Cassandra Farrington

Is AI going to eat software? "AI is going to feed software that’s going to eat services." Vista Equity Partners Founder, Chairman, and CEO Robert F. Smith discusses the details of agentic AI and why it could create operational leverage for companies that are able to properly and effectively harness the power of AI. Watch the entire conversation on Alt Goes Mainstream here: https://lnkd.in/eTQ3vPpK

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𝗡𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗢𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 Lucas J. Pols, GP at Pegasus, delivers critical wisdom for founders navigating the complex world of startup investment. He reveals that while ownership percentage isn't everything, board control is the real game-changer. Learn why strategic board composition matters more than pure equity stakes, and discover how founders can maintain their vision while bringing in vital outside investment. #Startup #VentureCapital #Founder

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Just recorded a podcast with Simon Leich. I had a great conversation with Simon on his Leaders with a Mission podcast, about impact investing, Pymwymic, and why we’re doubling down on agtech. For me, this work is personal. I believe we need to rethink how we produce food, use land, and support the people driving change on the ground. Agtech offers real solutions and real investment opportunities, if we approach it with long-term commitment and a clear impact lens. In the episode, we talk about: * Why agtech matters now * How Pymwymic aims to bring values-aligned investors together * What it takes to combine purpose with financial performance If you’re in this space, or curious about it, I’d love to hear what resonates. Episode here: https://lnkd.in/esDg6bw9 #ImpactInvesting #Agtech #FoodSystems #Pymwymic #LeadersWithAMission

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I spoke with Christien Louviere of BDE Capital about his journey from a $330mm exit to becoming an independent sponsor. Christien shared excellent insights for folks looking to partner with business owners, rather than buy sellers out completely. Below are a few of the topics we covered: - Why he moved from “zero-to-one” startups to a buy-then-build strategy - How Christien's background shaped a focus on growth vs. cost-cutting - Why 20–40% rolled equity is central to his deal structures—and how it builds trust with sellers - Using scenario analysis with AI tools to evaluate management teams and uncover hidden key-person risks - How to identify when a $3–5M EBITDA company truly has a middle management layer—or is still founder-reliant For anyone investing in or buying small businesses, Christien’s approach provides a fresh lens on growth, alignment, and deal structuring. 🎥 Watch the full interview here → https://lnkd.in/ekfkaiej 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/e86Agx6V

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Meet the most AI‑forward title shop in the country right now: Aegis Land Title Group. Last week, Paul Hofmann used Qualia Clear more than any other customer—and it shows. Why Paul is pulling away from the pack: 3× throughput in title exam - Same elite team, far more leverage. At this pace, Paul can triple volume on the current cost structure in 2026. A revenue engine, not just a workflow - Clear pinpoints listings and partners where Aegis should be winning—using prior closings, addresses, and relationships—then auto‑drafts outreach, flags missed opportunities, and loops in feedback to sharpen ops. Chat with the business - Paul is asking natural‑language questions across Qualia, email, and ops data to surface bottlenecks and spot improvement opportunities in seconds. Compounding advantage - He’s first—and all‑in—on AI. As LLMs improve, Aegis improves automatically. That’s not true for most title companies. The next 12 months are going to be fascinating as operators like Paul turn deep tech adoption into market share. It's difficult to say where this is all headed, but it's easy to see that 2026 will be a year of incredible change in our industry.

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Let’s talk about concrete agentic worklow and one of our most successful use cases! Issuing or responding to RFPs can create business opportunities or waste time and money. While we don’t believe tomorrow’s discussions between vendors and buyers will be entirely agent-to-agent, they will undoubtedly be highly automated. Each company, on both sides, must find a way to incorporate creativity into their win-win game plan. For many teams, proposal work has become highly admin-driven and a bottleneck. Requirements multiply. Documents pile up. Accuracy is critical, yet the process remains slow, manual, and inconsistent.   That’s precisely why at Sia, we built Proposal Drafting Agent, to plug that leak, streamline the process, and help teams win more, smarter. It's our AI-driven solution designed to simplify one of the most demanding parts of the commercial cycle: navigating and responding to complex RFPs.   Proposal Drafting Agent changes the equation.    By applying advanced language models to incoming RFPs and internal knowledge, the platform automatically analyzes requirements, finds the right supporting material, flags gaps, and produces a structured draft for teams to refine. It's fast, traceable, and designed for collaboration across proposal, business, and legal teams.   Less time searching, more time winning.    Discover our Agent Store in the comments 👇   #AI #AIagent #RFP Adrien GRIMAL Sia AI

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🏦 One of the best-kept secrets in business financing 🏦 I'm talking about USDA B&I financing. Here's the quick rundown: USDA Business & Industry loans are government-guaranteed loans (up to 80%) designed specifically for businesses in rural areas. Before you click away thinking "that's not me," you'd be surprised what counts as rural. We're talking towns under 50,000 people, which covers a massive chunk of America. 💰 Loan amounts go up to $25 million ⚙️ Use it for equipment, working capital, expansion, even refinancing existing debt 🏗️ Yes, you can finance real estate with it too, but it works for pretty much any legitimate business purpose ⏳ Terms can stretch to 30 years on real estate, 15 years on equipment The government guarantee means lenders can offer better rates and terms than conventional financing. It's designed to help businesses in areas that banks typically see as higher risk, even though there's nothing actually risky about the business itself. The catch? There's paperwork. More than a typical bank loan. But if you're looking at a significant capital need and you're outside a major metro, the effort is usually worth it. 🎯 Bottom line: If you're doing $1M+ in revenue, not in a big city, and ok with a personal guarantee, this program deserves a serious look.

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The B2G landscape is changing, but one factor still makes or breaks adoption: TRUST. Chemi Peres recently shared an excellent piece on the rise of B2G partnerships. From climate tech to quantum computing, more startups are discovering that governments can be both transformative customers and strategic allies. It’s a shift I’ve seen firsthand in the counter-UAS world: public procurement processes are modernizing, digital transformation is driving demand, and dual-use innovation is no longer just for the largest defense primes. But here’s the reality we can’t overlook: Even as the barriers to entry fall, the “𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙜𝙖𝙥” remains. When your technology has dual-use potential, like C-UAS, where the same capabilities that protect borders can also be misused, the decision to partner isn’t just about technical performance or price. Governments need to know: Will it integrate seamlessly into critical missions? Will it meet the highest ethical and regulatory standards? Will it remain secure and dependable under the most demanding conditions? Bridging that gap requires more than innovation. It takes transparency, validation, and close collaboration from day one, proving not just what your technology can do, but that it will do it responsibly when it matters most. You can read Chemi’s full thoughts here: https://lnkd.in/d4ibdcd9 #B2GPartnerships #DualUseTechnology #Sentrycs #CUAS

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There's something New happening in Industry. That much was clear at a discussion last week hosted by the Hudson Institute. Nadia Schadlow first led a conversation with builders Russell Varone, Eric Hostetler, and Austin Gray. Then we discussed investing with Peter Meijer and Julius Krein. Some of America's best talent is working to build big valuable companies in physical industries, and it was on full display here. Link to video and transcript in comments.

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Weather delays. Compliance gaps. Lost days and lost dollars. Every contractor knows the pain. Pavewise, based in North Dakota and built by operators who’ve lived it, has just raised a $2.5M seed round led by C2 Ventures Fund II, alongside Connetic Ventures, Service Provider Capital, M25, gener8tor 1889, and Broadwater Capital. Their platform brings real-time compliance, weather, and production tracking to road construction, helping crews make better calls, cut rework, and keep projects on time. This is exactly what we mean when we talk about our thesis, Dirty, Dull, and Dangerous innovation: solving real operational problems in essential industries with durable tech. https://lnkd.in/eecPMHdN

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You know a category is maturing when capital, enterprise buyers, and hardware all align. This week, voice AI checked all three boxes. 🔥 Here's what stood out 👇 - The team at Coval has published a Voice AI 2025 report - LiveKit’s Series C: Towards the voice-driven era of computing - Google snags team behind AI voice startup Hume AI - ServiceNow and OpenAI push AI past chatbots into real CX work - Voice AI just changed: How enterprise AI builders can benefit via Carl Franzen for VentureBeat - Microsoft released Vibe Voice-ASR: STT handling 60-minute audio in a single pass - Deepfakes leveled up in 2025: Here’s what’s coming next via - Krisp appoints Vimal Nair as CGO to lead India expansion - Adobe’s AI transforms PDFs into podcasts - FlashLabs researchers release Chroma 1.0: A 4B real-time speech dialogue model with personalized voice cloning - CareXM introduces AI voice agent to improve patient access - Vodia Networks Inc. integrates with with ElevenLabs Voice AI platform - Litera brings agentic AI to iOS for Litera One platform - Medallia & ada CX partner to turn insights into action - HiDock introduced live transcription & translation on HiNotes - Deepfake-as-a-Service revolutionizing biometrics spoofing via Biometric Update - Evernote v11: A new chapter in AI-powered productivity - The future of AI voice agents: Trends & business applications via RingCentral - Conversational intelligence is reshaping modern staffing decisions via Staffing Talk - Xiaomi Technology smart audio glasses record meetings in a lighter design - roverIQ, Inc. launches Ava voice assistant for StayNTouch hotels - Cadence launches sixth-generation Tensilica HiFi iQ DSP for voice AI and immersive audio If you scan the list closely, a pattern jumps out: funding, chips, SDKs, and platforms. Voice AI is being built like infrastructure now, not an add-on.

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Delinquencies are rising. Charge-offs are increasing. Recovery teams are under more pressure than ever. In conversations with credit union leaders across the country, one theme keeps coming up: how to protect member relationships while managing growing volumes of non-performing accounts. The data confirms what many are already seeing in practice. That is why Landmark Strategy Group published a concise guide outlining the trends and recovery strategies credit union collections leaders should be evaluating right now, based on insights from our latest white paper: The Credit Union Guide to Debt Collection Success Actionable insights across agencies, legal strategy, and debt sales. If you are navigating recovery performance in today’s environment, I hope this helps you evaluate your options with clarity and confidence. Full article below. I welcome your perspective. 👉 Download the full whitepaper here: https://lnkd.in/ebnxJzfj #CreditUnions #DebtCollection #RecoveryStrategy #ChargeOffs #Receivables #CollectionsLeadership #DebtSales

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