Alex Iskold | 2048.vc

Pre-Seed should not take months and months to raise! We are thrilled to announce that @2048vc is launching Pre-Seed Fast Track to help you get funding in 10 business days. If you are raising $500K - $1.5M Pre-Seed round in Vertical AI, Deep Tech, Health or Bio we would love to meet you! We offer clear and transparent process and money in the bank within 10 business days of the first meeting. To start the process submit your pitch through our short form - 2048.vc/fasttrack_pitch If there is a potential fit we will reach out within a few days and follow these steps to fund you: Step 1: Intro meeting via Zoom: 30 mins where you meet with 1 member of our team. Step 2: Deep Dive via Zoom: 60 mins where you meet with 3-4 members of our team. Step 3: References + In-Person Meeting: We will chat with your early customers and professional references, and will spend a few hours to get to know each other in person. Startups are long journeys and we know how important the investor-founder fit is, so we will gladly pay for your travel. Step 4: Term sheet: We make you an offer from $250K - $750K Step 5: Wire: We are high conviction and don’t wait for the rest of the round to come together - we wire as soon as we sign the docs. To learn more about Pre-Seed Fast Track visit 2048.vc/fasttrack. We can’t wait to review your pitches and to meet you! @2048vc // #preseed

If you are passionate and determined -- it helps ;)

🚀 2 weeks left to apply to pitch at our @Techweek_ competitions Early-stage teams building in Biotech, Deep Tech, Healthcare, or Vertical AI: 💰 $50K prize 💰 $100K prize (Deep Tech, w/ @BoostVC) Boston (May 27–28) + NYC (June 2) Apply by April 24 → 2048.vc/pitchcompetiti…

📚Blog Post: What It’s Really Like to Run a Pre-Seed Stage Firm startuphacks.vc/blog/what-its-… @2048vc // #startuphacks // #VC

So stoked to announce that we’re teaming up with our friends over at @2048vc to host a Deep Tech Pitch Competition on May 28 in Boston as part of Tech Week! Prize is a $100k investment from @BoostVC and 2048. If you’re working on something hard and futuristic, we'd love to hear from you! We’re looking for founders obsessed with what they're building, and who are looking to change the world and make a Billion+ lives better. Applications close April 24, link below! airtable.com/appV89PYGo3zN4… @thisiszann @alexiskold @emily_yu

📚Blog Post: The Culture of Writing Things Down startuphacks.vc/blog/2015/10/2… @2048vc // #startuphacks // #VC

Postcards from Takayama including the best sushi we ever had.

I am obsessed with my @WHOOP !

You have no experience. You’ve never started a company. You’ve never had a full time job. Nike is going to kill you. You’re a kid. You don’t have technical skills. You shouldn’t build hardware. Apple is going to kill you. You can’t build hardware. You can’t measure heart rate non-invasively. Athletes don’t care about recovery. Under Armour is going to kill you. It won’t be accurate. You don’t listen. You’re an ineffective leader. You can’t recruit great talent. You’re going to have to pay every athlete. You can’t measure sleep non-invasively. It’s too expensive to research. Athletes are a small market. The product costs too much to make. The product costs too much to sell. Your valuation is too high. Consumers aren’t going to want it. Hardware is too hard. You should measure steps. Fitbit is going to kill you. You can’t build a marketing engine. You can’t raise enough money. You need a real CEO. Google is going to kill you. You can’t be a subscription. You can’t build a brand. You can’t do consumer in Boston. Your valuation is too high. You shouldn’t make accessories. You shouldn’t make apparel. Lululemon is going to kill you. You can’t predict Covid. Stay in your niche. You are going to run out of money. You can’t build a health platform. Amazon is going to kill you. You can’t measure blood pressure. You can’t get medical approvals. The market is too small. You don’t understand AI. The market is too competitive. It won’t work internationally. The supply chain is too complicated. You can’t build an AI. You can’t raise enough money. It’s too competitive. Healthcare isn’t going to want it. … Just keep going ✌️

Postcards from Kyoto

🗞️ 2048 Ventures Portfolio Company News: Nionyx Bio's kidney gene therapy wins the 2026 BIO-Europe Spring Startup Spotlight podcast.labiotech.eu/1995493/episod… @NionyxBio // @2048vc // #startups // #VC

Excited to share our latest @2048vc thesis series. Here you will find our Our Thesis on Vertical Robotics. If you are a founder in this space, please reach out! This post was written by @AliceIskold, @thisiszann, and @alexiskold, and and originally appeared on the 2048 Ventures Blog: 2048.vc/blog/our-thesi… --- At 2048 Ventures, we are obsessed with the future and invest in early-stage startups that build defensibility through data and technology. Lately, we’ve been thinking about the future of robotics. Robotics Inflection Point We are entering a new age of robotics, powered by commoditized hardware and advances in AI. Supply chain disruptions and rising geopolitical uncertainty are pushing governments and enterprises to invest more heavily in automation and domestic manufacturing, accelerating demand for innovation in this space. Over the past decade, the cost and availability of key robotics components have improved dramatically. Sensors have become commodity hardware, enabling robots to perceive their environments better and at a fraction of the cost. At the same time, compute has become significantly more powerful. Advances in GPUs and specialized chips now allow robots to run complex perception and control models directly onboard, rather than relying on external compute. On the software side, breakthroughs in foundation models and generative AI are shifting robotics from deterministic programming toward learning-based systems. Companies like Skild AI and Physical Intelligence are developing models that enable robots to adapt to new environments and continuously improve through data and simulation. Together, these shifts are fundamentally changing the economics and capabilities of robotics - now is the time to build. Our Research We’ve spent time speaking with experts across the robotics ecosystem and these are our takeaways: 1. Robots will require continuous “parenting” after deployment. Unlike traditional industrial automation, AI-powered robots are non-deterministic systems that will continue to encounter new edge cases once deployed. As a result, deployment is only the beginning of the robot lifecycle. Robots will require ongoing monitoring, retraining, and recalibration. Companies that control this post-deployment lifecycle layer may capture significant value in the robotics stack. 2. Simulation matters more than raw data. While proprietary datasets create moats, the real challenge is ensuring robots behave reliably in complex real-world environments. Winning platforms will rely heavily on simulation and synthetic environments to test millions of scenarios before and after deployment. 3. Specialized robots will precede generalized robots. For robots to gain widespread adoption, they must first prove they can perform specific valuable tasks that save labor or increase productivity in human processes. Early success will come from specialized systems designed for specific industries or workflows, rather than generalized robots. 4. Bipedal humanoids may not be the dominant near-term form factor. While humanoid robots have attracted significant attention, different robotic applications will likely favor different physical designs. Rather than a single dominant humanoid form factor, we expect a world where multiple robot embodiments coexist, each optimized for specific environments and tasks. Our Thesis We are excited about robots that drive efficiency and are purpose-built for industry. At 2048 Ventures, we are bullish on solutions that reinvent current workflows - especially in industries that remain tedious and heavily dependent on human labor. We believe the most successful robotics companies will be vertically integrated and that specialized robots will win first. Systems designed to perform niche high-value tasks will drive early adoption. We see the most value in solutions for specific labor-intensive problems, whether they’re working alongside human workers or replacing manual processes entirely. These models are already winning in warehouse settings. Systems like Kiva Robotics (now Amazon Robotics) transformed fulfillment operations by deploying fleets of autonomous mobile robots that navigate warehouse floors and move inventory more efficiently than humans. While the long-term economics of Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) models are still emerging, we believe some of the largest robotics companies may adopt this approach. Rather than selling hardware upfront, these companies will deliver outcomes like harvesting crops, inspecting solar panels, maintaining infrastructure, or automating construction workflows. By owning the full stack and delivering the service directly, robotics companies can capture more value while continuously improving their systems through operational data. We are also excited about robots that enables entirely new capabilities - processes that were previously unsafe or impossible for humans to perform. Companies like Gecko are pioneering new levels of precision by operating in environments where human access is limited or dangerous. We see strong potential across applications such as deep-sea infrastructure maintenance, space robotics, surgical systems, and other high-risk environments. We believe the next generation of robotics companies will not simply sell machines, they will reinvent entire service industries through autonomous systems. If you are a founder working in vertical robotics, we'd love to connect: 2048.vc/pitch-us

You can’t buy bagels with accrual accounting, only with cash 😊.

📚Blog Post: What's your GMT - the next goal, milestone, and task? startuphacks.vc/blog/2015/03/0… @2048vc // #startuphacks // #VC

📚Blog Post: 6 Ways Startup Founders Can Deal With Extra Stress startuphacks.vc/blog/2017/02/2… @2048vc // #startuphacks // #VC

Postcards from Tokyo

📚Blog Post: 12 Ways to Give Time Back to Others and to Yourself startuphacks.vc/blog/2016/07/2… @2048vc // #startuphacks // #VC

Let me get this straight. The leading Senate Republican walked into the White House Sunday with a bipartisan deal to end the TSA nightmare. Fund everything except ICE now, get TSA agents paid today, handle ICE separately. Senate Republicans and Democrats said yes. Trump said no. Why? Because Trump is holding TSA workers’ paychecks hostage to try and force Congress to pass the SAVE Act, a voter suppression bill that would knock millions of eligible Americans off the voter rolls. He wants to make it harder for Americans to vote. Like a petulant child flipping the board when he’s losing, Trump torched a bipartisan deal his own Senate leader handed him on a silver platter. His tantrum continues as he unleashes ICE agents into airports. Agents with zero screening training, zero TSA authority, and a good chance of making everything worse. Democrats have been ready to fund TSA from day one. What we refuse to do is write a blank check for an ICE agency that gunned down two American citizens in Minneapolis and still demands the ability to kick down doors without a judge’s approval while hiding behind masks. We will not pass the SAVE Act either. Call it what it is: the SAVE REPUBLICANS Act. Non-citizen voting is already illegal. It was illegal yesterday. It will be illegal tomorrow. This bill solves nothing except the Republican party’s losing electoral math. Fund TSA. Reform ICE. End this today. Trump is the one standing in the way.

📚Blog Post: Don't take intros from investors who aren't investing in you startuphacks.vc/blog/2015/11/2… @2048vc // #startuphacks // #VC

@watsubram @2048vc Why can’t agents use the same APIs that is used by UX that humans use ?

@alexiskold @2048vc The systems of engagement were designed for Human agents to work with system of records. We need a new system of engagement for AI agents to work with system of records. The direct access is making many agents unviable.

We’ve @2048vc said this all along. Also system of engagement is system of action? But those all were never safe ever, because systems of record aka platforms would cherry pick best ones, and implement.