Core Insights - The article discusses the investment strategies and insights of Brian Zhan, a partner at Striker Venture Partners, focusing on identifying potential unicorn companies in the AI era [1][2][3] Investment Strategies - Brian emphasizes the importance of recognizing specific patterns: top technical talent combined with problems deemed "almost impossible to solve" [1] - The investment in Reflection AI, which raised $2 billion and saw a 15-fold increase in valuation within six months, highlights the focus on reinforcement learning (RL) as a key breakthrough for making AI agents reliable [2] - The investments in foundational AI infrastructure companies like Lepton, Voyage, and LanceDB were based on the foresight that these would be essential for future AI applications [2] Robotics and AI - Brian views Skild AI as the "OpenAI of robotics," noting that the perception of robotics as a "capital graveyard" has changed due to advancements in foundational models and the availability of vast amounts of robotic data [3] - The emergence of general-purpose robots is seen as a paradigm shift, allowing for the development of useful robotic systems at significantly lower costs [3] AI for Science - The timeline for true AI for science is projected between 2025 and 2030, with current models beginning to perform genuine reasoning within scientific concepts rather than merely matching patterns in scientific texts [4] - The concept of "digital biological systems" is introduced, emphasizing the ability of models to understand biological pathways across multiple scales and navigate high-dimensional combinatorial spaces efficiently [5] Next-Generation Agents - Current AI agents lack several capabilities, including strong intelligence, robust multi-modal abilities, and effective self-improvement mechanisms [6] - The need for agents to build shared written records and effectively transfer knowledge is highlighted as a critical gap in their development [6] Investment Philosophy - Striker Venture Partners adopts a concentrated investment strategy, committing up to $30 million in only 10 companies, which fosters deep collaboration and alignment with founders [8] - The focus is on identifying opportunities that are not yet obvious, with a belief that the next billion-dollar company will emerge from a team currently operating under the radar [11] Advice for Founders - Founders are encouraged to act decisively when they identify a technological breakthrough that others have not yet recognized, as the best time to build transformative companies is often when the market has not yet defined the problem [12]