Michael Dempsey – Investing in Bleeding Edge Technology – [Invest Like the Best, EP.212]

My guest today is Michael Dempsey, General Partner at Compound. Michael invests in a broad range of areas but has a unique talent for combining brand building and direct customer relationships with technically demanding sectors. Our conversation covers the rise of virtual influencers, robotics, and how to best identify key inflection points in the evolution of new technologies. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Michael Dempsey. 

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

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Show Notes

[00:02:54] – [First question] – Early stages of his career

[00:05:13] - What are inflection points and how he views them as a source of opportunity 

[00:07:40] - Real vs fake inflection points 

[00:12:19] - Creativity as a key component of inflection points 

[00:12:33] - On Inflection Points

[00:15:01] - Generative Adversarial Networks

[00:18:02] - History of animation and the innovation we are seeing there today 

[00:20:12] - Animation is Eating the World

[00:24:11] - The concept of a digital celebrity and their scale

[00:29:17] - Characteristics of digital celebrity creators

[00:31:12] - Longevity and consistency of these personalities

[00:33:11] - Future of gaming and potential for investments in the space 

[00:37:49] - The landscape for robotics and what has him excited

[00:41:07] - The exploration of space and the opportunities there.

[00:44:35] - Computational biology and the investment potentials.

[00:48:11] - How 2020 has changed the ability to solve scientific problems

[00:51:32] - The idea that Cyberpunk is now

[00:53:32] - Sam Hinkie podcast episode

[00:53:51] - Kindest thing anyone has done for him