Chuck Stormon is a serial entrepreneur, AI pioneer, and managing partner at StartFast Ventures. With a career that includes founding multiple startups, commercializing early AI accelerators, and building foundational internet infrastructure, he offers deep insights into AI, entrepreneurship, and the future of intelligence. In this episode, Chuck shares his journey from developing neural chips for the U.S. Air Force to shaping the next generation of mission-driven AI startups—anchored by his evolving belief that consciousness may be key to a safe AI future.
In Today’s Episode We Discuss:
00:01 Introduction to Chuck Stormon
01:00 Early inspiration from science fiction
02:15 First AI chip and grad school dropout story
04:00 Building AI for electric utilities
06:00 Exit during the dot-com bust
07:15 Telecom consolidation and venture backing
08:45 Lessons from French business law
10:30 Building high-speed global video networks
15:30 Finding product-market fit in film tech
20:00 Founding RushTera and early customer win
24:00 Bootstrapping lessons and investing your own capital
26:30 Transition into venture capital
28:00 Starting Techstars Syracuse
31:00 Investing in Impel.ai
32:30 Scaling StartFast Fund II
35:00 Case study: Patient Pattern
36:30 Case study: Signos and personalized metabolic AI
38:00 Case study: Credo AI and behavioral nudges
39:00 Fund strategy and founder selection
40:30 When to quit vs. when to persevere
42:00 Finding early signs of product-market fit
44:00 AI products with simple business value
46:00 Consciousness in AI: definitions and challenges
48:30 LLMs, intelligence, and emergent properties
51:00 Do animals — or AIs — have souls?
53:00 Projecting consciousness onto machines
56:00 Quantum consciousness and anesthetics
59:00 The unknowns of consciousness
01:01:00 AI progress vs. human adaptability
01:03:00 From tools to coworkers to conscious agents
01:06:00 Hope for wisdom in superintelligence
01:07:30 Wrap-up and where to find Chuck online
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