This top young VC reunited with his former colleague to deploy an unusually bold strategy for investing in AI startups

At just 29 years old, Brian Zhan is making waves in the venture capital landscape with his innovative approach to investing in artificial intelligence startups. Known for his 'nerdy investing' style, Zhan has already made significant early investments in several high-profile AI companies now valued in the billions. After departing from Silicon Valley VC firm CRV this summer, Zhan has joined forces with seasoned investor Max Gazor at Striker Venture Partners. Together, they are poised to shake up conventional VC strategies with a newly launched $165 million fund. Their goal? To make substantial seed investments in just 10 companies, with checks reaching as high as $30 million. "That takes conviction," Zhan asserts, highlighting the shift in how seed-stage investing is evolving. Zhan notes that traditional seed funding norms are changing, with early investments often being made in companies led by young founders with compelling ideas. He believes that the venture capital landscape is ripe for transformation, necessitating firms to act swiftly when a promising concept emerges. "Seed rounds today are often just 22-year-old founders with a great idea," he remarked. Having studied computer science at Northwestern University and begun his career coding at Facebook, Zhan represents a new breed of venture investor. This shift sees a higher value placed on technical expertise over traditional MBA backgrounds. "The best technical minds at the company were founding startups and then struggling to raise meaningful capital," he recounted. Zhan's journey into angel investing began in his spare time, where he contributed to projects led by former Facebook engineers. At CRV, he transitioned to a full-time role, making early investments in firms like Skild AI, Dyna Robotics, and Periodic Labs. He reflects on how these companies were largely unknown during their seed rounds, yet have since become key players in the AI sector. One of Zhan's standout successes is Reflection AI, a startup he co-led a $200 million seed round for last year. This initial investment, considered steep by many, has paid off tremendously, with the company recently achieving an impressive valuation of $8 billion following a $2 billion funding round. Zhan's unique blend of technical acumen and extensive connections is highly valued by founders. Misha Laskin, CEO of Reflection AI, praised Zhan for his insightful understanding of the AI frontier. "Brian is rare in that he's actually done the work and is incredibly well connected," Laskin noted. Originally from Hong Kong, Beijing, and Palo Alto, Zhan shares a familial connection to the venture capital world through his sister, Stephanie Zhan, a general partner at Sequoia Capital. While they occasionally align on investment choices, Brian is adamant about keeping work discussions separate from family gatherings. Unlike many VCs who frequent coffee shops to meet various founders, Zhan dedicates hours each day to reading the latest AI research, assisted by a custom AI tool. His collaboration with Gazor, an MIT Ph.D. dropout and veteran VC, is fueled by their shared intellectual curiosity. "We spend all morning reading papers and trying to identify the trends and who has the most exciting ideas," he explained. Zhan is particularly enthusiastic about founders leveraging AI in scientific advancements, highlighting figures like William Fedus from OpenAI, who co-founded Periodic Labs. "Imagine if we could use AI to dramatically shorten drug discovery timelines?" Zhan believes this focus on AI in science could rival the current prominence of AI in robotics.