was 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:18.000 a one point nine billion dollar raise with a female 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:21.080 and the founding team. And it's called Metropolis. It's a 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:25.960 parking technology company. You know, there's no lack of incredible 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:29.040 deals being started by women. I think it's about looking 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:32.400 at the world a little differently, getting into new networks 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:38.680 and breaking out of like our traditional way of deploying capital. Also, 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:40.920 thank you for having me again, Carol and Tim. 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:41.280 It's good. 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:44.280 It's good to be You're welcome. You're welcome, you know, sire. 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:46.560 I was just looking at Tim and I'm just saying, listen. 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:48.360 Part of the reason it's fun to do a show 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:51.120 man woman whatever, like some diversity, Like we do look 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:53.520 at things differently, Tim and I do think about what's 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:56.440 being lost in the VC world by now looking at 0:15:56.600 --> 0:16:00.160 female founded firms who look at the world differently, and 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:01.080 maybe what's needed. 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:05.000 Well, Jesse, talk a little bit about networks, because this 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:08.080 is something you absolutely understand being in the space and 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.120 essentially growing up in the space. What are networks when 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:14.920 it comes to venture capital? Pull the curtain back a little. 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:19.920 Bit, so I look at it as networks and tech ecosystems. 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:22.480 So when I think about networks, you know, I think 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:27.240 women lack those networks. Traditionally, men have one passed the 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:30.120 pocketbooks down from generation to generation, and we need to 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:32.640 like break the women in there. Right now is the 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:35.680 largest transference of generational wealth, and the majority of that 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:37.800 is actually going to be going to women. So we 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:42.200 need women investing and we need capital going to women, 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:46.960 which hopefully will inevitably happen. We are you know, I 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:49.720 think about networks, and you would start with, say Stanford, 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:52.240 where Silicon Valley is where I literally grew up. I've 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:55.480 lived in LA for twenty years, but you know, Stanford 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:59.000 started the first sort of technology ecosystem as we know it. 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:04.000 And these typically begin with a university, and so you 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.320 build that out because then great talent comes from the university, 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:10.760 great ideas come from the university, and ultimately great companies 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:14.720 spin out of that University. So, you know, you look 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:18.520 at the great tech ecosystems across the country. Those networks 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:22.720 are starting to broaden because we're now seeing many more 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:26.560 than just twelve technology cities across the country. We at 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:29.399 Halijn Ventures actually just announced that we were the first 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:34.919 out of state investment that Innovate Alabama made into a fund. 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.760 And so we've partnered with Innovate Alabama and we have 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:41.960 been going and researching and digging in and meeting with 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:45.080 hundreds of entrepreneurs in Alabama. And I have to say, 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:48.200 even I was surprised by I hadn't spent a ton 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:50.840 of time in Alabama. I don't know that a lot 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:54.800 of people in California have. I shouldn't generalize there, but 0:17:55.640 --> 0:18:00.000 there are some amazing tech ecosystems there. There's world class university, 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:04.400 over fifty Fortune five hundred companies represented too are actually 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:07.439 based there, a lot of great aerospace ag tech, you know, 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:12.800 And I'm blown away by the incredible talent in Alabama. 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:14.920 And I think we just need to start looking at 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:21.040 new tech ecosystems, starting with new universities in different locations. 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:23.000 There's a lot going on in the South, and we're 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:26.360 really trying to capitalize on that. I think also as 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.600 a strategy, we're really thinking how do we get out 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:33.159 of those typical networks where people are only investing in 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.600 the Stanfords and the Harvards of the world, which you know, 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:38.200 we have Stanfords and Harvard's in our portfolio as well, 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:41.720 but I think it's important to create a well diversified portfolio. 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:45.960 And if you look at ecosystems around the world, even 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:48.960 in like Sub Saharan Africa, they often give capital to 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:53.200 the women to build the community and build the ecosystem 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:54.960 and build the wealth for families. 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:58.800 Right, go back to I'm just Mohammed yunus, right the problem, No, 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:02.680 you think about my micro you know, investing micro lending 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:05.560 in particular, it was to the woman because she would 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:07.399 put the money to work, and sometimes it was making 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:10.040 baskets or doing something that seems so basic, but it 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:13.280 created income for that family, and she paid back the 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:16.439 loan and it created a better life for that family. 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:18.359 I want to go back though, to what you're saying 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:21.600 about working with Alabama and some other universities. It reminds 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:24.479 me of Steve Case, you know, the AOL co founder, 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:30.159 And yeah, exactly, like yeah, and the future of technology 0:19:30.160 --> 0:19:32.679 being outside Silicon Valley. Talk to us a little bit 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:35.600 about your portfolio and what you're you know, in a 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:38.200 world where we spend so much time talking about artificial 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:41.920 intelligence and generative AI and super high tech things going 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:45.399 on and autonomous driving and robots, Like, what is it 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:48.600 that you know where you are putting your VC money 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:49.840 at this point? 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:51.800 Yeah, thank you for asking that. 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:53.720 You know, So we are. 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:56.800 We have over seventy five companies now and five of 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:59.480 those are current unicorns. We're still young in the space, 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:02.840 but we're doing fantastic. I'm really proud of our portfolio 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:08.119 and we're excited about investing in Alabama because Alabama is 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:13.080 actually unfortunately listed as fiftieth in quite a few things, 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:19.679 education among them, but most pertinent too Halogen. It is 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:24.880 ranked fiftieth for female founders, and so we really wanted 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.680 to make change there and innovate. Alabama was excited about 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:31.760 our thesis. Our current thesis is around future of family, 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:34.119 how do you support the family at work, at home, 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:37.320 the physical health of the family, and the financial health 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:39.960 of the family. And the reason we invested in that 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:42.880 is it's actually a research based thesis that we created 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:46.000 because we looked at our past two portfolios and realized 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:48.720 about a dozen of our companies were in the childcare 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:51.480 and future of family space, which is a seven point 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:56.040 five trillion dollar opportunity. And these are companies like Binti 0:20:56.200 --> 0:20:59.800 Solving Adoption now in four hundred social services agencies across 0:20:59.840 --> 0:21:05.120 the country upwards, which has sixty six thousand in home 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:08.120 vetted childcare locations for the zero to six year old. 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:13.000