Kevin Rose uses a blunt rule when considering investments in AI hardware: “If seeing someone wear it makes you want to punch them, it’s probably not a good investment.”
This straightforward perspective is typical of Rose, a seasoned investor who’s watched the current surge of AI hardware startups repeat familiar errors. As a general partner at True Ventures and an early backer of Peloton, Ring, and Fitbit, Rose has mostly stayed away from the AI hardware frenzy sweeping Silicon Valley. While many venture capitalists are eager to fund the latest smart glasses or AI gadgets, Rose is intentionally choosing a different path.
“A lot of these devices are just about recording every conversation,” Rose says of today’s AI wearables. “That, to me, really disrupts the social norms we have about privacy.”
Rose knows this space well. He served on the board of Oura, now holding 80% of the smart ring market, and has seen what makes wearables succeed or fail. It’s not just about tech specs; it’s about how people feel using them and how society reacts.
“As an investor, you can’t just focus on the technology. You have to ask, how does it make me feel? How does it affect those around me?” he said during TechCrunch Disrupt last week. “With a lot of AI products, that emotional aspect is missing. They’re always on, always listening, trying to outsmart everyone. That’s not healthy.”
Rose has tried several AI wearables himself, including the short-lived Humane AI pendant that briefly made headlines last year. His breaking point came during a disagreement with his wife. “I was convinced I hadn’t said something, and I tried to use the device to prove my point,” he recalled. “That was the last time I wore it. You don’t want to win arguments by checking your AI pin’s logs. That’s not okay.”
Rose argues that tourist features—like asking your glasses to identify a landmark—aren’t compelling enough. “We keep adding AI to everything, and it’s making things worse,” he said, referencing photo apps that let you erase people from images. “A friend of mine edited out a gate from his yard to improve a photo. I told him, ‘That’s your yard! Your kids will wonder why the gate disappeared.’”
He’s concerned we’re in an “early social media” phase with AI—making choices that seem harmless now but could have negative consequences later. “We’ll look back and realize how odd it was to add AI to everything and think it was a good idea, just like we now question early social media decisions. Years later, you wish you’d done things differently.”
Rose is facing these challenges at home with his own kids. After using OpenAI’s Sora to generate videos of tiny Labradoodles, his children asked where they could find those puppies. “I had to explain that it wasn’t really me or real dogs. That’s a tough conversation,” he said. His approach is to compare AI to movie special effects, telling his kids that just as actors don’t actually fly, those puppies aren’t real either.
Despite his concerns, Rose isn’t anti-technology. He’s actually very hopeful about AI’s impact on entrepreneurship and, by extension, the venture capital world.
“Every day, it gets easier for entrepreneurs to start something new,” Rose noted. He shared a story about a colleague who, despite never using AI coding tools before, managed to build and launch a full app during a drive from LA to San Francisco. Just six months earlier, that would have taken much longer and involved many more errors.
“In just a few months, when [Google’s] Gemini 3 is released, coding errors will be almost nonexistent,” Rose predicted. “High school coding classes will become more about creativity than code, and the next billion-dollar company could easily come from a random high school. It’s inevitable.”
Rose believes these changes will completely reshape venture capital. Founders can now wait longer before seeking investment, or even avoid outside funding altogether. “This will transform the VC landscape, and I think it’s a positive shift,” he said.
Many VC firms are responding by hiring more engineers—Sequoia Capital, for example, now has as many developers as investors. Rose, however, doesn’t see this as the solution. He thinks the real value for VCs now lies elsewhere. “Ultimately, founders will face challenges that aren’t technical—they’re emotional,” he said. “VCs with high emotional intelligence, who can truly support founders as long-term partners, who have experience and stability, will be the ones entrepreneurs seek out.”
So what does Rose prioritize when investing? He returns to advice from Larry Page during his time at Google Ventures, before joining True Ventures in 2017 after co-founding Digg. “Look for people who aren’t afraid to challenge the impossible.”
“We want founders who don’t just smooth out the rough spots, but who go after bold, unconventional ideas that others dismiss as crazy,” Rose said. “That’s what excites me. Even if it doesn’t work out, we value your vision and will gladly support you again.”
