Advisor and investor to frontier founders.
I help founders building robotics, AI and deep tech find the story of the future they're making, and tell it so the right investors, hires and customers follow.
Princeps
Princeps is how I back frontier founders: advising, investing, and a podcast about the future they're building. The word is Latin for "the first": the one who goes ahead and shows the way.
I work with a small number of founders, in person, in San Francisco. I take one company per market, so I never advise your competitor.
What we work on
- Vision and story. We find the future you're building and put it into words you'll use for years: in the pitch, in hiring, on stage.
- Pitch feedback. A sharp, honest read before the rooms that matter.
- Your slot is yours. One company per market. No conflicts.
- The right people. Introductions to hires and specialists I trust.
- The right investors. Introductions to investors who fit what you're building.
Engagements run twelve months, with set hours each month, always in person. Clients appear in the Princeps portfolio.
Who it's for
Founders in the Bay Area building frontier technology, who have raised and are getting ready for what comes next.
The podcast
Princeps
Founders on the future they see, not the quarter they're in.
Episode 0 and the first conversations arrive November 11.
What I believe
I want the struggle to continue. AI should lift people up, not do their thinking for them. The founders who shape what comes next will be the ones who still think for themselves.
About
Before Princeps, I was a Congressional fellow working on tax policy, a corporate lawyer, and the founder of a medical Q&A software company. I've invested in startups and now advise frontier founders in San Francisco.
Writing
- The Princeps Thesis Princeps backs the founders who go first. This is what I look for in them, and why.
- The Robotics Issue Nobody Is Talking About Almost nothing is deployed yet. A humanoid's safety envelope lives in its firmware and actuators, not in the city where it was finally assembled.
- The Next Software Industry Is Humans Writing Rules for Agents Agents that write their own skills do worse than agents with none. Human-written rules are becoming the layer everyone else runs on.
- Your Agent's Duties Shouldn't Belong to Its Vendor An agent's duties should be its principal's — written once and carried everywhere it acts, not configured by its vendor.