AI Trends
We track AI trends not as analysts but as builders. Here are the macro forces that determine where we start ventures — and where the market is going.
The forces
Each force has a thesis, a set of trend briefs, and a connection to the ventures we build.
The durable open layer wins on reproducibility. As "open source" gets diluted into "open weights," the labs that actually release the recipe — training data, code, and license — will be the ones institutions can underwrite.
Open-Model Transparency Matrix →
AI search displaces Google; be the source it cites. Agentic SEO (GEO — Generative Engine Optimization) is the new ranking surface. The ventures that become citable sources win the next search era.
Watts and speed-to-power gate the buildout. The AI boom is a power and semiconductor story first. The ventures that touch the physical layer — energy, chips, cooling — have a moat the software-only players can't match.
Innovation Clusters & Data Center Geography →
How this connects
The method determines how we build. The trends determine where. Every VE LAB venture sits at the intersection of a Paul Graham principle and one of these three forces.
See the method, then see the ventures that prove it.