Something fascinating is happening at the intersection of venture capital and private equity. While traditional VCs scramble to add "venture studio" capabilities to their offerings, established venture studios like 1848 Ventures are quietly evolving into something more powerful—hybrid investment machines that build, buy, and scale simultaneously.

Kal Amin, Managing Director at 1848 Ventures, recently revealed a playbook that should make every investor pay attention: They've gone from two portfolio companies to approving their first Series A investment, acquiring their first company, and targeting four portfolio companies by year-end—all while sitting on top of a massive demographic shift that most VCs are completely missing.

Here's the stat that should stop you in your tracks: 53% of small to medium-sized business owners are over 55. This isn't just a demographic footnote—it's a tectonic shift creating unprecedented acquisition opportunities for those who understand how to navigate it.

These aging business owners face a binary choice: pass the business to family or sell. But here's where it gets interesting—the buyers aren't traditional PE firms with their financial engineering playbooks. They're AI-native, digitally-first operators who see manual processes and Excel spreadsheets as opportunities for 10x improvements.

Take 1848's recent investment in Propel People, targeting the 500,000-person skilled labor shortage in construction. This isn't a moonshot SaaS play hoping to disrupt an industry from the outside. It's a surgical strike on a specific pain point in an industry where relationships and trust matter more than growth hacks.

Traditional venture math is breaking down. The old model—spray and pray across 100 investments hoping for one unicorn—is giving way to something more sophisticated. 1848's approach reveals the new equation:

Incubation (Deep Market Research) → Validation → Seed Investment → Series A

But here's the twist: They're adding acquisition as a parallel track. Not as an exit strategy, but as an entry strategy. This isn't the acqui-hire game of buying failed startups for talent. It's strategic acquisition of profitable, established businesses that can be transformed through technology and operational excellence.

The numbers tell the story: They look at hundreds, sometimes thousands of opportunities to find the one that fits. Sound familiar? It's the same rigor VCs apply to deal flow, but with a crucial difference—they're not just picking winners, they're creating them.

The convergence Amin describes—venture studios becoming more like VCs while VCs become more like venture studios—isn't a trend. It's an extinction event for firms that can't adapt.

Consider what 1848 accomplished with TakeUp.ai, their first Series A investment. They didn't just write a check and hope for the best. They incubated it, validated it, invested at seed, helped it scale, then led the Series A. That's not venture capital—that's venture architecture.

This model solves the fundamental problem plaguing traditional VC: the inability to de-risk investments through operational involvement. When you build companies from scratch AND acquire existing ones AND make direct investments, you're not dependent on finding needles in haystacks. You're manufacturing needles.

Buying companies is harder than funding them. The due diligence alone can consume months and significant capital. One bad acquisition can sink a fund.

But here's what 1848 understands that others don't: The complexity is the moat. While everyone else is fighting over the same pre-seed AI startups in Silicon Valley, firms that master the art of acquisition can access:

For investors and venture builders reading this, the message is clear: The future belongs to those who can operate across the entire spectrum of company building. Here's your tactical playbook:

1. Stop thinking in silos. Building, buying, and investing are not separate strategies—they're complementary tools in the same toolkit.

2. Focus on the demographic goldmine. Every retiring SMB owner is a potential acquisition target. Every industry dominated by 55+ owners is ripe for transformation.

3. Develop operational muscle. The ability to integrate acquisitions, not just make them, will separate winners from losers. As Amin warns, avoid creating "fiefdoms of culture" that never truly integrate.

4. Think in decades, not quarters. The venture studio model requires patient capital and long-term thinking. If you're optimizing for quick exits, you're playing the wrong game.

5. Embrace the paradox. The best venture studios will look more like VCs. The best VCs will look more like venture studios. Position yourself at the intersection.

While the venture capital industry debates whether the party is over, firms like 1848 Ventures are quietly building the infrastructure for the next decade of value creation. They're not waiting for the next technological revolution—they're creating value by applying today's technology to yesterday's businesses.

What's your take? Are we witnessing the death of traditional VC or its evolution? Reply and let me know how you're thinking about the build-buy-invest convergence.

Guest: Andrew Endicott, Co-founder of Petal & Managing Partner at Gilgamesh Ventures | Episode 35

Ever been told something was "impossible" by every expert in your field? Andrew Endicott heard it from 100+ investors before finally raising Petal's $3.3M seed round. The "impossible" idea? That you could accurately assess credit risk by looking at someone's cash flow instead of their credit history.

Turns out, the impossible was just waiting for someone stubborn enough to prove it.

The Problem That Shouldn't Exist: Millions of financially responsible people—immigrants, young professionals, anyone starting fresh—are locked out of the credit system. Not because they're risky, but because they're invisible to traditional scoring models. It's a Catch-22: you need credit to build credit.

The $700M Solution: Andrew didn't just build a credit card company. He created "cashflow underwriting"—a technology now licensed to other banks—that looks at how you actually manage money, not just how you've borrowed it. After raising hundreds of millions in equity and debt, Petal proved that "invisible" doesn't mean "risky."

For Founders: If you're facing constant rejection, this episode is mandatory listening. Andrew's framework for evaluating feedback—when to listen, when to ignore, when to iterate—could save you years of wasted effort.

For Investors: This is your blueprint for spotting founders solving "impossible" problems. Andrew shares exactly what he looks for n

Listen now → Spotify | Apple | YouTube

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Andrew Endicott pitched 100+ investors before his breakthrough. Kal Amin navigated the complex transition from traditional VC to venture building while managing acquisitions, incubations, and direct investments simultaneously.

What they both discovered: The difference between pushing through and burning out isn't just resilience—it's having the right thought partner at the right moment.

Andrew put it best in our conversation: "Coaching, mentors, and peer support aren't nice-to-haves—they're critical." After building Petal through countless rejections and now investing through Gilgamesh, he's seen how the founders who scale successfully are the ones who invest in their own development as aggressively as they invest in their companies.

The old model is broken. You get matched with a coach based on... availability? A brief phone call? Their impressive LinkedIn profile? Then you're locked into sessions that may or may not address what you're actually facing this week:

Your challenges evolve faster than traditional coaching relationships can adapt.

What if you could access the exact expertise you need, exactly when you need it? CoachFinder.ai uses intelligent matching to connect you with coaches who've actually solved your specific challenge:

✅ Raising your Series A after 50+ rejections? Get matched with someone who closed their round after 100 nos
✅ Building while buying like 1848 Ventures? Connect with operators who've successfully merged acquisition and innovation
✅ Transitioning from operator to investor? Learn from those who've made the jump successfully
✅ Navigating the "impossible" like Petal? Work with founders who've built categories that didn't exist

If you resonate with any of these, it's time:

Join leaders who don't just survive transitions—they accelerate through them. Whether you're building venture studios like Kal or reimagining entire industries like Andrew, find the coach who's been there, solved that, and can guide you through.

→ Find Your Match at CoachFinder.ai

First session satisfaction guaranteed. Because the right conversation at the right time changes everything.

P.S. The most successful founders we feature share one trait: they invested in coaching before they thought they could afford it. The ROI? Ask Andrew about his exit, or Kal about 1848's trajectory. The question isn't whether you need support—it's whether you'll get it before or after you hit the wall.