Chris Kong

GP at PaperJet Ventures. Inception capital for Physical AI. Semiconductors, robotics, defense.

[Chris Kong @ckongvc]

New essay.

The U.S. isn’t losing manufacturing because we lack innovation.

We’re losing because innovation, capital, and deployment move on different clocks.

China treats Industrial AI like infrastructure.
The U.S. still treats it like a pilot.

That single difference explains why factories don’t learn, cost curves don’t fall, and every “success” resets back to zero.

[Chris Kong @ckongvc]

January 2027 is when the first filer sets the reference design every subsequent entrant must measure against.
The filing date is the moat clock.

PS: Congrats @AssilHalimi and Drew.

[Chris Kong @ckongvc]

Attended @ycombinator Demo Day today. @apolloatomcis presented.
Nuclear plant that fits in a factory, ships on a truck, runs in under 24 months.
The fuel autoclave is in the YC parking lot right now.

[Chris Kong @ckongvc]

Supply chain assembled before the regulatory window opens.
Last week, an AI data center company filed an NRC comment asking for fleet licensing of 20 to 50 reactors across multiple campuses.
The demand arrived before the pathway finished forming.

[Chris Kong @ckongvc]

Super packed house @ycombinator demo day today.

[Chris Kong @ckongvc]

@NealGardner_ PSG winning CL

[Chris Kong @ckongvc]

Never imagine I can see this.

[Justin Schroeder @jpschroeder]

Fable isn't the first.

In 1999 the department of defense blocked exports of the PowerMac G4 for crossing the 1 gigaflop threshold.

Steve Jobs turned it into an ad.

[Chris Kong @ckongvc]

@haleymbryant Will do. Only the best inception type deals.

[Chris Kong @ckongvc]

Amazing to see how much this company has built its network to launch this product.

[Dom Wong @domwong]

The dirty secret about consumer research? It’s overrun by fraud.

Survey bots. People lying to qualify for interviews.

Today, Pogo is launching the world’s only AI researcher that lets brands talk to verified buyers of any product - at scale, in hours.

Backed by $32M to date.

For 6 years, we’ve built the consumer network that makes research with real, verified buyers possible:

• 3M+ opted-in U.S. consumers
• Visibility into 1 in every 150 U.S. shopping trips
• $470B in observed transactions
• Ranked #1 Loyalty App in the U.S. by Newsweek, two years running

Watch the full story 👇

[Chris Kong @ckongvc]

@DavidSHolz Would love to come

[Chris Kong @ckongvc]

@ericbahn What kind of countertop did he choose?

[Chris Kong @ckongvc]

@jacobrintamaki This is very well written.

[Chris Kong @ckongvc]

@TheStalwart Sounds funny when it’s in Cantonese

[Chris Kong @ckongvc]

@TheKnicksRecap Youth…

[Chris Kong @ckongvc]

@thejamescad @sequoia @dbabbs @Alfred_Lin I got a nice ‘pass’ email from him where he explained their thought process about our startup and the target market. Very professional compared to some of the ones I experienced in NY.

[Christina Farr @chrissyfarr]

Emerging managers are also founders.

I talked to one this week that took zero pay for 2 years, a second mortgage on their home, and zero vacations.

I'm not saying we should break out the tiny violin. But we venerate one group, and willfully make fun of the other.

[Chris Kong @ckongvc]

@tslaming Must be the spacex allocation

[Robert Scoble @Scobleizer]

Entrepreneurs here on X are sharing when VCs have treated them badly.

Every time I read one, I feel bad because I know I've treated some entrepeneurs badly too. Even though I've treated thousands well, it is those few I treated badly that weighs heavily in my mind.

Today I try to treat everyone well, but still fail once in a while.

Treating people well leads to much more happiness than treating people badly.

Here's a list of everyone's stories my AI was able to find:

+++++

Here's the full list of entrepreneurs sharing VC rejection stories, starting with the freshest from today and working backward:

Matthew Prince (@eastdakota, CEO Cloudflare)
Two stories: A Sequoia partner passed on Cloudflare because "he didn't think a woman could lead a security infrastructure company." Plus: got intro to Marc Andreessen, the meeting was scheduled for a Monday ("which should have been a clue").
https://t.co/rW3pi8xG4q

Sarah Drinkwater (@sarahdrinkwater, investor/founder)
LP insisted on meeting at Hurlingham Club (ritzy tennis club, 90 mins outside London). He was late. Asked on video from his car why her dad or husband hadn't done 100% of the seed himself like his dad did. Sent a pass email "so rude I pinned it above my desk as fuel."
https://t.co/OeNWNTLUjf

Ansh (@anshublog, Scrut)
"One VC got increasingly angry with me as the pitch went on, started shouting and his face got red." Very upset that anyone would think enterprises would trust a startup with sensitive cloud data. "Now we have Walmart & Visa."
https://t.co/GMOXY27Ucj

Romain Lacombe (@rlacombe, co-founder Plume)
Two stories in one thread: A "Sand Hill legend" stood up in the middle of his pitch, turned to him as he left, and said "you're brave" — probably not a compliment. Plus: a French VC who told him point-blank [it was futile].
https://t.co/lrutHdMjT9

Aaron Boodman (@aboodman)
2014 at Khosla Ventures: the partner assigned to them flaked with no notice. They got reassigned to someone with zero context. He "arrived, openly irritated," sneered "well, I guess you've got me," then disappeared into his email for the entire pitch.
https://t.co/IgSj3rjlpp

Mat Sherman (@MatSherman)
"Thank god YC rejected me 11 times so I would have the fire in my belly long enough to stumble upon our current model."
https://t.co/rQmwQNt2XC

Liz Wessel (@lizwessel, co-founder WayUp)
2015 Series A: "One partner (famous Midas lister) fell asleep. Another couldn't stop scowling." Got a call 2 hours after the IC: they were sending a term sheet. "And somehow they later acted shocked when we didn't take it."
https://t.co/xmZ7RgHLe6

@panickssery
On Anthropic's Series B: "Their crime? Passing on the Series B, the hardest round Dario ever had to raise (led by Spark). In venture, conviction is all that counts."
https://t.co/PgjX2ClvGd

@hthieblot
"I flew 4 hours for a Series A pitch. The VC opens the door: 'I've got 20 minutes.' Skims the deck. Says: 'We don't invest in media companies. Don't want to waste your time.' I stayed calm, thanked him, and walked out."
https://t.co/dIRtEqv4us

Harry Stebbings (@HarryStebbings, 20VC)
"I introduced Dario [Amodei] to 22 friends up and down Sand Hill Road and we got 21 no's… it was such a brutal time getting this company going." That company today trades at $860B on secondary markets.
https://t.co/q56zrniznz

Daniel Dhawan (@danieldhawan) — 13 likes
YC rejected him 8+ times from 2019–2024. Then raised from a16z @speedrun in 2025.
https://t.co/ZkP25IZDfS

Tobi Lutke (@tobi, CEO Shopify) — reshared Startup Archive
VCs on Sand Hill Road passed on Shopify ("market wasn't going to be big enough"). That's among the worst misses in VC history.
https://t.co/IKBZBjjlgX