Growing a business in vitro

How to Lend Money to Strangers

Brendan le Grange

Credit, Fintech, Management, Lending, Banking, Business, Careers

5 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 19 June 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias where people with high ability on a given task tend to underestimate their competence, while those with low ability overestimate theirs. It's typically examples of the second half of that antithesis that make the headlines, but the first half is problematic, too, because sometimes the experts best placed to start a new business are the ones most held back by doubt. And that's why I love the controlled environment that In Vitro Capital has created to, essentially, employ potential founders to build businesses without all the unknowns of traditional entrepreneurship. And it works

Amir Barsoum is the founder, managing partner, and CEO of InVitro Capital, and he takes us through the vision behind it all. You can find Amir on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirmbarsoum/

I'm there, too, and open to all new connection requests (just mention the show) https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

You can find In Vitro online at https://invitrocapital.com/about-us/ or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/invitrocapital

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, and https://chaos-out-of-order.com/

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology.

Keep well, Brendan

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Transcript

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0:00.0	So we thought there is a model where we can build great, great companies.
0:05.9	They are built with way, way less efficient capital somewhere around the $10 to the $15 million max,
0:12.3	crazy returns to investors and crazy returns to the founders as well.
0:16.6	And we manage the waste.
0:17.9	And that's why we built in vitro capital.
0:19.7	And the term, even the word
0:21.3	in vitro, is we are giving birth of companies. Welcome back to How to Land Money to Strangers,
0:32.0	with myself, Brendan Lagrange. Now, we all love to hear a story of entrepreneurship and business building, but we also
0:40.1	all know that not everybody is naturally cut out to be an entrepreneur. And we also know that some
0:47.0	people that are naturally cut out to be entrepreneurs by circumstances cannot. Maybe by the time
0:53.3	they find their calling, they've got kids in school and
0:56.6	mortgage to pay, and they simply can't take a year off with no salary to try and build their
1:03.4	dream business. And that's why not every accelerator works. That's why no matter how well
1:10.2	intended a government scheme or a pot of money might be,
1:14.5	not everybody can use it. And that's why I love the in vitro capital model so much. Amir Barsoom
1:21.2	doesn't just wait for entrepreneurs to come to him. He goes and finds industry leaders and encourages them to become founders.
1:29.7	But he doesn't just encourage them and he doesn't just offer their money. But he's built an
1:34.0	ecosystem in which they can work earning salaries as employees as they build a business
1:39.6	together. Let's hear him explain it more.
1:53.0	Music that. Let's hear him explain it more. Amir Basu, CEO and founder at Visita, and founder and managing partner of In Vitro Capital,
1:59.7	welcome to the show.
2:01.8	Thank you very much,
	...

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