Ignite VC: The Future of AI, Consciousness, and Venture Capital with Chuck Stormon | Ep183

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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