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Forbes recently ran an on-camera interview spotlighting one of the cofounders of Meridian Ventures where the firm’s young leaders talked openly about the role of artificial intelligence in venture capital today.
Meridian Ventures was launched in 2023 by Devon Gethers and Karlton Haney and has made a splash by betting on MBA founders and building early-stage portfolios while still very much a new player in the field.
In the interview the cofounders admitted that AI is already changing how deals are sourced, how due diligence is done, and how small teams can scale analysis that once took entire departments.
That admission should make everyday Americans pay attention: technology that multiplies the power of a few firms can either liberate small-business founders or concentrate even more influence in the hands of coastal elites. This conservative view champions enterprise and innovation, but it refuses to accept a future where algorithms and a handful of Big Tech gatekeepers decide which ideas live and which die.
Meridian’s contrarian strategy of focusing on MBA-trained founders runs against Silicon Valley dogma that shuns formal degrees in favor of dropout bravado — a debate the Forbes piece explicitly touched on when comparing different founder archetypes.
We should celebrate young investors who hustle and build real funds in tough markets, but we should also demand that capital allocation serve the broader American interest — creating jobs across the heartland, not just inflating valuations in Manhattan and San Francisco. Conservative readers should welcome smart, accountable capital, not another wave of venture monoculture.
Policymakers and patriots alike must strike the right balance: encourage American innovation and the responsible use of AI while rejecting heavy-handed rules that would hand our competitiveness to well-funded incumbents. If Meridian and other small firms want to use AI, let them — provided it’s deployed to strengthen entrepreneurs, protect workers, and preserve the freedoms that made our economy the engine of the world.
