Yohei Nakajima: The VC Who Lives and Breathes AI

Yohei Nakajima represents a new breed of venture capitalist—one who doesn’t just talk about artificial intelligence but actively builds, experiments, and lives with it daily. As a Seattle-area VC at Untapped Capital, Nakajima has positioned himself at the intersection of investment and innovation, becoming as much a creator as he is a funder. His journey with generative AI began back in 2022, well before tools like ChatGPT captured the public imagination. This early adoption wasn’t just about staying ahead of trends; it was about deeply understanding the technology that would reshape how we work. Today, AI has become thoroughly integrated into Untapped Capital’s operations—from sourcing potential investments to conducting due diligence, handling data entry, and executing marketing campaigns. For Nakajima and his team, AI isn’t a buzzword; it’s the backbone of their daily workflow, reflecting his conviction that the technology will fundamentally transform productivity across industries.

What truly distinguishes Nakajima in the venture capital landscape is his commitment to building and testing AI tools publicly. Rather than merely theorizing about AI’s potential, he puts his ideas into practice and shares them with the world. His viral project, Baby AGI—an open-source autonomous agent he released in 2023—demonstrates his technical capabilities and willingness to contribute to the broader AI ecosystem. Similarly, his creation of VCpedia, an AI-powered startup intelligence platform, showcases his ability to “vibe-code” practical solutions to industry challenges. Untapped Capital has extended this philosophy by developing custom GPTs, including a tool called “Mean VC” that helps entrepreneurs refine their pitches. This tool has resonated strongly with founders, providing them with immediate, actionable feedback without the intimidation or scheduling constraints of traditional pitch meetings. By developing and sharing these tools, Nakajima blurs the line between investor and builder, gaining unique insights that inform his investment decisions.

This build-in-public approach serves multiple strategic purposes for Nakajima and Untapped Capital. First, it establishes credibility within developer communities, positioning the firm as a participant rather than just an observer in the AI revolution. “We are treated like builders ourselves,” Nakajima explains, noting how this perception opens doors to conversations and opportunities that might otherwise remain inaccessible. Second, this approach functions as an organic research and development strategy, allowing the firm to test hypotheses about AI applications and gather real-world feedback. Third, it serves as a distinctive marketing channel, demonstrating Untapped’s expertise and perspective in a tangible way rather than through abstract claims. Perhaps most importantly, this public experimentation creates a continuous feedback loop—when Nakajima shares how he uses AI, he receives valuable insights from others about their experiences, helping him maintain “a strong pulse on how AI is used” in various contexts and industries.

Nakajima’s hands-on approach has directly influenced Untapped’s investment portfolio. In one notable instance, the firm was internally developing AI-powered due diligence tools when they were introduced to Wokelo, a Seattle-based startup working on similar technology. This shared focus created an immediate connection, leading Untapped to invest in Wokelo’s pre-seed round in 2023. For organizations looking to integrate AI into their workflows, Nakajima emphasizes the importance of leadership by example. When colleagues would ask questions that could be answered by ChatGPT, he wouldn’t just provide the answer—he would share his conversation with the AI, demonstrating its capabilities in context. “By seeing me use ChatGPT regularly, and seeing the benefit of it, my team started to pick it up,” he explains. This organic adoption strategy proved more effective than formal training sessions or mandates, highlighting how the value of AI tools becomes self-evident through practical application. Nakajima’s background—growing up in the Seattle area and gaining experience at Scrum Ventures and Techstars—has positioned him to recognize the long-term potential of AI to transform not just specific tasks but entire work processes.

Looking ahead, Nakajima predicts that AI will become so deeply integrated into human workflows that we’ll eventually see “AI doing more work than humans” in terms of measurable output. This vision guides his investment focus toward several emerging trends: autonomous agents and authorization frameworks, governance solutions for AI deployment in enterprise environments, and consumer applications in creative fields like film, gaming, and music that are built specifically for the generative AI era. Despite this technological focus, Untapped Capital maintains a generalist investment approach, supporting early-stage U.S. startups across various sectors. The firm raised $9.5 million for its initial fund and has already made 36 investments, typically writing checks between $250,000 and $500,000 for companies valued at $10 million or less. This strategy allows Nakajima to support founders at the earliest stages of development, where his hands-on experience with AI can provide particularly valuable guidance.

Nakajima’s distinctive approach represents a new model for venture capital in the AI age—one where investors don’t just provide capital but actively contribute to technological advancement, building bridges between development communities and investment opportunities. By immersing himself in the technology he funds, Nakajima gains insights that would be impossible to acquire from a distance, creating value for both his portfolio companies and the broader AI ecosystem. As artificial intelligence continues to transform industries, this hybrid investor-builder model may become increasingly important, combining financial support with practical expertise to help navigate the complex challenges and opportunities of the AI revolution. Through his public experimentation and strategic investments, Yohei Nakajima isn’t just predicting the future of AI—he’s actively helping to shape it.