Inside the Gen Z Shark Tank where influencers are becoming venture investors

Last Monday, the impossible happened: I attended a venture capital event where I didn’t hear the terms “AI moat” or “application layer software” a single time. Instead, in between bites of sashimi and suspiciously sweet flavored water, about two dozen tech-curious influencers and self-described content creators gathered to hear pitches on aggressively non-AI-based companies, including a service that turns cherished remains into diamonds and a beverage startup. 

We spend a lot of time here focused on the established voices of venture—the Sequoias, Insight Partners, and Kleiner Perkins of the world, which take a methodical approach of applying tried and true quantitative frameworks to divining the windfalls of the future. But as I spend time with the next generation of venture investors, I’m struck by their overwhelming belief that narrative and reach are just as important as the Rule of 40. 

That’s the guiding argument of Bulletpitch, a hybrid media outfit and investing syndicate founded by the Gen Z entrepreneur Brett Perlmutter and run with the podcaster Felix Levine, who serves as managing partner, and their head of operations Alexis Ballo, who attended Middlebury with Perlmutter. Alongside its newsletter and the special purpose vehicles it organizes for trendy companies like the food startup Sauz, Bulletpitch hosts these monthly events where it brings together influencers with large social followings to listen to startup pitches, demo day style. “Founders need attention, and creators have attention,” Perlmutter said to open the event, which was hosted by Hudson Yards at their Japanese restaurant BondST. 

The pitches felt like a soft-edged Shark Tank, with the content creators lobbing mostly inspiration-bait questions that would serve well as 20-second TikTok clips (though none seemed to be filming). The diamond startup, Eterneva, actually had been on Shark Tank and had received funding from a Bulletpitch SPV, though its founder Adelle Archer said the company was no longer seeking funding. Another, Popwtr, filled the table with its as-of-yet-unlaunched cotton candy and lemon-lime-themed drinks, which quickly disappeared as the night went on. (Their slogan, “Tastes like soda, hydrates like water,” is somewhat undercut by the fact that one of its first ingredients is sucralose, better known as Splenda, which unnerved one of the influencers by me.) 

The motives of the attendees were varied. I sat next to Garrett McCurrach, who presented the first pitch of the evening for his startup PipeDream, which is building underground robotic delivery systems. McCurrach, who lives in Austin, had just flown in for the event after meeting the Bulletpitch team a couple of weeks before. When I asked what he hoped to get out of pitching, he had a simple answer: “Serendipity.” 

For the health-conscious influencer, who I won’t out here for her Splenda candor, she wanted to learn how to better invest into startups. Outside of pure brand deals, this seems to be the increasingly popular monetization avenue for many brand creators, who want to turn their legions of followers into equity. It’s a symbiotic relationship for consumer goods startups, who want to find captive customer bases and wield attention. Whether application layer AI companies soon start to look for Instagram brand ambassadors remains to be seen. 

Leo Schwartz
X: @leomschwartz
Email: leo.schwartz@fortune.com

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This story was originally featured on Fortune.com