Mentions
The Seed 100: The Best Early-Stage Investors of 2026
Business Insider named Jesse Robbins to its 2026 Seed 100, its annual ranking of the best early-stage venture investors. Robbins invests in AI developer tools and infrastructure, with recent investments including Figure AI, Shield AI, Instacart, and Fastly. He cofounded Chef and the DevOps movement.
“I look for founders who want to build the operating system for entire industries. This requires extraordinary taste, grit, drive, and a vision for the future.”
Sunil Dhaliwal, Founder of Amplify Partners, on Lessons from 27 Years in VC
My friend Sunil Dhaliwal has proven to be one of the most successful investors in our space. Two far-ranging hours on We The Builders, from the dot-com bubble to where the AI boom is really constrained to building Amplify. Go listen to the whole thing.
“Fastly was an introduction through a former CEO of mine, Jesse Robbins … Jesse said whenever Artur Bergman quits his job, he's going to start something. I would back that guy … Artur is fucking brilliant. Believe what he says … And that is probably the single biggest success in the history of the firm.”
Call a savepoint
Working with AI engages the same dopamine machinery as slot machines. The hollow feeling at the end of a 2.3B-token week is the loop doing what loops like this do. The fix is a savepoint.
“The pull you feel toward 'just one more iteration' is not evidence that the work needs more time. It is evidence that the schedule of small wins has trained your brain to expect another one.”
Musical AI Raises $4.5M: Jesse Robbins Joins Board
Los Angeles Times follow-on coverage of Musical AI's $4.5M round led by Heavybit, with me joining the board. The piece frames Musical AI as rights-aware infrastructure for generative music.
What I look for when I invest
On airCFO's Funded podcast I walked through how I evaluate companies at Heavybit, why market size is the first filter I apply, and how I read co-founder dynamics before I read the pitch.
Musical AI Bags $4.5M to Scale AI Attribution Tech: Jesse Robbins Joins Board
Music Business Worldwide broke Musical AI's $4.5M round, led by Heavybit, with me joining the board. The piece covers what Musical AI is building and why attribution matters for generative music.
“Musical AI's attribution technology is essential infrastructure that will enable and accelerate every media-focused AI product.”
Investing in Vibrant Labs: AI Agent Simulation Infrastructure
Annoucing investment in Vibrant Labs, which builds production-grade simulation and verifier-driven evaluation for long-horizon AI agents.
“Vibrant Labs opens a new frontier in AI infrastructure: production-grade, RL-ready simulation and verifier-driven evaluation built for long-horizon agents.”
What Investors Look For in AI Startups: Builders with Taste
At Shift Conference Miami 2025 I walked through what makes a developer-tools startup investable, why AI is still in the toil-automation phase, and where things are headed.