OP #318: AI Is Raising the Premium on Being Human

Hello OP Community and happy Monday. Yes, Monday - I do not know the last time this OP went out on a Monday but wanted to send it out because many of us in the Northeast are in the midst of a blizzard and thought I’d send this when you are enjoying a hot chocolate at home. Be safe out there!

It’s that time of year when things get busiest - things at Bain Capital are in full swing, but also, Silicon Alley Sports is fully ramped up.  We sold out our Inaugural Padel event in 96 hours - and I am stoked to see those registered to play on March 5.  Our flagship event, our 19th Annual Silicon Alley Golf & Pickleball Invitational, will be on May 18th, and you heard it here first… tickets are on sale.  And here is the hype video.

McKinsey & Co just released their Global Private Markets Report last week. You all can read the report, which I recommend, but here’s a five-bullet summary:

• Fundraising hit multi-year lows, but deployment rebounded. Across all asset classes, fundraising fell to its lowest level since 2016, yet capital deployment grew by double digits as managers adapted to a structurally higher interest rate environment.

• Private equity is emerging from a rough stretch. After three difficult years, PE saw distributions to LPs exceed capital contributions for the first time since 2015, deal activity picked up (especially large deals above $500M), and 30% of surveyed LPs plan to increase their PE allocations in the next 12 months.

• Real estate had an uneven recovery. Global deal value grew 11% — the first increase in three years — but closed-end fundraising dropped 28% to its lowest since 2012, and fund returns remained negative. Bright spots included data centers (11.2% returns) and alternative sectors like manufactured and senior housing.

• Private debt proved resilient but faces new competition. Though fundraising declined 22%, private debt remained a stable asset class. However, banks reclaimed some market share from direct lenders, compressing spreads — signaling that the era of private credit's unchallenged dominance in leveraged lending may be moderating.

• Infrastructure is poised for a comeback, driven by mega-trends. Despite fundraising falling 15% to a decade low, deal value rose 18% to near-record levels. Infrastructure is the asset class most LPs (46%) want to increase exposure to, fueled by the global energy transition, AI-driven power demand, population growth, and expanding trade networks.

Keep in mind that while you read everything above, at Bain Capital, we were able to raise our largest fund, $14B, amidst this backdrop.

The seminal report in the space is Bain & Co’s annual report on Private Equity which should be hitting the market in early March.

Completely changing gears, I’ve been blown away by everyone who emailed me after the last OP and wanted to chat or comment about vibe coding and building. I am having a blast and pretty incredible to see what you can build in such short timeframes.  I highly recommend any OP reader try and build something in Claude Code and the required components for whatever the project needs (e.g. database, payment, etc).  There is a magical ah-ha moment which will make you see the world differently.  It is real.

Last, I couldn’t go an OP without sharing some fun links:

• The Greatest Watch Collection in America (YouTube) / Teddy Baldassare. This is an incredible collection and well done video (as always by Teddy).

• Half of the AI Market is One Category. The Rest if Wide Open. (Garry’s List)

• Ceramic Coating vs. Waxing: Jalopnik Explains the Difference (Jalopnik)

• Which Country Won the Olympics? (NYT)

• What Depop’s $1B eBay Merger Means for Resale (Hypebeast)

I really like Sam’s (from Slow Ventures) newsletter this week - topic is Forget AGI, Intelligence is Cheap.

Happy Monday.

Be well, do good.
Darren

Play Well, Do Good.

May 18th. Year 19. The flagship is back.

If you’ve been to one of our Silicon Alley Sports events, you know the feeling. It’s competitive but not cutthroat. Polished but not precious. High-caliber people who can talk EBITDA on one hole and Knicks playoff rotations on the next. If you haven’t joined us before, this is the one to start with, especially with the 20th Anniversary right around the corner.

Let me clear up something I get asked every single year: you do not have to play golf or pickleball to be part of it.

We’ve offer two non-sport ticket options intentionally. The Schmoozer ticket is for the operators, investors, and friends who want the conversations, the food, the serendipity — no clubs or paddles required. The Cheerleader ticket is for those who cannot show up but want to participate and feel part of the community. Some of the best relationships I’ve seen over nearly two decades didn’t start on a fairway. They started on the sidelines. The magic is in the mix. This 2026 launch video does a great job of explaining the options and opportunity.

This year we’re adding something new: the Do Good Raffle. I’ve wanted to do this for a while.

It’s progressive. Winner-take-all. And it’s going to grow between now and May 18th. One person walks away with the entire prize package… and 100% of raffle proceeds go directly to our 2026 Impact Partner (more on that soon).

Here’s what’s already in the pool:

• An authentic, official Jalen Brunson signed basketball. Jalen is Mr. New York - perfect for Silicon Alley Sports.
  

• A $1,000 gift certificate to Oros Apparel — serious gear for serious people.
  

• A limited-edition Silicon Alley Sports x Brew Watch Co. collaboration watch you won’t find anywhere else. Brew is based in the heart of New York.
  

• A true 1-of-1 FLWC x MNML Golf x Silicon Alley Sports hand-designed golf bag. One of one means one of one.

And we’re just getting started and we’ll be adding prizes on a rolling basis. The package is only going to get bigger. If you’ve got something special you’d like to contribute, reach out. The best parts of this community have always been co-created.

A quick reality check: these events sell out. We’re not expanding capacity just to say we did. Small and intentional is the point. The conversations work because the room works.

So whether you’re grabbing a golf or pickleball spot, or coming as a Schmoozer or participating from afar as a Cheerleader, don’t wait too long.

We’ve got a few more surprises up our sleeve. I can’t share everything yet. But I can tell you this: the final few weeks before the event are when the magic always comes together.

Year 19 won’t be any different. You can grab your ticket here:  https://www.playwelldogood.com

Leverage, Not Laziness: A Note on AI and Authenticity

I use LinkedIn every day as its a great utility for me. I meet founders. I reconnect with operators. I see what our portfolio CMOs and CDOs are thinking about. It is efficient and, at its best, thoughtful.

But something shifted this year.

I am noticing executives through associates, suddenly writing in the exact same voice. Same rhythm. Same sentence structure. Same punctuation. Especially the emdash. People who never used that mark in their lives are now sprinkling it everywhere like sea salt and I can guarantee they have no idea where to find it on their keyboard.

And then there is the copy and paste culture. Entire posts that read like they were lifted straight from a “Top 10 AI Marketing Hacks” blog as the cadence and transitions are identical. The punchlines are identical. It is becoming laughable.

I can usually tell who is leaning on AI and who is not. More importantly, I can tell who is using it well and who is not. The difference is not whether AI was involved. The difference is whether the human showed up.

To be clear, I am all in on AI. We use it across portfolio companies and I clearly use it in a variety of ways in my personal and professional life. I talk about it constantly. I believe it will fundamentally reshape how marketing and growth teams operate amongst pretty much everything else.

But use it responsibly.

Teach the machine your voice. Feed it your past writing. Shape the output by rewriting it. Or take the raw ideas and draft the post yourself. The goal is leverage, not laziness.

LinkedIn works when it feels human. When someone shares a real lesson from a board meeting or a mistake they made. Not when it feels like a lightly edited product of the same five prompts circulating in a group chat.

I am genuinely curious what percentage of LinkedIn posts are now AI-assisted. My guess is north of 25 to 30 percent, and climbing. ChatGPT thinks it’s 30-40% of posts are meaningfully AI-assisted. In categories such as marketing, ChatGPT thinks the number is higher than 50%.  The irony is that as more content becomes automated, the premium on authentic voice only increases.

In a feed full of sameness, the most differentiated strategy might simply be sounding like yourself.  

Thanks for reading this weeks Operating Partner letter! As always, please reach out with any questions or comments. I read (and respond to) them all.