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VCs are starting to partner with private equity to buy up call centers, accounting firms and other "mature companies" to replace their operations with AI

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Submitted ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨dantheclamman@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/23/khosla-ventures-among-vcs-experimenting-with-ai-infused-roll-ups-of-mature-companies/

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  • Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    I don’t think this is as dramatic as a lot of you are saying it is. It works or it doesn’t. This is what VC should do

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    • dantheclamman@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Have you ever used a chatbot for technical support? It’s infuriating. Yet the industry is barreling in that direction before the tech is ready, customers be damned. This is not what VC should do.

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      • Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Have you ever had to use an indifferent college student that barely speaks English for technical support

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    • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Then you need to look into how private equity works.

      They buy mature companies, often with borrowed capital, and then place the debt on the purchase company. They essentially make companies take on a massive loan to buy themselves from themselves, except the private equity firm ends up the owner.

      The company then goes into overdrive trying to pay off the debt, while the firm makes changes intended to make the company “more efficient”. All while paying themselves “consulting fees” and “bonuses” for stepping in and “helping” the company do better.

      This usually means mass layoffs, dumping assets, paycuts, restructuring…

      Best case scenario, they company was already failing, and now it fails faster.

      Worst case… The company was doing perfectly fine, making a sustainable living for its employees. And then it gets purchased by a private equity firm.

      Suddenly everything is on fire. Not a single penny can go unpiched, workplace comfort unsacrificed, or employee unoverworked. And that that is the new norm, is the good ending.

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      • Ledericas@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        example of a parasitoid, unlike parasites, they kill the host.

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      • Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        I don’t know much about private equity. So I appreciate the explanation. But that all just sounds like modern business to me. It’s a product of who we are and what we allow.

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  • Vinstaal0@feddit.nl ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    You can never fully replace an accountant with AI, you can replace the assistants, the bookkeepers, secretary and other support staff, but the accountants themselves are never going to be replaced. People want something that tells them everything is okey or trust on a certain quality standard. That’s why accountants where introduced in the first place.

    But man we are still manually entering data from invoices, using basic bank imports that in some countries(cough US) don’t even work properly to be trusted in the first place. Invest into AI in the right part of the accounting sector and you can make millions and I have been saying this from before the AI boom.

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    • dantheclamman@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Automating data entry would be great. I myself would love that in my scientific job. It just seems like none of the agentic models are anywhere close to what’s needed to deliver that.

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      • Vinstaal0@feddit.nl ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Yeah, something like Peppol (digital invoice exchange system) wil also be easier in the bookkeeping/accounting fild.

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    • Krudler@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      I feel you, and AI tech has been completely squandered.

      My phone knows everything about me and has for the last decade.

      It is not able to do a single useful thing for me.

      It knows where I go, when I go, what my schedule is, what I buy, what I don’t.

      It has never been able to suggest anything useful, advise me of a sale on products that I buy, let me know about a vendor in my area that can deliver for cheaper.

      It’s not able to notice that I’m trying to format text on my screen and I’m entering the same bullet at the front of things. It would never take over and say oh let me copy paste this very obvious task you’re doing that even a child could deduce from your primitive actions.

      “Transfer all of my image files off of my phone into a folder on my computer, then reorganize all of the photos on my phone into sensible groupings instead of random folders all over the place that have piled up over the years”. Not going to happen, because that’s useful.

      “Hey phone, I’m going out. Take a look at my shopping lists and let me know what stores have what on sale so I can save a few bucks. You know all the stores I go to, because you’re watching my every move.” Not going to happen, because that’s useful.

      When AI is implemented into businesses, it’s qualified to direct you to an FAQ. Any opportunity to win new customers with high level service is squandered.

      I do not hate ai, I detest the fact that the possibilities to improve the lives of people have been completely ignored, while it is primarily implemented as a cost saving measure. Completely short-sighted and fucking useless.

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