Eric has lived through several major technology cycles — from Ethernet and 3Com to mobile computing, enterprise software and now AI. What made the conversation interesting was not simply his view on the technology itself, but the perspective of someone who has seen infrastructure booms before and understands what tends to happen next.
There is a great deal of attention today on models, chips, data centres and the extraordinary amounts of capital being deployed into AI. But history suggests that infrastructure is only the beginning. The more important question is what gets built on top of it, how enterprises reorganise themselves around it and where the real economic value eventually settles.
That is where our conversation went.
We spoke about agentic AI, the changing shape of the enterprise and what this new cycle may have in common with the early days of the internet. Eric also brought the perspective of an investor who has learned, sometimes through mistakes, how difficult it is to recognise the companies that will ultimately matter.
The more interesting question now is not how powerful AI becomes, but what enterprises are prepared to change because of it.
That is where I think the next phase begins.
