Theater 2 at TASIS Portugal hosted a hotbed of investor brain power this week with panelists Kelly Perdew, Gabriele Domenichini, Igor Ryabenkiy and Tony Davis sharing their experiences and predictions with 50 other TASIS parents. 

The speaker event, masterminded by the dynamic TASIS Parent Business Community duo Alyona Zhebrovska and Toni Alkon, was just one in a series of brilliant opportunities for TASIS parents to network and learn from each other. 

Chaired by Dawn Perdew, a serial entrepreneur and DTC (direct-to-consumer) marketing guru, the panel discussion weaved across a range of topics - different asset classes, the VC diversification game, market volatility, geopolitical uncertainty, sustainability and, of course, AI.

First up, Kelly Perdew (also husband of Dawn!) summarised his journey from operator to financier, starting with small personal investments and a syndicate group, he now runs Moonshots Capital a $230AUM VC on its 5th successful fund. 

A West Point grad and UCLA MBA & JD (cue: no under-achiever here!), Kelly and his co-founder Craig, have invested in 120 early-stage start-ups and backed 30 exits and 16 unicorns! He reviews 5k+ startup pitches a year and typically invests early in a business life cycle - often the first institutional check - and gets stuck into each of his portfolio companies with a board seat and active involvement. Kelly can see every single business being disrupted by AI - "no one can hide from it" - and he thinks there will be more humanoid robots than automobiles within a decade.

Next we heard from Bitcoin fanatic Gabriele Domenichini, a long-serving board member of an industrial paint manufacturer supplying the likes of Carrefour and Auchan, before pursuing a passion for all things crypto. He was an early European investor in Bitcoin back in 2012, and has made several angel investments in 'digital gold' start-ups. 

Gabriele commented: 'with crypto it's the first time the human race has created a scarce asset that's digitally distributable - it's a store of value and probably nothing more - it's boring and simple" - but he's still an enthusiast!  The conversation veered down a brief tunnel about censorship resistance, and whether we can be certain that crypto platform controllers won’t make changes to the code - just one of the uncertainties we weigh up in our choices for storing value. 

Igor Ryabenkiy, third to speak, holds some crypto as a diversified finance guy, but like Kelly his main focus is early stage VC investing. Igor started his fund, AltaIR Capital, 12 years ago, and he's now on his 5th fund with €600m AUM and 10 unicorns to flaunt. He also likes to support the younger generation of entrepreneurs and has published a book "Adventures in Venture Capital" to demystify the VC world for newbies. 

Igor invests across sectors, but believes that education and digital health are two that will be totally disrupted - "every student can have tailored learning and most functions of a GP can now be done by AI".  Igor emphasised the 'numbers game' when investing in early-stage startups - "whatever you do, 50% of the companies will die" - so he spreads his risk with 100 investments per fund, and his returns have been impressive - 20x money for this 2nd fund (not typical!). 

Finally, Tony Davis, hedgie impresario, shared his vantage as an experienced credit markets trader turned fund manager. Now the CEO of Inherent Group, a PE fund with a 'go anywhere mandate', as well as running his own family office, Tony's particularly interested in ESG and has leveraged an activist position in public companies to push for sustainability in their sectors.

Tony stated "sustainability is an existential question, with potentially catastrophic impact for our kids" adding that server processing for Bitcoin is "going to make the climate problem worse".  He thinks at some point the world will start properly pricing carbon and AI could help to crack energy efficiency. He's also optimistic about global electrification, which should mean a lower carbon footprint. Topline, Tony's concerned about a riskier, more volatile world and he's reallocating his capital away from the US, whilst backing eco projects like forestation. 

A captivated audience was brimming with questions - here's a selection:

Manel Sweetmore asked about 'Black Swan events' - on which Tony felt sovereign balance sheets could be the next precipice (the US is adding a trillion to national debt every 4 months!) Gabrielle shared this anxiety and advised the audience to "live efficiently and learn to survive and adapt'. 

Similarly, Igor emphasised the importance of being 'anti-fragile' (the topic of author Nassim Taleb's follow up book to The Black Swan!), and being willing to work and invest in learning.

Kelly suggested other potential triggers for a financial crisis: quantum gets cracked (meaning nothing is secure) or Taiwan gets obliterated (destabilising chip supply). But he remains optimistic about the entrepreneurial spirit and reminded us that some of the most successful companies of previous eras were born out of market crises. And then he added 'learn how to use a firearm'. 

Stefenie Coker Rank questioned the panel's interest in Africa as a way of diversifying their portfolios. Tony shared that he's made investments via funds, but that it remains hard to get access to Africa via public markets. Kelly's experience is mostly in the US, but diversified across different States and sectors. 

Silja Litvin was keen to hear the speakers' advice for up-skilling our children for the future of business. Kelly laughed that he's "not sure you'd want to wish being a founder on your kids", and cited research that the highest correlating factors in becoming an entrepreneur is that one of your parents is one.

Tania Binder's wrap-up question was to ask about Portugal as a destination - are the panellsts here for lifestyle or business? Unanimously they replied 'lifestyle'! Tony added that since relocating he's hired a Portuguese team and has found the local talent impressive, so it's not been without its business benefits. 

An hour was up, and we'd covered a lot of ground, with a noticeable buzz amongst the crowd. The PBC organisers Alyona and Toni announced a new office space for the community, and an app on the way!  Plus, a parent business Expo (think mini WebSummit style!) is planned for November 14th - save the date TASIS parents 

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