Co-founder of True Ventures, Jon Callaghan, believes that in 5–10 years, smartphones will become a completely different device or vanish from daily use altogether.
His firm has invested roughly $6 billion over 20 years into 300 startups, including Fitbit, Peloton, Ring, and HashiCorp, resulting in 63 profitable exits and 7 IPOs.
True operates discreetly, placing wagers on innovative interfaces. The latest example is the Sandbar ring for voice memos, which captures and organizes thoughts, supplanting the conventional screen as an intermediary between the user and data.
Callaghan asserts that phones perform poorly as an interface, and novel devices enable the creation of habits and behaviors that alter technological engagement. True invests in early phases, issuing checks from $3 to $6 million for 15–20% equity in ventures, and focuses on applications and interfaces rather than infrastructure, viewing the smartphone market as nearly saturated with growth of only 2% annually.
About the Author
