Trends Watch: Evolution, Opportunities, and Challenges

EisnerAmper’s Trends Watch is a weekly entry to our Alternative Investments Intelligence blog, featuring the views and insights of executives from alternative investment firms. If you’re interested in being featured, please contact Elana Margulies-Snyderman.  

This week, Elana talks with Mike Jones, Co-Founder and Partner, Science Ventures.

What is your outlook for early-stage VC?

Consumers are changing, and because behaviors are changing, consumption platforms are evolving. At this time, the world is being reinvented by Gen Z and millennials, and because of this, legacy companies are adapting their strategies to complement these changes. As with anything that’s evolving, there’s a greater opportunity for disruption for traditional businesses as we see early-stage startups influencing legacy brands. The way I see it, there is no negative outlook — only positive progress. 

What areas present the biggest opportunities and challenges?

The biggest opportunities in the market are sectors that are regulated, such as banking, insurance, employment, medical, and more, but these sectors also provide the biggest challenges. For example, within banking, people are underserved and overcharged with fees, so there is plenty of space for disruption; however, banking is a highly regulated industry. As early-stage funded startups take on massive regulatory issues, we see a positive correlation among opportunities and challenges.

What keeps you up at night?

The impending feeling that we're not handling environmental problems at the level that we need to. At this point, it doesn't feel like we're proactively getting in front of this problem. I'm up at night thinking about what the world looks like for my kids and grandkids, and even during my lifetime. We live in a time where we can have anything we want at the click of a button, but there's an environmental price to pay for that, and we need to be thinking about solutions.