Why Physical AI Is the Next Platform Shift

Predictions and Expectations:

• Eric Landau predicts that "in five to ten years there will be more robots than people."
• Eric Landau expects that the world will become a "world packed with autonomy."
• Eric Landau believes that "AI systems would be multimodal naturally because humans are multimodal."
• Eric Landau foresees that "the biggest application of multimodal AI now is in physical AI."
• Eric Landau is not sure if he will achieve product-market fit at a single binary moment, stating there was "never a single moment we're like oh We have got product market fit."
• Eric Landau expects that the market for Physical AI will continue to grow as "80% of economic activity is manipulating or moving things in the real world."
• Eric Landau expects that competitors will either "pivoted or they consolidated or they ran out of money" and predicts the field is "getting competitive again."
• Eric Landau expects that customers will come to Anchored "when they've built internal tools they've tried poc and they are at the inflection point where they need scale."

Timelines and Milestones:

• Eric Landau notes that the realization of product-market fit occurred "two months ago" according to one metric, though looking back it felt like a gradual compounding over "several years."
• Eric Landau recalls a specific failed hire where he kept the employee for "probably nine months" before realizing it was a bad fit.
• Eric Landau expects that robotics applications will be "further along in the maturity curve" within the context of the current "five to ten years" window.

Technology and Product Direction:

• Eric Landau states the company's thesis is to become "multimodal" by taking "as many sensory inputs as you can accept."
• Eric Landau describes the company's focus as shifting from vision to "physical AI" including "robotics, autonomous vehicles, logistics, manufacturing."
• Eric Landau expects the product will evolve to manage "multiple petabytes of all different types of multimodal data."
• Eric Landau plans to continue operating a facility in the Bay Area to be close to customers, while maintaining the London base for talent advantages.
• Eric Landau expects the company to move customers from "POC to production" as their primary use case for scaling.

Market and Industry Outlook:

• Eric Landau expects "physicality" to offer an "enormous opportunity" as the industry moves toward "mass scale production" for autonomous driving.
• Eric Landau believes the market is "already there" for robotics, despite the sector feeling "nascent" to the general public.
• Eric Landau expects competition to intensify again, noting that "a lot of our competitors actually they pivoted or they consolidated or they ran out of money and for a long time there actually wasn't much competition."
• Eric Landau expects that "the world changes and suddenly the thing that people didn't care about now care about," citing the shift in conversation tone after ChatGPT.

Company Plans:

• Eric Landau plans to be "where the important people for your company are," prioritizing customers, then talent, then investors, which led to the co-founder moving to San Francisco.
• Eric Landau expects to continue "constantly" talking to prospects, customers, and other co-founders to synthesize "the next bet."
• Eric Landau expects the company to handle "multiple petabytes of all different types of multimodal data" to scale beyond what competitors like Scale or Merkur can manage.
• Eric Landau states they still have "a bunch of healthcare companies" but are focusing growth on "humanoids consumer robotics manufacturing."

Financial Guidance:

• Eric Landau states the company deals with "multiple petabytes of all different types of multimodal data" and has "hundreds of customers," but explicitly declines to share specific revenue or team size numbers.

Risks and Caveats:

• Eric Landau warns that "it's never um the thing is it's sometimes it's like bad like oh man this is bad but usually it's one of those things where you kind of know in your gut um and or you know you have the feeling but it's just difficult."
• Eric Landau cautions against overselling the product to early-stage companies, stating "I usually I don't want to like oversell our product when it's too early."
• Eric Landau admits they "didn't at first" provide value to customers before achieving product-market fit.
• Eric Landau notes the existential fear of founding is replaced by "more very concrete ones" regarding whether the company is "providing value to someone."

Confidence and Disagreement:

• Eric Landau expresses high confidence that AI is the "technological paradigm shift of our generation," comparing it to the "early days of the internet."
• Eric Landau states he "really believed in ai" and that it was "extremely rewarding" to be part of something bigger, despite the "low lows."
• Eric Landau expresses a nuanced view on hiring, stating "there is no world in which you keep someone nine months that you know is bad," but acknowledges the difficulty in acting on gut feelings.
• Eric Landau expresses confidence that "following your gut and making the right decision faster" is a skill the company has "gotten a lot better at over the years."