Chain of Thought | AI Agents, Infrastructure & Engineering I Started r/AI_Agents and Now I'm Launching a VC Fund
18 snips
Mar 10, 2026 Yujian Tang, founder of Seattle Startup Summit and creator of r/AI_Agents, grew a huge AI community and now launching an AI-focused VC fund. He recounts building events and hackathons into deal flow. They cover the mechanics of starting a fund, sudden subreddit growth, valuation inflation in AI, and lessons from two failed startups.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
AI Infrastructure Spending Drove A Bubble Dynamic
- Investment and spending in AI infrastructure surged post-ChatGPT, shifting investor focus from MLops to LLM Ops and builder tooling.
- Yujian notes that this rapid spend feels bubble-like and expects at least some valuation reset or company failures.
Use Live Demo Slots To Source Early Deals
- Use community events to give early founders demo stages and direct exposure; Yujian added an impromptu demo slot that became a recurring showcase.
- That slot surfaced startups like WordWare and Assistant UI which later raised sizable seed rounds.
Do The Boring Legal Work Before Launching A Fund
- Raising a small VC fund requires setting up multiple legal entities and admin: form a GP and LP, get EINs, bank accounts, and official addresses (often Delaware PO boxes).
- Expect to hire lawyers, use services like Stable for Delaware forwarding, and prepare lots of paperwork before investing.