Brain Food vs. Brain Rot

The Economic Revolution Starts in Your Head

February 27, 2026

Delivered Feb 27, 2026 @ 5:36pm ET

Weather in Bloomington, IN - Not a cloud in the sky, 180 C / 640 F

Table of Contents

My name is Gerry Hays, Founder & CEO of Doriot® (pronounced “Doe-ree-oh”), named after French-born American U.S. General Georges Doriot, the father of Venture Capital. I’m also an author (First Time Founders’s Equity Bible), inventor (U.S. patents for ads on t-shirts, coat checking, and VentureStaking® - pending), and 21-year professor of venture capital and entrepreneurial finance at Indiana University.

Democratize Venture is my platform to explore the venture markets and share the insights, strategies, and frameworks I bring into the classroom. It’s also a way for me to share principles of prosperity — because at the end of the day, venture is a pathway to prosperity.

The Economic Revolution Starts in Your Head

Six hours a day.

That’s what the average young adult now spends scrolling.

Not learning.
Not building.
Not investing.

Scrolling.

We shouldn’t be surprised that anxiety is rising, attention spans are shrinking, and fewer people feel economically in control.

We are consuming cognitive junk food at industrial scale.

Brain Rot

“Brain rot” isn’t just slang.

It’s what happens when your mind is flooded with endless, low-quality digital content — short-form videos, doom-scrolling, AI-generated noise, outrage loops.

High stimulation.
Low substance.

The effects compound:

  • Shortened attention span

  • Mental fog

  • Anxiety and comparison

  • Poor long-term decision-making

It’s junk food for the mind.

You don’t leave a scrolling session sharper.

You leave hollow.

Brain Food

Brain food is different.

It requires effort.

Deep reading.
Complex problem-solving.
Real-world conversations.
Building something that didn’t exist yesterday.

Brain food builds cognitive resilience.

It increases focus.
Strengthens memory.
Improves judgment.

Brain rot is passive.

Brain food is active.

One consumes.

The other compounds.

This Is an Economic Issue

Here’s the part most people miss:

You cannot build wealth with a distracted brain.

You cannot allocate capital well if your attention span is 22 seconds.

You cannot think long-term if your nervous system is trained on constant novelty.

Attention is economic infrastructure.

If someone else controls it, they control your trajectory.

Venture Is Brain Food

Venture is not just about startups.

It’s a discipline.

To build or stake in a venture, you must:

  • Identify real problems

  • Evaluate incentives

  • Allocate capital

  • Manage risk

  • Delay gratification

That’s cognitive protein.

That’s ownership thinking.

At its core, venture itself is the problem we must solve — because most people were never taught how to think like owners.

They were trained to be employees.
Trained to consume.
Trained to react.

That’s why perhaps the greatest value proposition of our new model of venture, VentureStaking®, is the learning component.

You learn how value is created, how capital compounds, and how strategic patience beats emotional reaction.

It shifts you from spectator to stakeholder.

That shift changes everything.

Okay, that’s it for now, have a great weekend everyone……

AND

If you believe our current trajectory isn’t sustainable — and that we need to back a new generation of entrepreneurs determined to change it — then I invite you to join the waitlist to VentureStake this next generation of builders (and learn a tremendous amount about venture in the process).

With our entry-level program — the Silver Package — starting at just $100 for a 12-month cohort, participation is designed to be accessible.

This isn’t about watching from the sidelines.
It’s about learning, backing, and building.

Let’s win the future — together (www.doriot.com)

— Gerry

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