Kevin Rose has a visceral rule for evaluating AI hardware investments: “If you feel like you should punch someone in the face for wearing it, you probably shouldn’t invest in it.”
It’s a typically candid assessment from the veteran investor, and one born from watching the current wave of AI hardware startups repeat mistakes he’s seen before. Rose, a general partner at True Ventures and early investor in Peloton, Ring, and Fitbit, has largely avoided the AI hardware gold rush that’s consumed Silicon Valley. While other VCs rush to fund the next smart glasses or AI pendant, Rose is taking a decidedly different approach.
“A lot of it is just like, ‘Let’s listen to the entire conversation,’” Rose says of the current crop of AI wearables. “And to me, that breaks a lot of these social constructs that we have with humans around privacy.”Rose speaks from experience. He was on the board of Oura, which now commands 80% of the smart ring market, and he’s witnessed firsthand what separates successful wearables from failed ones. The difference isn’t just technical capability; it’s emotional resonance and social acceptability.
“As an investor, you kind of have to not only say, okay, cool tech, sure, but emotionally, how does it make me feel? And how does it make others feel around me?” he explained on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt last week. “And for me, a lot of that is lost in all the AI stuff, where it’s just always on, always listening, trying to be the smartest person in the room. And it’s just not healthy.”
He admits to trying various AI wearables himself, including the failed Humane AI pendan …