Date: 2026-08-25 2:00 PM EDT Attendees: Michael Houck, Jeffrey Evans (Mantis VC), Blake Stewart (AM), Blake Emal (content lead)
Summary
Biweekly content interview to align Jeffrey Evans with the new Blake Emal / Blake Stewart team after Austin’s departure. Covered account transition, content strategy, tone guardrails, and specific content ideas from the Mantis portfolio.
Key shift: reduce evergreen reliance by having Jeffrey forward portfolio news and articles directly to Blake Emal by email, with a one-to-two sentence note on intent. Bi-weekly interview calls + Blake pitching swing ideas round out the three input channels.
Decisions
- Jeffrey will forward portfolio news, articles, and announcements directly to Blake Emal by email on an ongoing basis (no size filter needed).
- Tone guardrail confirmed: never call out other firms or founders for shortcomings; highlight Mantis’s approach positively instead.
- Past founder history (pre-Mantis) is usable only when directly relevant to push a message.
- Fund Four: no public mentions until close (expected Q4); SEC solicitation risk is the hard constraint.
- Creator economy / music industry / celebrity framing: steer clear entirely. Mantis does not want to be positioned as a celebrity fund.
- AI commenting engagement: the individual who complained was removed from the engagement list; frequency on individuals to be reduced generally.
- Call cadence: potentially weekly for the next week or two to build content backlog, then return to bi-weekly.
Action Items
- Blake Emal: draft Monaco amplification post (can go immediately)
- Blake Emal: draft FOIA Energy amplification post (hold until Aug 26 announcement)
- Blake Emal: draft Roadrunner/Coyote post tied to Coyote vs. Acme movie release (next week)
- Michael: coordinate next week’s call with Melissa
- Jeffrey: forward portfolio news and articles to Blake Emal on an ongoing basis
- Blake Emal: draft Mr. Beast / Step / Beast Industries angle (conviction/reinvestment hook; playful offer to buy Jimmy a supersized value meal)
- Blake Emal/Stewart: revisit FDA accelerating AI medical device approvals and optics portcos next call
Notable Transcript Excerpts
On why evergreen-only is risky:
“Too much evergreen all the time — that is where we can run into tone issues even if we are really really aligned on tone. It is easier to still get off track when we are only focusing on broader topics that we are bringing to the table.”
On Monaco conviction (Jeffrey, in his own words):
“We not only fought our way to be able to invest but we became customers immediately.”
On why Monaco impressed him:
“It was one of the first ones I have seen that keeps the human in the loop in order to guide the communication but then does all the work — all the appropriate prospecting work and communication to get you to the point where you can have a one-on-one meeting — and it was doing it in a manner that was not inauthentic.”
On Fund Four solicitation risk:
“If it ever comes up it just becomes a massive legal issue. The response is just: you are raising money from people you know, you do not need to go public with anything about it.”
On UBI and AI utopians:
“I have heard people talk about it and whenever I hear them talk about it I ask them to try to explain it and how it actually would work, and no one has a clue.”
On tone preference (calling out other firms):
“We sort of got controversy with other people calling them out or other firms out for their shortcomings, which is just not how I like to do things. I would rather highlight why we do what we do, what we like about it.”
Full transcript available in Granola (id: 8451ff4d-da01-4e37-a43b-d23802348c1d).