Cape Town Energy & AI’s Next Wave
Hej! Hello! Hi!
This past month, I had the pleasure of spending quality time with our team in Cape Town (where I grew up)—along with what felt like half of Europe. There's a saying going around that Cape Town becomes a suburb of Berlin during February and March, but these days it feels more like the world’s investors and entrepreneurs have made it a seasonal home. This means that there's fantastic access to high-flying people down there during this time, making for energetic and inspiring conversations.
We have some big plans in the works with our southern base and hope to soon be able to host our community down there.
On the tech front, I’ve been getting daily briefings on AI for the past 18 months, and one of the most significant shifts I’m seeing now is around Model Context Protocol (MCP). It’s a quiet revolution in how models connect and how we’ll be able to get the most utility from LLMs. Still, in many of my conversations with tech firms, there’s a shared sense of waiting—waiting for clearer signals before jumping into deep AI-driven implementations. The potential is massive, but we’re still in the calm before the next wave.
Warm regards,
Francois & the Simple Team
Building the future: AI, MCP, and empowered leads
During a recent dinner with leaders in the AI and tech space, an interesting shift became clear: the future of building products and experiences is less about traditional engineering roles and more about empowering product leads to harness a suite of AI agents. Rather than simply hiring a flock of engineers, now companies want leaders that have a toolkit of AI agents at their command.
This shift signals a deeper integration of AI into product development and marketing strategies, where human creativity and machine intelligence work hand in hand. MCP is accelerating this transformation by providing an easy way for different tools to interconnect, enabling AI agents to deliver more relevant and dynamic outcomes. With MCP providing a stronger foundation, product leads can move beyond building features and instead focus on orchestrating AI agents that iterate, optimise, and personalise at scale.
We’ve also seen some of the solutions that vendors are preparing to launch. Interestingly, many are holding off for another few months—suggesting that they’re fine-tuning their models to ensure they’re ready for the complexity of real-world applications.
At the same time, regional nuances in AI adoption are becoming more pronounced. The US, EU, and Asia are taking distinct approaches—while the US prioritises speed and scale, Europe remains focused on compliance and security, and Asia is pushing forward with remarkable agility. These differences are shaping the global landscape of AI adoption and product development.
At Simple, we’re constantly monitoring for the signals that can help family office leaders confidently adopt AI solutions. As 2025 approaches, this mindset will be key to staying ahead of the curve.
Join us on the journey
We’re entering an exciting phase at Simple as we open up a new opportunity for our network of family offices and industry experts to become equity partners. With significant user and audience milestones now behind us, and a growing community of trusted backers already on board, we’re ready to take the next step in expanding our impact.
Our growth round is underway, and we’re inviting those who share our vision for transforming the family office industry to join us. If you’re interested in learning more, email us at hi@andsimple.co we'll connect you with the team and partners leading the SPV. Let’s shape the future of family offices—together.
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