Kristian Andersen, High Alpha - Main Stage at Main Street Summit 2025

All right. Well, good afternoon. My name

is Christian Anderson. Just I want to thank you guys for hanging around. I

think the best is yet to come. I just

got to catch up with Carl and Brent who's going to be closing this out and it is going to be a banger. So, uh I'm I'm glad you guys glad you guys hung

out. Um

out. Um let's see. Uh, I also I I don't want to

let's see. Uh, I also I I don't want to be pandering and you know, a few of the speakers have done this, but I've got to take 15 seconds just one more time to

acknowledge Brent and Clayton and Lori and the whole team. Uh, I believe I've I've been to Capitol Camp. This is I think the fourth year I've been. Uh, I

go to a lot of conferences, hang out with lots of fancy people.

I just think not even pound-for-pound like this is the most important group collaboration convening of entrepreneurs and investors

and big thinkers in the United States and it is uh it's just an un it's unbelievably executed but just the quality of everybody sitting in these

seats is just unparalleled. So, thank

you to all of you uh for showing up for this because as amazing as Brent is, he's not what makes this special. It's

uh it's you folks. So, as I said, my name is Christian. Uh I am a venture capitalist. That is my day job. Uh I

capitalist. That is my day job. Uh I

came to that vocation through uh the lens of design. Uh I

started a design agency right out of college and while building that firm began to experiment with entrepreneurship

and investing and that all ultimately culminated in uh me being able to exit that business to private equity and then begin the next and even more exciting

chapter of my professional career as a professional investor. But what's a

professional investor. But what's a little odd about me in contrast to many of my contemporaries is uh design,

aesthetic, and beauty are the things that I am most fixated on when trying to find the most talented entrepreneurs

back the the most attractive markets uh in and the most amazing products. And

that's that's what I want to talk to you about today. taste, which is it's kind

about today. taste, which is it's kind of fashionable to talk about taste today. I'd say over the last 18 months,

today. I'd say over the last 18 months, it's kind of re-entered the public zeitgeist. Uh, but I have a bit of a

zeitgeist. Uh, but I have a bit of a contrarian take on what taste means and and why it matters. And that's what I want to chat with you all about today.

So, as you know, we we we and I I don't have any speaker notes, by the way. I

just have the slides. So, I'm going to be as a designer, you're only supposed to have one big beautiful picture and then you're supposed to read your speaker notes, but we're going to read

the slides as well if that's okay. So,

everything can be measured. And uh for those of you that are operators or investors, you are likely quite obsessed

with that. the ability to measure to

with that. the ability to measure to measure CAC TAM uh to to to measure pipeline velocity to measure the dollars

and your bank account.

Uh the problem is we have too much of it. We have so much intelligence

it. We have so much intelligence uh we've gained so much intelligence at the expense of wisdom.

And I think taste is the antidote to that. I think that taste is a

that. I think that taste is a misunderstood word. And last year when I was at

word. And last year when I was at Capitol Camp, I talked a little bit about another misunderstood word, which is passion. And I believe the worst

is passion. And I believe the worst advice you can give somebody is to follow your passion. Because we have a wrong understanding of what the word means.

There's probably some philosophers and I know at least one Latin expert in the house. So forgive me if I don't nail

house. So forgive me if I don't nail this, but as I understand it, it comes from the Latin root po, which means to suffer. So passion really means

suffer. So passion really means suffering. So if what you mean when you

suffering. So if what you mean when you say you want to follow your passion is you want to follow your suffering. I'm

in violent agreement with that, right?

But we have a but that's not how we think about it. And taste is very similar. Um, I believe that good taste

similar. Um, I believe that good taste is good judgment. And I don't believe that that's the common understanding of

the word. I think most people think of

the word. I think most people think of it as preference. It's kind of the definition of subjectivity. When you

read a recipe and it says season to taste, it means put as much seasoning in the in the dish as you want, regardless of if it tastes good, you know, or if it

tastes bad. Uh,

tastes bad. Uh, it's it's the kind of height of relativism.

Um, I don't think that's true. I think

taste is empirical. I think it's objective. I think it's good judgment.

objective. I think it's good judgment.

Um, and judgment of judgment of what?

Well, I think it's the judgment of beauty.

Um, now you might say, Christian, you just got done telling me taste isn't subjective. Well, beauty certainly is

subjective. Well, beauty certainly is subjective, right? Beauty is in the eye

subjective, right? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? It's a very personal thing. again. And I should tell

personal thing. again. And I should tell you, I should I should share with you, there's not going to be a QR code at the end of this for you to buy my book.

And you can't hire me as a paid consultant. I have no dog in this fight.

consultant. I have no dog in this fight.

So, you can agree with these contentions, you can disagree with these. It's no skin off my nose. So,

these. It's no skin off my nose. So,

this is, I would say, very well-informed, but personal opinion. Um,

so the judgment of beauty. Well, what is judgment?

It is the adjudication of truth versus falsehood. Like

literally, what does a judge do? They

try to figure out what's true and what's not true. Should you go to jail or

not true. Should you go to jail or should you be set free? Right? U

truth I believe is inextricably linked to the idea of what is beautiful. And I believe that beauty is objective. I think it's

objective um uh very specifically because I think there's a physics to beauty. And I'll

just give you a couple quick illustrations. There there is no culture

illustrations. There there is no culture since the dawn of recorded history that ever thought a rose was repulsive.

Why is that? Why across millennia in a world that I mean subjectivity, relativism is not just a product of postmodernism. It's been around for a

postmodernism. It's been around for a long time. But why has every culture

long time. But why has every culture thought of a blooming rose as beautiful?

Why has every culture, to the best of my knowledge, always found the disembowled, decaying corpse of a

human body ugly? That's pretty

consistent across time, across space, across continents, ideology, religion, political systems, etc., etc. What is it

that is wired into us as humans to be able to discern beauty and ugliness? And

why does it appear in reality to be objective? You know, so so before before

objective? You know, so so before before we had all this data that we could use to justify our sometimes good and oftentimes poor decisions,

uh people have been thinking about this for the long for a long time. You know,

the the the Greeks included beauty in their transcendentals. To them, beauty

their transcendentals. To them, beauty was truth. And get ready because I'm

was truth. And get ready because I'm about to do a lightning round of quotes to prove this. Okay. Plato, what did he say? It's the splendor of truth.

say? It's the splendor of truth.

Augustine, it's a reflection of the divine order.

Aquinus said that which when seen pleases. Kant said it was the faculty

pleases. Kant said it was the faculty for judging beauty. So I mean basically I'm channeling him right now.

And Hume believed that it could be taught and trained and honed and refined and executed. It wasn't just the purview

and executed. It wasn't just the purview of the intelligencia and the elite and people who went to art school.

It is a form of literacy. In the same way that you learn to read, you can learn to have good taste. You can learn to be an adjudicator of what is

beautiful and ultimately to be able to divine truth from falsehood.

But that's not the world we live in today.

We've shrunk it down to preference. What

makes you feel good? What you like?

Maybe what your uninformed customer thinks they want.

I like strawberry ice cream. Do you like chocolate ice cream?

Rivian Tesla etc. etc. But the real question for us is what is worthy of being liked, not what do you like? And this has

implications for I'm not just philosophizing. This has implications

philosophizing. This has implications for business.

So this is where I attempt to earn a little bit of like business street credit. I'm going to introduce a 2x two

credit. I'm going to introduce a 2x two matrix for you all where we're going to plot some companies

along an attractiveness to repulsiveness and falsehood to truthhood.

matrix. Okay, so I should like set the groundwork. Four and a half minutes, so

groundwork. Four and a half minutes, so I'm gonna blaze through this. Okay,

these aren't fixed positions, right? Um

my my hunch is that at some point Enron may very well have been in the ideal. It

was both attractive and it was true like doing good work before they perverted the concept of mark tomarket and they wound up in the abyss which is neither

true nor appealing. Now some of these companies start in these quadrants and end there. I would say most fast fashion

end there. I would say most fast fashion companies like Sheen uh or Zara and it's a good thing my daughters aren't here to

hear me say that.

They're just ugly. They're ugly and they're false and they're and and not only are the garments not particularly attractive, but everything beneath the

waterline is very repulsive. So there

are companies that start this way and finish this way and there are companies that start in an almost cyclical fashion and can run through this. Theronos is a great example.

Very attractive, right? Dynamic,

charismatic CEO, unbelievable technology, but it was all a lie. It was

the definition of falsehood.

I'd like to talk to you about Taco Bell.

So, uh, so, so, so Taco Bell

purports to be Mexican foodish, right?

Um, I want to contrast. This is going to be kind of tail two cities. Two two two Mexican restaurants. Everyone here is

Mexican restaurants. Everyone here is familiar with Taco Bell. I won't spend a lot of time on it. Some of you may know Kos, which is, depending on how you ask, regarded as one of the best Mexican

restaurants in the world. It's in New York City.

What is the difference between these two companies? Well, I

would say it's as much about morality as it is aesthetics.

Taco Bell kind of it's attractive. I

mean, and I should a little like safe harbor disclosure here. I love Taco Bell, right? So, I think it's I I I I

Bell, right? So, I think it's I I I I love Taco Bell, right? But Taco Bell is in the business of satisfying cravings.

It is attractive and it satisfies cravings. No, no doubt about it.

cravings. No, no doubt about it.

Um, Kosme is about elevating Mexican cuisine to the level of truth and beauty. Truth

about the ingredients, the way it's made, honoring the regions that the menu is inspired by. Um,

Taco Bell basically prays upon your appetite. It exploits your appetite

appetite. It exploits your appetite whereas Kosame honors your appetite. I

mean, in many ways, Taco Bell in in the realm of Mexican food. I

wasn't I wasn't going to say this, but somebody encouraged me to share it, so I'm going to share it.

Taco Bell is to Mexican food what pornography is to love making. You know

what I mean? Uh, it kind of looks like it.

It's fun while you're doing it and then you're full of a lot of a lot of regret.

I So yeah.

All right. So

we'll we'll try to get like actionable here. So I think a taste is a strategic

here. So I think a taste is a strategic mode. It's something that can be taught.

mode. It's something that can be taught.

It can be learned. But I do believe and again I I don't think I think this is a bit of a heterodox perspective.

If it if you view text and execute on it purely through the lens of subjectivity, I think you're getting it I think you're getting it wrong. So the question would be like why does it matter? Well, it

creates coherence. And I won't I won't go through all of these, but I want to highlight the ones that I think are the most important. It it builds trust. So

most important. It it builds trust. So

when you have a product or service in the work, you know, in the marketplace that is beautiful, authentically beautiful, it builds trust because people know that

you've all walked into an amazing restaurant or sat in a in a purpose-built car. And and don't don't

purpose-built car. And and don't don't get me wrong, taste is not about luxury.

Again, taste is about literacy. So it

has nothing to do with what something what something costs. But you've all interacted with a product or service where everything just worked and it felt right. And when your customers interact

right. And when your customers interact with that, they explicitly and implicitly trust you. Um the other one and you know I'm happy to share these

slides too but uh aesthetics are a form of ethics. So when

you think about the way something feels and smells, looks, works, you are entering into this

kind of ethical relationship with with the product and with the business and that engenders an enormous amount of trust not just with your customers but but with your employees.

So how do you instill it in an organization? Because I I meet people

organization? Because I I meet people all the time who are say I have terrible taste. I have terrible taste. And you

taste. I have terrible taste. And you

can't tell by looking at somebody if they have good taste. Right? It is

if that was the case, I'd be in big trouble, right? It is the decisions.

trouble, right? It is the decisions.

It's the decisions they make. So,

instilling it in your organization.

Number one, like the most important thing you can do is get good at recognizing people who have taste and hiring them because people

with good taste are people with good judgment.

And if taste is discernment, then good leadership is being able to apply being able to

apply that taste. Um uh if you are uh thinking that this only applies to the thing you make or the logo on the side of your delivery van,

that's not what I'm talking about, right? I'm talking about being

right? I'm talking about being intentional about engineering beauty into everything you make, everything you do. Whether it be the way memos are

do. Whether it be the way memos are crafted or the message left on your outgoing voicemail message, instilling a culture of critique.

Uh instilling a culture where beauty is valued and where beauty is rewarded.

Uh you can do that, right? You guys are probably all very good at figuring out how to reward salespeople.

That same dynamic of um baking in incentive structures for your entire team that reward discernment and and and

reward putting beautiful things into the world will have a transformative impact on your business.

The last thing I'll say is uh you learn taste, you integrate taste and you drive taste in your organization through example. You can't outsource it. And

example. You can't outsource it. And

this happens so often in organizations where they say Sally has taste, we'll put her in charge of X. No. As the CEO,

as a member of the leadership team, my admonition to you is to take it seriously. And if you yourself feel that

seriously. And if you yourself feel that you don't have taste, begin cultivating some of these practices I shared to do

that. So with that, I would tell you go

that. So with that, I would tell you go put beautiful things into the world and I assure you that beautiful things will come back to you. Thank you.