1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 Lee Edwards is a General Partner at Root VC, a San Francisco-based deep tech seed fund. They recently raised their 4th fund of $190 million.&amp;nbsp; But before he became a venture capitalist, Lee was an engineer.&amp;nbsp; He was most recently CTO at Teespring. Previously, Lee was a mechanical engineer at iRobot, a software engineer at Pivotal Labs, Lead Engineer at SideTour (acquired by Groupon in 2013), and engineering manager for GrouponLive. He graduated from Olin College of Engineering with a degree in Systems Engineering.&amp;nbsp; So not the type of person you’d expect to become a venture capitalist. In this episode he talks about unconventional leap from hands-on engineering at Pivotal Labs and Teespring to the high-stakes world of seed-stage investing in devtools, AI, and hard tech.&amp;nbsp; We discuss – it gets a bit technical -- the magic of pair programming (and why it's the ultimate anti-slacking hack), the ADHD-fueled superpowers of VC life, and Lee's early days tinkering with QBASIC on a Gateway 2000.&amp;nbsp; We also cover AI's overhyped (yet underappreciated) revolution, the wild west of Web3 engineering, and why San Francisco remains the epicenter for autonomous dreamers (shoutout to Waymo dodging NIMBY drama).&amp;nbsp; Plus, we take on fake &quot;AI-native&quot; posers, the next Bill Gates hacking LLMs in their basement, and why technical VCs are the real unicorn hunters. An AI suggested I end the description of the podcast with “Whether you're a builder, investor, or just love origin stories that skip the Ivy League script, Lee's chill vibe and sharp takes make this a must-listen. Tune in for laughs, lore, and lessons on staying hands-dirty in tech.”&amp;nbsp; AI has a way to go. Oh – we also discuss the perennial favorite question around AI: Will we have to blow up the data centers? Root.vc 8-Bit Capital Lee Edwards on X Kent Lindstrom on X Something Ventured -- Silicon Valley Podcast http://somethingventured.us <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/39001910/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/item/39001910