AI has gone from curiosity to kingmaker in tech investing, and investors are racing to figure out where the real opportunity lies. But beneath the noise, we’re still in the early stages of figuring out what’s real, what’s hype, and where the smart money is going.
In April, three insiders—Slava Rubin (Vincent), Josh Kampel (Worth Media), and Jan-Erik Asplund (Sacra)—got together to tackle the question on every investor’s mind: how do you actually invest in AI without getting burned? In a live event packed with real talk and sharp insights, they broke down where the real opportunities are, what to watch out for, and how to get pre-IPO exposure before the wave crests.
Here are the main takeaways:
Investors Need to Understand the Sector Before Investing in It
AI is a massive space. It includes hardware providers such as Nvidia and AMD, cloud providers such as Microsoft and Coreweave, model companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic, and both B2B and B2C apps such as Perplexity and Glean. It touches nearly every major tech company and many startups, so investors need to look beyond whether a company is an “AI company” and determine what type of “AI company” it is.
“Where is the value being captured now in this value chain and where will it be captured in the future?”
– Jan-Erik Asplund
Identifying Top AI companies Requires Careful Analysis
They picked the top 10 public and top 10 private AI companies, which include the Magnificent Seven tech stocks, as well as the giant private startups OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI. See above. But the list also includes names you might not expect, such as Palantir and defense startup Anduril, which speaks to how widely investors should cast their net when thinking about AI.
Strategic Differentiation Is Key
Companies that will deliver the highest returns over the next decade are the ones that differentiate themselves, either with their product or their scale. Companies with no strategic moat to protect their product or business model will either fail or get swallowed up by bigger players. Investors should be targeting companies that are likely to remain major players ten years from now.
“For any new innovation that’s happening, I’m simplifying here, there’s probably 100 companies that are doing that exact thing. 90 of them are gonna die, for sure. And the rest of the 10, only five of them are gonna be breakouts of any kind. So you have to be able to find the five out of the 100 that you’re going to make real money on. And of course, if you pick like the one, two or three at the top, the ones that really break out over the course of the decade, you could have huge returns.”
– Slava Rubin
In a Rapidly Evolving Ecosystem, Investors Have to Stay Informed
The world of AI startups is highly competitive and constantly changing, so investors need to make sure to continue to do their own research. It is not only the top companies that deserve attention, but also the many smaller companies that have the potential to break into the top tier. There is also going to be a growing integration of AI into all sectors, meaning that there are companies that aren’t thought of as AI companies now that will be in the future.
“I think that’s just what we’re going to see is that every company will become an AI company.”
– Josh Kampel
Investors Should Consider Their Own Risk Tolerance and Investment Style
Investing in AI-related companies presents the potential for significant returns, but of course, that can also come with commensurate risk. Public stocks are generally less volatile than shares of private companies, with much greater liquidity, but generally less upside. There is also less risk in investing in a basket of AI companies to get exposure to the sector, as opposed to picking a few companies in the hopes of selecting a winner.
“You make your choices in terms of public versus private, of course, that’s up to you. You also have to think about whether you want to be a stock picker or you want to have index exposure.”
– Slava Rubin
This is just the start of the conversation surrounding AI. In five or ten years, we will look back to 2025 and the ecosystem could look unrecognizable. Any investor should continue monitoring the sector, and understand there is still considerable upside that may warrant serious investment.
