On Disruption Interruption, Tahnoon Murtza explains why easier-to-build technology is reshaping early-stage investing and putting more value on distribution, audience access, and authentic founder relationships.

TAMPA BAY, Fla., Aug. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — U.S. venture investors deployed $320 billion across 15,352 deals in 2025, while artificial intelligence companies captured 65.4% of deal value, according to the National Venture Capital Association’s (NVCA) 2026 Yearbook. Yet the same tools attracting investment are also making software faster to build and easier to replicate. On this episode of Disruption Interruption, host Karla Jo Helms speaks with Tahnoon Murtza, Founding Partner of Grey Sheep Ventures, about how that AI is changing what investors should consider defensible in an early-stage company. “The way people are building companies is inherently different,” Murtza says. “So, the way you fund companies has to be inherently different.”

Product Alone Is Not Enough to Win the Round

Murtza’s first challenge to the traditional venture model is the assumption that technology itself can protect a startup from competitors. He argues that AI tools such as Lovable and Claude Code have lowered the barrier to building software, making some products much easier to replicate. “You can build a tech company in a weekend,” he says. “You don’t have to be technical. And so, there’s no such thing as proprietary tech.”

That question is particularly important in consumer investing, where consumer goods and services accounted for just 5% of U.S. venture capital deal value in 2024, according to the NVCA’s 2025 Yearbook. When competitors can reproduce a product, investors must look beyond the technology itself. “What is the moat?” Murtza asks. “When you take a product that everyone can build, how can you distinguish? It’s by having a distinguished voice, having distinguished access to getting the attention of your customers.”

The issue is that many legacy funds still evaluate companies through an outdated perspective. Murtza sees a generational gap between the investors making decisions and the founders operating in a world shaped by for short-form content, micro-influencers, creator-led distribution, and conversion-driven attention. “There needs to be more younger people involved and more decision-making authority within funds in general,” he says.

When Capital Is Not Enough

Grey Sheep Ventures applies that thesis to consumer startups, where Murtza evaluates not only what founders are building but how effectively they can reach the people most likely to buy it. His approach also challenges the assumption that investors hold the strongest position in the founder-investor relationship. “If you’re a good founder, it’s a privilege as an investor to be able to get onto your cap table,” Murtza says.

That mindset also changes what Murtza believes as an investor owes a portfolio company. He describes himself as the “phone-a-friend-emergency guy,” helping founders with influencers, private equity connections, distribution, and other needs beyond capital. “I almost view myself more as I’m an employee who pays them,” he says.

Grey Sheep has profited from that approach, winning investment allocations even when larger established funds were competing for the same opportunities. “Authenticity and generally being connected to the type of founders you’re trying to back is becoming the biggest moat as a venture capital fund,” he says.

Murtza’s longer-term vision is a hybrid between an accelerator and a fund, bringing creators, influencers, and early-stage consumer founders together with capital and operators who can help turn audience trust into durable businesses. He cautions, however, that access to an audience does not make company-building easy. “If you want to build something authentic, it takes copious effort, it takes obsession, it takes a consuming amount of time,” Murtza says. “If you’re going to commit to that, you want a VC partner who’s going to put the same effort into your company that you are.”

Links

Disrupting the Tech Monopolies: Investing in the Attention Economy with Tahnoon Murtza

Disruption Interruption is the podcast where you will hear from today’s biggest Industry Disruptors. Learn what motivated them to bring about innovation and how they overcame opposition to adoption.

https://omny.fm/shows/disruption-interruption/disrupting-the-tech-monopolies-investing-in-the-attention-economy-with-tahnoon-murtza

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tahnoon-m-b4071419a/
Company Website: https://www.greysheepventures.com/

About Disruption InterruptionTM 
Disruption is happening on an unprecedented scale, impacting all manner of industries — MedTech, Finance, IT, eCommerce, shipping, logistics, and more — and COVID has moved their timelines up a full decade or more. But WHO are these disruptors and when did they say, “THAT’S IT! I’VE HAD IT!”? Time to Disrupt and Interrupt with host Karla Jo “KJ” Helms, veteran communications disruptor. KJ interviews bad asses who are disrupting their industries and altering economic networks that have become antiquated with an establishment resistant to progress. She delves into uncovering secrets from industry rebels and quiet revolutionaries that uncover common traits — and not-so-common — that are changing our economic markets… and lives. Visit the world’s key pioneers that persist to success, despite arrows in their backs at www.disruption-interruption.com.

About Tahnoon Murtza
Tahnoon Murtza is the Founding Partner of Grey Sheep Ventures, an emerging venture fund focused on consumer startups, distribution, and founder relationships. At 22, he is building a firm around the belief that AI has transformed how companies are created, and that venture capital must change how it evaluates them. A former founder and lifelong punk and metal musician, Murtza brings a contrarian, founder-first approach to early-stage investing, with a focus on attention, authenticity, and the creator-consumer economy.

About Karla Jo Helms
Karla Jo Helms is the Chief Evangelist and Anti-PR® Strategist for JOTO PR Disruptors™. Karla Jo learned firsthand how unforgiving business can be when millions of dollars are on the line — and how the control of public opinion often determines whether one company is happily chosen, or another is brutally rejected. Being an alumnus of crisis management, Karla Jo has worked with litigation attorneys, private investigators, and the media to help restore companies of goodwill into the good graces of public opinion — Karla Jo operates on the ethic of getting it right the first time, not relying on second chances and doing what it takes to excel. Helms speaks globally on public relations, how the PR industry itself has lost its way, and how, in the right hands, corporations can harness the power of Anti-PR to drive markets and impact market perception.

References

National Venture Capital Association. (2026). NVCA 2026 yearbook: The venture industry in transition [Report]. nvca.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/NVCA-2026-Yearbook-4.9.26.pdfNational Venture Capital Association. (2025). NVCA 2025 yearbook [Report]. nvca.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/2025-NVCA-Yearbook.pdf

Media Inquiries:
Karla Jo Helms
JOTO PR™ 
727-777-4629

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SOURCE Disruption Interruption

HFS highlights Genpact’s AI-led automation, deep AML process expertise, platform-led FCC architecture, and agentic innovation in financial crime operations

NEW YORK, Aug. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Genpact (NYSE: G), the Agentic Operations company, today announced that HFS Research recognized it as a Leader in the HFS Horizons: Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) in Financial Services, 2026 report. HFS placed Genpact in Horizon 3, its highest tier, and described the company as modernizing anti-money laundering (AML) operations through AI-led automation and deep process expertise.

“The future of AML lies in moving from fragmented compliance tasks to an integrated value chain that combines intelligence, automation, and trust. The path to managing the rising cost of compliance lies in AI and agentic solutions at scale, but scale requires a strong foundation,” said Hansa Iyengar, Practice Leader, HFS Research. “Genpact’s process-first approach and technology-led workflows position the company to help financial institutions modernize AML operations while keeping human oversight at the center of compliance decisioning.”

What HFS highlighted in its report
HFS highlighted Genpact’s strengths in helping financial crime teams focus on stopping real threats, rather than managing manual, paperwork-heavy processes:

AI-enabled compliance operations: Genpact embeds AI into financial crime workflows to reduce manual effort, improve consistency, and scale investigator productivity.AML transformation expertise: Genpact combines financial crime, operations, and technology expertise to redesign investigative workflows and speed modernization.Connected FCC architecture: riskCanvas® unifies monitoring, screening, case management, and risk scoring to give teams a clearer view of financial crime risk.Agentic investigation support: Banking Analyst Suite automates investigative tasks, accelerates analysis, and helps teams focus on the highest-risk activity.

“Financial institutions need AML operations that can adapt as risk, regulation, and transaction volumes evolve,” said Satish Acharya, Service Line Leader, Financial Crime & Risk Management, Genpact. “Genpact helps clients connect data, workflows, and domain expertise so investigators can reduce manual effort, act on better intelligence, and make faster, more informed decisions.”

Visit Genpact.com to learn more about Genpact’s recognition in the HFS Horizons: Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) in Financial Services, 2026 report and the company’s financial crime compliance capabilities.

About the HFS Horizons report
The HFS Horizons: Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) in Financial Services, 2026 study evaluates service providers on their ability to deliver innovation, execution, and measurable outcomes across financial crime compliance and AML workflows. It examines how providers apply digital capabilities across the anti-money laundering (AML) value chain and uses the “why, what, how, and so what” framework to assess the future of integrated financial crime prevention in banking and financial services.

About Genpact
Genpact (NYSE: G) is the Agentic Operations company, where applied AI meets context-rich process intelligence. We run and transform mission-critical operations for global enterprises. Genpact’s Agentic Operations are grounded in decades of operating core business processes at scale across finance, supply chain, banking, insurance, and more. Our flywheel of advanced technology, trusted data foundations, and deep ecosystem partnerships moves enterprises rapidly from experimentation to scale. AI agents bring speed and precision, human experts bring judgment, and together they deliver outcomes clients can measure.

Get to know us at genpact.com and on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Facebook. 

MEDIA CONTACT:

Keith Gordon
Genpact Media Relations
917-204-9952
keith.gordon@genpact.com

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SOURCE Genpact

Combination expands technical and financial forensic expertise for insurers and counsel across Canada.

NEW YORK, Aug. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Global consulting firm J.S. Held announces the acquisition of Element Forensic Engineering (Element), a Canadian firm with offices throughout the Toronto area and an additional office in Calgary, recognized for its work with insurers and counsel across structural, fire investigations, code interpretation, environmental, mechanical, electrical, and building science matters. Building upon earlier acquisitions, this transaction further expands J.S. Held’s Canadian Forensic Architecture & Engineering platform and connects Element’s clients to the firm’s global bench of technical and financial experts, with capabilities including property loss evaluation, contents and inventory valuation, business interruption and economic damages, environmental and contamination claims, and causation and liability analysis.

Founded by Jeff Martin and Jeremy Bishop, Element has built a team of 40+ professionals serving insurers and counsel across both insurance claims and disputes, with a primary hub of operations in the Greater Toronto Area and a national footprint extending through its Calgary office. The firm has earned a strong reputation for industry-leading service, innovative solutions, and responsiveness, anchored in a commitment to bringing together the right people with the best solutions to achieve effective results for the insurers and counsel it serves.

Lee Spirer, Chief Executive Officer of J.S. Held, said, “We admire how the Element team works, with a commitment to collaboration and to bringing together the right people to achieve effective results for their clients. That mindset is a strong cultural match for J.S. Held, and the combination meaningfully deepens the technical and financial expertise available to insurers, counsel, and corporate clients across Canada.”

The acquisition adds meaningful capacity to J.S. Held’s Canadian forensic engineering bench and positions the combined team to serve national clients with closer-to-the-loss resources, managing travel costs and expediting timelines that are important to insurance carriers managing files across the country. Jim Stanilious, Insurance Services Division Leader, noted that the synergy extends well beyond efficiencies: “While this combination adds meaningful capacity to serve insurers and counsel across Canada, it also pairs Element’s capabilities in structural, fire, environmental, mechanical, electrical, and building science with the broader J.S. Held platform, including building consulting, contents valuation, environmental health and safety, accident reconstruction, and forensic accounting. For carrier and counsel clients, that means closer-to-the-loss resources from one team able to address the full scope of a complex claim.”

For insurers and counsel, the combination means a single team able to address the full technical and financial dimensions of a claim. Element’s forensic engineering work connects directly to J.S. Held’s Building Consulting practice, the firm’s largest insurance-facing practice in Canada, along with capabilities Element’s clients have frequently needed to source elsewhere, including contents valuation, environmental health and safety, and accident reconstruction for premises liability matters. The result keeps Element’s responsiveness and trusted relationships in place while extending the firm’s reach into the broader building science, mechanical, electrical, and cause and origin work clients increasingly require. Reflecting on what the combination means for Element’s clients, Jeremy Bishop, Managing Partner of Element Forensic Engineering, said, “The greatest value proposition for our clients as we join J.S. Held is scaling our depth of expertise. I think of this like going from a small family medical office to the deep and layered expertise of being treated at a hospital. Our clients keep the relationships and the responsiveness they expect from Element, and they gain access to a global bench of specialists they can call on as their matters grow in complexity.”

For the Element team, joining J.S. Held also brings access to mentorship, training, and technology platforms that support both team development and client service. Jeff Martin, Managing Partner of Element Forensic Engineering, framed the benefit to the firm’s professionals and the clients they serve, observing, “J.S. Held brings to our team members and ultimately our clients a mature and scaled approach to technology-enabled client service. From the implementation of AI to support team members and manage proprietary client information, to more robust training programs and a breadth of industry expertise we can all learn from.”

With the addition of Element Forensic Engineering, J.S. Held strengthens its position as a leading forensic engineering platform in Canada, expanding the firm’s ability to address insurance claims and disputes across the country. The combined team brings together Element’s established forensic engineering practice and J.S. Held’s global technical and financial expertise to deliver a single, multidisciplinary resource for insurers, counsel, and corporate clients.

About J.S. Held

J.S. Held is a global consulting firm that combines technical, scientific, financial, and strategic expertise to advise clients seeking to realize value and mitigate risk. Our professionals serve as trusted advisors to organizations facing high stakes matters demanding urgent attention, staunch integrity, proven experience, clear-cut analysis, and an understanding of both tangible and intangible assets. The firm provides a comprehensive suite of services, products, and data that enable clients to navigate complex, contentious, and often catastrophic situations.

More than 1,500 professionals serve organizations across six continents, including 84% of the Global 200 Law Firms, 75% of the Forbes Top 20 Insurance Companies (90% of the NAIC Top 50 Property & Casualty Insurers), and 71% of Fortune 100 Companies.

J.S. Held, its affiliates and subsidiaries are not certified public accounting firm(s) and do not provide audit, attest, or any other public accounting services. J.S. Held is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.  Securities offered through PM Securities, LLC, d/b/a Phoenix IB or Ocean Tomo Investments, a part of J.S. Held, member FINRA/SIPC.  All rights reserved.

Contact:

Kristi L. Stathis | Global Public Relations | +1 786 833 4864 | Kristi.Stathis@jsheld.com

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SOURCE J.S. Held