D. Scott Phoenix

Yo, so let me tell you about D. Scott Phoenix, this guy’s a straight-up legend in the AI and deep tech world. No cap. He’s a full-on serial entrepreneur and investor who’s been crushing it for over a decade.

Started out at Penn, graduated in 2007 with a combo degree in Computer Science and Entrepreneurship. Right after, he jumped into the startup game, got into Y Combinator in S08, that’s when things really kicked off. He’s the type who’s always been obsessed with building stuff that actually matters, not just chasing quick wins.

His big break? Co-founding Vicarious. The company was the real deal, AI research focused on mimicking human cognition, trying to create machines that can learn and think like us. They got a crazy $250 million in funding from heavy hitters like Elon Musk, Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Dustin Moskovitz, and top VC firms like Khosla Ventures, 8VC, and Founders Fund. That’s a proof to how much people believed in what they were doing. Vicarious was basically pushing the boundaries of AI, trying to crack the code of human intelligence.

And get this, Phoenix was not just the cofounder but also the CEO. Under his leadership, they made some serious breakthroughs, published in Science, NeurIPS, ICML. Dude’s got patents too. It wasn’t just talk, they were legit advancing the field. They eventually got acquired by Intrinsic, an Alphabet company, in 2022. That’s a huge win, showing how he’s always been about building tech that’s gonna change the game.

After that, Phoenix didn’t just chill. He spent a year as Chief Product and Revenue Officer at Intrinsic, helping to scale and refine the tech. Now, he’s a partner at Fifty Years, a VC fund all about deep tech and impact startups, basically investing in the future and making sure AI and new tech are safe and responsible. He’s a big advocate for safe AI, signed the Future of Life Institute’s open letter, the Asilomar Principles. The guy’s not just about creating stuff, he cares about making sure it’s used right.

What’s wild is how his process shows he’s all about pushing the envelope but also thinking long-term. Started with a passion for tech, built a company that was pushing AI to new heights, then turned to investing and advising other hardcore tech startups like Sila Nano, Verge Genomics, PsiQuantum. He’s all about the hard tech, the real, changing stuff.

So, in a nutshell, Phoenix is that guy who’s been at the forefront of AI, building the future, and making sure it’s safe. He’s not just in the game for fame or money, he genuinely cares about the impact. The dude’s a perfect example of what it means to start something bold, crush it, and then use that success to push even further. Total legend.