In this episode, we sit down with Aziz Gilani, general partner of Houston-based Mercury Fund, which manages over $750 million focused on disruptive technology startups outside Silicon Valley. Aziz shares his journey from intern to partner, Mercury’s renewed focus on deep tech, and why incumbents across industries have never been more vulnerable to disruption. We dive deep into what separates tourists from true players in frontier tech, the scars from the 2008-2010 cleantech boom, and why the convergence of software and hardware is creating the most exciting hunting ground for venture capital in decades.
In this episode:
The “Fresh Sheet” Era: The “cookie-cutter” SaaS playbook is dead; the new game is building net-new companies from a fresh sheet of paper.
Hunting Brittle Incumbents: Stagnant players in defense and energy are now vulnerable to rapid, deep-tech disruption.
The “CFO Top 5” Rule: You must solve one of a CFO’s top five most urgent problems or you’ll never survive the switching costs.
No Room for Tourists: Success requires a founder’s “right to win” through deep technical moats rather than surface-level industry interest.
The Power of Non-Consensus: The biggest winners are found in contrarian picks, not in deals where the entire partnership immediately agrees.
Connect more with Aziz Gilani | Mercury Fund
Website:
https://mercuryfund.com/
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/texasvc/
Connect more with Massive Signals
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https://massive.vc/
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