The co-founder of MoviePass, Hamet Watt, is shifting focus from the company’s infamous decline to spearhead a new venture studio aimed at developing and funding startups. Watt, who established MoviePass in 2011 with the ambitious concept of offering unlimited theater access for a monthly fee, is now busy with Share Ventures.
Share Ventures has raised nearly $20 million in funding, with notable investors including Alphabet and Amazon. The firm intends to concentrate on startups that innovate particularly in the domains of work and longevity.
Watt believes that the current landscape marked by an AI boom and rising interest rates has created opportunities for a distinct venture capital model. He explained that Share Ventures is working on its own software and complex language models to streamline internal operations.
“You don’t need as large of funds, and you can get signal on an opportunity much earlier with much less capital,” he stated. “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.”
Watt added that while many venture firms are investing in new technologies, they often do not actively utilize them. “Using novel data and automation in our process is something we think is uniquely special to us,” he remarked.
His interest in health and longevity is deeply personal, stemming from the loss of his mother at a young age. Experiencing that loss at 25 has profoundly influenced his perspective on mortality.
Watt’s previous experience with MoviePass, recently explored in the documentary “MoviePass, MovieCrash,” has further fueled his determination to innovate. He reflects on the lessons learned from that venture and embraces the possibility of both failure and success in his new endeavors.