Most Recent Episodes
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Feb. 19, 2026
EP 171: Bootstrap vs. VC: Speed Costs Control | Rob Taylor, Silverton Partners
The decision to bootstrap a business or raise venture capital is not just financial. It is physics. You are choosing which system to operate within, which rules will govern your company, and whose incentives will shape your options at every inflection point.
Rob Taylor has lived both realities. He spent years building venture-backed companies, raising millions in institutional capital. His brother Chris bootstrapped a company for 20 years and owned nearly 100% at exit. They sold thei…
Feb. 19, 2026
Bootstrap vs. VC: Speed Costs Control | Rob Taylor, Silverton Partners
The decision to bootstrap a business or raise venture capital is not just financial. It is physics. You are choosing which system to operate within, which rules will govern your company, and whose incentives will shape your o...
Jan. 21, 2026
EP 170: Patient Capital in the Age of the $10B Seed | Brian Smith, S3 Ventures
The current venture market is defined by a dangerous decoupling of capital from reality. While the industry chases $10B seed valuations and trillion-dollar infrastructure bets, Brian Smith and S3 Ventures are executing a "Discipline Arbitrage." They argue that the real returns in AI will not come from the massive CapEx spenders, but from the application layer that solves boring, regulated, enterprise problems.
This episode audits the structural risks of the current AI wave …
Jan. 21, 2026
Patient Capital in the Age of the $10B Seed | Brian Smith, S3 Ventures
The current venture market is defined by a dangerous decoupling of capital from reality. While the industry chases $10B seed valuations and trillion-dollar infrastructure bets, Brian Smith and S3 Ventures are executing a "Dis...
Jan. 14, 2026
Ep 169: The Semiconductor Moment for the Mind
The market is mispricing the human brain. Some Investors view Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) and other neurotech as the next iteration of the medical device, a slightly better stent or a more advanced catheter. This is a category error. As Matt Angle (Paradromics) and Connor Glass (Phantom Neuro) articulate its not a product, its the next modem.
The parallel is the internet in 1993. We are moving from a low-bandwidth, text-based era of biology into a streaming, high-fidelity era. Th…
Jan. 14, 2026
The Semiconductor Moment for the Mind
The market is mispricing the human brain. Some Investors view Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) and other neurotech as the next iteration of the medical device, a slightly better stent or a more advanced catheter. This is a cat...
Dec. 12, 2025
Robot Punching is Easy, Standing is Hard
A clip from our episode "Combat as the Minimum Viable Product | Cix Liv, REK"
#robotics #RealSteel #UFC #FutureOfSports #MMA #Tech #AustinNext #CombatSports #HardTech
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About the Host
Jason Scharf
Founder & Host
Jason Scharf has spent nearly two decades pursuing his life’s mission of catalyzing innovation. As an early stage investor, he targets the bio innovation tech stack and the business of health. He has held key leadership roles in strategy and market intelligence at industry pillars such as Illumina, BD, and Amgen. Through the Austin Next podcast and Substack Ecosystem Metacognition, he explores innovation, Bio & Health, tech, ecosystems, Austin, and their convergence.