What you’ll hear in this episode:

- How Brett and Joshua first met in Austin’s early startup scene (and why bootstrapping was king).

- The balance between bootstrapping and raising venture capital.

- Why AI enables founders to do “so much with so little” — and why 90–95% of AI application startups may fail.

- Joshua’s view on why SaaS is commoditized and deep tech is where the real opportunity lies.

- Why humanoid robots represent the world’s biggest market: all of human labor.

About Love Conquers Fear:

In an era of exponentially evolving AI and robotics, one question looms: Will humanity make it? Love Conquers Fear is where leadership meets love, technology serves humanity, and vision becomes action. Host, Brett Alexander Hurt, tech entrepreneur and investor, sits down with some of the world’s most influential people to ask: Will we unite to create the Age of Abundance for All? These conversations are calls to action, awakening leaders everywhere to rise and help humanity choose the Light.

Follow Brett Alexander Hurt on Linkedin: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/bretthurt/⁠

Follow Brett Alexander Hurt on Medium: ⁠https://databrett.medium.com⁠

Follow Brett Alexander Hurt on Substack: ⁠https://brettahurt.substack.com/⁠

Love Conquers Fear on Youtube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@LoveConquersFear2025⁠

Love Conquers Fear on Spotify: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/6wngdSw7FmdibLC9mu300q⁠

Love Conquers Fear on Apple: ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/love-conquers-fear/id1841734456⁠

About Joshua Baer:

Joshua Baer is the founder and CEO of Capital Factory, the most active early-stage investor in Texas and a central hub for entrepreneurs. A serial founder since his days at Carnegie Mellon, Joshua has launched and scaled multiple companies, including SkyList and OtherInbox, before turning his focus to building Austin’s startup ecosystem. Through Capital Factory, he has helped thousands of founders connect with mentors, investors, and customers, and has backed hundreds of startups with a growing emphasis on space, robotics, AI, and deep tech. Like Brett, Joshua is also a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a nationally recognized community builder. He is dedicated to mentoring entrepreneurs, shaping Austin into a global innovation hub, and advancing technologies that can drive opportunity for all.

Joshua on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabaer/

Joshua on X: @joshuabaer

Capital Factory: https://capitalfactory.com

Timestamps:

00:00 - Episode preview

01:00 - Welcome back and guest intro (Joshua Baer, Capital Factory, and Aspen Action Forum)

02:45 - Austin’s startup scene in the early 2000s & the bootstrapping culture

04:47 - Brett returns from Silicon Valley: why bootstrapping vs. VC was a big debate

05:53 - Bootstrapping to product-market fit: when to raise venture capital

08:55 - The “nirvana state” of fundraising and why it’s so rare

10:40 - AI makes it easier to build… but 90–95% of AI startups will fail

12:40 - What makes an AI company durable in a world of rapid change?

19:50 - The Bazaarvoice story: early lessons, capital efficiency, & IPO path

23:30 - Capital Factory and the rise of hardware, government-focused tech, and deep tech

24:33 - SaaS is commoditized - why deep tech is the new frontier

28:00 - Investing in space, robotics, and hard tech from Austin

30:20 - Why humanoid robots could be the biggest market in the world: all human labor

33:25 - Defining the Age of Abundance for All

35:46 - Exponential progress

37:07 - Optimism vs. risk: how humans tend to use tech for good

43:35 - Collective awakening: what it will take for humanity to unify

48:43 - Life extension, risk-taking, and meaning in the Age of Abundance

1:02:50 - What could spark humanity’s collective awakening

1:07:20 - Open source AI vs. closed models

1:08:11 - Paradigm shifts in AI: what comes after transformer models?

1:11:00 - The documentary “Nothing to See Here: Watts” as a model

1:17:14 - Brett’s prayer for humanity