Request for Startups 2025
Small personal checks, large conviction.
The next decade will be won by companies that collapse impossible timelines into single‑digit years. I’m looking for founders who treat the laws of physics, biology, and cryptography as suggestions and are excited to actively reshape what we collectively believe is possible.
What I’m hunting for
- Practical fusion
Devices that close the trilemma of Q > 10, <$50/MWh, grid‑ready by 2030. Think compact stellarators, flow‑stabilised Z‑pinches, or actuator‑heavy plasma control that trades capital expense for software margins.
- Biomanufacturing at commodity scale
Full‑stack teams turning feedstock into atoms-on-demand: cell‑free pathways, ultra‑high‑throughput retrosynthesis, or microlithic continuous reactors.
- Decentralised AI & security‑by‑construction
Architectures where no single actor can flip the kill‑switch - homomorphic inference, proof‑of‑training, zk‑ML pipelines
- AI safety that scales faster than capability
Mechanistic interpretability, adversarial sandboxes, economic throttles (risk tokens, compute taxes), or formal proofs of behavioural bounds. Show me safety curves that bend left of the capability frontier.
- Autonomous robotics in unstructured worlds
Robots that load trucks, splice cables, or replace $60/hr industrial labour without a moat of tele‑ops. Zero‑shot task transfer beats glossy demo reels every time.
- Neurotech beyond spectacles and toys
Non‑invasive or minimally invasive interfaces with real bandwidth—>10 kb/s—into cortex, brainstem, or peripheral nerves. Clinical path and FDA strategy ideal; hobby kits may also apply.
- Post‑quantum & applied cryptography
Privacy at rest, in motion, and during compute. Lattice‑based KEM hardware, succinct proofs under one millisecond, or programmable secure enclaves that survive side‑channel journalism.
- AI‑native drug discovery
Closed‑loop platforms where ML owns the hypothesis, wet lab, and kill‑list. Endpoints: IND‑enabling data in <24 months.
How I work
- Speed: 72‑hour yes/no after first call.
- Check size: $10k-$200k pre‑seed / seed.
- Help: hiring, research intros, and ruthless narrative editing.
- No‑gos: consumer socials, pure SaaS, ad‑tech.
Let’s bend reality.