The co-founder of MoviePass is moving beyond the company’s notable challenges and is now focused on a new venture studio aimed at supporting the development and funding of startups.
Hamet Watt, who established MoviePass in 2011 with the vision that movie lovers could pay a monthly subscription for unlimited theater access, recently spoke with Business Insider about his current efforts at Share Ventures.
The new company has raised nearly $20 million in funding, backed by major investors including Alphabet and Amazon. Watt indicated that Share Ventures is concentrating on startups related to the future of work and longevity.
He believes the recent surge in artificial intelligence and the current high interest rates have created a favorable environment for innovative venture capital approaches. As a result, Share Ventures is developing its own software and sophisticated language models to streamline its internal operations.
Watt remarked, “You don’t need as large of funds, and you can get signal on an opportunity much earlier with much less capital. For us, that’s a great thing because we’re building companies from scratch and using all of the most advanced tools to do that proactively.”
He observed that while many venture firms are investing in new technologies, they often do not fully integrate or utilize them in their practices. “Using novel data and automation in our process is something we think is uniquely special to us,” he noted.
Watt’s commitment to health and longevity is deeply personal, stemming from the loss of his mother at the age of 25 when she was only 49. “When you lose your mom at a young age, it forces you to think about your own mortality, in a way that I don’t know that I was conscious of at the time,” he explained.
Despite the setbacks with MoviePass, which he reflects on in the documentary “MoviePass, MovieCrash,” Watt remains motivated to pursue new innovations. He articulated his mindset, saying, “What have I learned, and what do I have the guts to go out now and try — and maybe fail, but maybe succeed?”