Build To Succeed: Digital Experience Design & Product Development; Flutter, AI & Tech Leadership · Very Good Ventures

David Goldman, Celesta Capital — Investing in Deep Tech That Shapes the Future

·47 min·3 clips

Goldman says some VCs write one $250,000 check 300 times and call it genius.

1. Build To Succeed: Digital Experience Design & Product Development; Flutter, AI & Tech Leadership speaks with David Goldman about deep tech investing and AI. 2. David Goldman is a partner at Celesta Capital, an early-stage deep tech venture capital firm, and the show notes Celesta invested in VGV at Series A. 3. The episode asks how entrepreneurs and investors should think about chaos, trade-offs, and AI as a technology wave. 4. Goldman starts with Mech, a robotics company that changed his view of what robots should look like. 5. He compares humanoid robots to planes that do not need to look like birds and imagines a small robot climbing through a wall to fix a leak. 6. Goldman says he began in investment banking on semiconductor deals and then did strategy work for AMD. 7. He explains that an AMD strategy head could call him directly for startup-landscape work because AMD was a big client. 8. Goldman later worked at a diversified investing group that was an LP in Celesta and then spent a year at a startup in building construction. 9. He says Celesta's focus is early-stage investing, roughly from C to Series B, where the firm can still make an impact. 10. He defines deep tech as a company built around a core technology innovation that can be monetized through hardware, IP, software, or services. 11. Goldman says the firm rejects companies without differentiated technology, even if they might succeed through other means. 12. He describes technology VC as a wide field that includes both quick, high-volume check writing and deeper conviction-based investing. 13. Goldman says his team spends as much or more time with struggling companies than with successful ones. 14. He explains that founders and investors often deal with lawyers, customer losses, and reputation questions when a company is under pressure. 15. Goldman says many shutdowns are not anyone's fault because markets shift or big customers leave for reasons outside a founder's control. 16. He says early-stage investors sign up for decade-plus time horizons and need technology that stays differentiated across changing governments and policies. 17. Goldman says AI is broadly promising, but its impact and usage will not be evenly distributed. 18. He points to foundation models, AI infrastructure, and vertical applications as the main places where dollars are going now. 19. The conversation is an interview with practical pacing, lots of back-and-forth examples, and a neutral, reflective tone. 20. Listeners interested in deep tech, venture capital, and AI strategy will get the most from it; listeners wanting light banter may skip it.

As heard by us

A practical look at where deep tech and AI may create value, and where the hype runs ahead of the use case.

David Goldman uses the conversation to trace where deep technology and AI might matter in day-to-day life. He starts with robotics and Mech, pushing back on the idea that robots need human shapes, then moves into housing, health care, and education.

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Why you'd press play

Hear how a deep tech VC sizes up AI beyond the usual hype, from robotics to real-world uses.

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