Silicon Valley’s venture capital world has lately been all atwitter. And it’s not due to the latest unicorn IPO or a Twitter spat between tech bros. It’s actually because of a crafty maneuver by two founders-cum-investors, Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross, who have come up with an unconventional seduction technique for the startup ecosystem: free server access, loaded with top-tier chips for machine-learning model training. But that’s not all – if the whispers are to be believed, and a certain regulatory filing and Friedman’s own website would suggest they should be, this dynamic duo has discreetly amassed an investment fund north of $1 billion. Their target? Artificial intelligence and infrastructure startups.
Now, this is an interesting play. Not because it’s daring or unprecedented – although, to be fair, it is both – but because it’s in response to a distinct demand-supply mismatch. The AI landscape is red-hot, and these server chips are hotter than a summer in Death Valley, with a scarcity to match. The question is whether this chip-laden lure will give Friedman and Gross, a GitHub alumnus and a Y Combinator veteran respectively, the advantage they need to reel in AI startup deals. Their VC rivals are undoubtedly watching with hawk-like attention – and so am I. This could be a game-changer, or it could be a spectacular flop. Either way, it’s a bold move, and bold moves are always worth watching.
