Agent, Browser, Future 2030

All Things Venture #094

Imagine this, it’s the year 2030. You’re 36 years old. You’ve got two kids under the age of three and a third one is on the way. You live in suburbia. New Jersey, in fact. You commute to the city four times a week (you kinda hate it, but hey someone’s gotta do it.) Life is busy. You grew up on the internet. You remember back to 2023. You saw the AI era unfold. You have an iPhone 19 in your pocket. You didn’t want to upgrade to iPhone X2 . It’s $2,000 retail. Granted it’s made from lunar titanium, but still. Not enough value.

A light buzz emerges from your phone. It’s the reminder you set to order balloons for Aaliyah, your oldest. How old is she again? Turning 3 years. That’s right. You swipe between balloon options.

Too boring looking. Left.

Too pink, she’d hate it. Left.

Too shiny, you hate it. Left.

You see a giant number three fashioned in the shape of a T-Rex.

Perfect. She’ll love it.

You authenticate the purchase with a quick nod. Jeeves, your Agent, suggests a cake from Auntie Ida’s Bakery and Van Leeuwen’s from Whole Foods. Both can be delivered today. “That works,” you say out loud. Your phone vibrates in your hand. Damn, 30+ years of haptic feedback loops. Never gets old does it.

You step outside to get ready for your morning run. You reach for Vision Pro 4’s, the Jordan Edition. You heard from a friend at work that Apple just hired the Head Designer from Oliver Peoples. No, no, not them. Was it Off White? Doesn’t matter. They look sick. It’s wild they’re able to pack all of this computing into sunglasses. You throw them on. “Oh shit.” You left them on Browse mode. A YouTube video of Knick’s highlights is on autoplay at full volume. You’re immediately hit with a suggestion to rewatch OpenAI’s Q4 earnings. Sam Altman’s face is staring back at you. He looks younger? Must be on Blueprint. Probably Ozempic. Should you? Nahhhhh. No need yet. Plus it’s still not covered by insurance. You switch the glasses to Wear mode. The pixels dissapear.

Airpods in. “Jeeves,” you ask.

“Yes, Dez. What’s up?”

“Let’s do a 30 minute oral history on Napoleon. Walter Isaacson style. I’m going to do my usual 4 mile loop, so just keep the content coming while I run.”

“You got it. Would you like to know anything in particular? 30 minutes is not a lot of time to cover for such a rich character.”

“Nah, all good. I need to pick up Aaliyah’s cake anyways.”

“That’s right. Shall I call the Rivian to pick you up? Or will you run there?”

“Swing the Rivian. I’ll go old school. Haven’t driven myself in months.”

“Excellent sir, I’ll time to meet you wherever you end the run.”

“Perfect, thanks Jeeves.”

Jeeves begins the oral history. You have a slight pang of regret for not investing in Perplexity’s Series B round at $2bn. They’re on the short-list of companies to go public next year. You kneel down to tie your On Clouds. Alcaraz just signed to them. The sun looks like it’s about to start setting. Perfect timing. You take a deep breath. You shake out a little bit. Something nags at you like you’re forgetting something.

“Hey Jeeves?”

“Yes, sir?”

“You know what - nevermind.”

You start to run. It’s 5:11 PM. March 25th 2030. You’re 36 years old. Two kids under the age of three and a third on the way. Life is good. Life is wild. Life is what you make of it. You start to get into the rhythm. Your heart rate picks up. You wonder what the future will look like. The sun is really setting now. You’re exactly where you need to be.

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What is up everyone. So if you’re this far down the page. THANK YOU. Thank you for indulging my little short story about the future. Hopefully it resonated, and hopefully this sparks inspiration in each of your own lives to think about what 2030 looks like for you. I wanted to write this as a little change of pace from my usual research/VC/tech commentary essays. I have zero intention of writing these types of stories in the future, but I actually found it helpful to do so personally as I try to come to my own perspective of what I think the future will look like.

The future is going to be some version of what we all collectively want as consumers in 2030. And as consumers, we’re going vote with our dollars to purchase the products and services that continue to make our lives easier, more seamless, and save us time. I think what this essay drove home more concretely for me was being able to visualize the things that will remain the same. I’m still going to exercise. I’m still going to have an iPhone (most likely). I’m still going to consume content for enterainment and educational purposes.

The potential vectors for change though lie in 1) the brands that enable me to do those activities and 2) the manner through which some of those activities are delivered. The entry point for the internet is going to be fundamentally changed. Why would I need to open any browser if I have a multi-modal LLM based agent in my pocket at all times? Why would I need to open Spotify to find a new podcast, if I can just have a custom one generated on the fly?

In any event, I’m continuing to explore what’s next across a range of tech trends. AI is clearly the consensus trend (and will impact virtually every category), but I think there’s still plenty of room to run in the vertical SaaS world, and I think lending infrastructure and applications in fintech will increasingly take center stage.

2024 is going to be a fascinating year, and one way or another we’re all going to be one step closer to the future. Share your opinions. Connect with strangers. Push the bar a little higher. Don’t settle for mediocrity. Be a default optimist and help others along the way. Build while you climb, and be relentless in building the future that you want to live in. 2030 isn’t that far way. We all have a role to play in what’s coming, so don’t miss the chance to make your mark.