@jonaswillett1
IRL is going to crush AI over the next 5 years. In the last 3 months, $750M+ in capital was deployed on "anti-AI" bets. Big players are doubling down on their investments in events, experiences and in-person connection. Here's what I'm seeing: @cornerapp, a social map app for Gen Z, has grown to 60K+ users helping people curate and share places to meet IRL—"Google Maps but social." Everyone ik in NYC loves them. @partiful, @poshvip_, and @LumaHQ have raised a combined $60M and are exploding. Partiful hit 500K+ MAU, Posh hit 6 million registered users, and Luma has over 2 million users signing up for events. Harvard alum @aidaxbaradari just launched @be_inaudible, the first smart device to stop unwanted audio recordings and keep IRL conversations private. @mcuban made a massive bet, investing in Burwoodland, a NYC-based live-events company behind IRL experiences in the US, Canada, and Europe. Former COO and CPO of Hinge officially launched Rodeo to help people spend more time IRL with friends. @a16z keeps doubling down on IRL via investments and a16z Build — a dinner series and community for founders / operators figuring out their next move. @nazzari, @katiekirsch, @eriktorenberg. Billion-dollar companies are paying $$$ for community and events leads: - @AnthropicAI: Events Lead - $320k - @Substack: Events Lead - $190k - @VaynerMedia: Head of Experiential - $250k - @Spotify: Global Experiential & Content - $175k - @BiltRewards: Director of Events & Experiences - $150k Investors are pouring billions of dollars into AI. But smart money is quietly deploying millions into IRL at the same time. a16z backs both OpenAI and Partiful. ElevenLabs and Substack. The nuance is - it's not AI vs. IRL. It's that the more we live online, the more premium real-life connection becomes. They're not competing investments. They're a hedge on each other.