Keplertek: A Better Alternative to Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley has been the innovation locomotive of our time. The concentration of talent and capital as well as a culture characterized by speed and boldness-has created trillions of dollars of market value and significantly contributed to laying the foundation for the concept of “disruptive innovation”. However, for the last 20 years, we had a strange dynamic when Silicon Valley was maybe the only major hub for innovation in the United States and in the world. Even though the internet was supposed to eliminate the tyranny of “place”, we somehow had all the internet companies happening in one place. This will be much more distributed in the future. Certainly, Silicon Valley, on the technology side, will continue producing great companies but perhaps not quite as many.
There are definitely pluses and minuses to this model of innovation and concentration. All the talent capital on one place and extraordinary network effect have been the motor for Silicon Valley. However, network effect could go wrong and it did really do so for Sand Hill Road where everyone is upper-connected and everyone knows what everyone’s thinking. The same network effects that attract talent in the Valley are leading to a conformity of thought, thereby limiting the generation of new ideas. That’s why we somehow got to the point when the negatives are greater than positives.
The issue with Silicon Valley companies is how they are run and how they get funding. In recent times venture capital has become near-homogeneous and often undifferentiated. In 2016, global venture investments amounted to $135bn vs $40bn a decade earlier. Meanwhile, accelerator programs have also exploded, from just a few to over a thousand programs worldwide. The breakthroughs in technology and changes to socio-economic tailwinds are allowing talent and capital to be more widely distributed and connected at the same time. We are truly witnessing the democratization of a number of components of the startup ecosystem and this decentralization is increasingly shifting startup creation to a broader populace.
Here comes Keplertek that aims to provide an ecosystem of services through an easy-to-use interface, connecting exciting Robotics and AI startups with investors while allowing full transparency and traceability of investments. We aim to play an important role in distributing talent and wealth worldwide. Keplertek is the first of its kind and will essentially improve the inefficiency of the talent distribution and capitalization. It might not exactly be a “Zero to One” startup — as legendary former Silicon Valley entrepreneur Peter Thiel would describe- but it is going to be the most efficient AI & Robotics ecosystem where the probability of rising many other “Zero to One” startups will be significantly higher than it is on Silicon Valley today.
There is a concept of “lean” startup that includes small teams getting things done quickly and optimizing as they go on. Certainly, there are things that one can iterate on but the core thing is to have a great product; then you can always improve in many ways. For our Keplertek team, it is more than just asking where are we going with our business. These days, startups tend to think where are they going next month or quarter, focusing on short-term horizons. For us, it is crucial to think ahead 5 to 10 years. In partnership with Tech Parks and labs around the world, KEPLER will allow startups create disruptive innovations in one medium, while KEPLER team experts will be there to help such bright-minded individuals design and polish their products for greater financial exposure.
Giorgi Mtchedlishvili — Deputy CTO, Keplertek
