Inside The Mind Of Anti Fund Partner Steve Han On Backing The Next Wave Of Disruptive Founders

Steve Han has built a career at the intersection of global perspective and high-stakes investing, bringing a distinctly international lens to the venture ecosystem. A partner at Anti Fund, the venture firm founded by Jake Paul and Geoffrey Woo, Han focuses on identifying early-stage companies that challenge conventional thinking and push technological boundaries.

His path to venture capital reflects both rigorous financial training and deep exposure to global markets, shaped by time at March Capital, where he worked across a $1.6 billion-plus portfolio and earlier at Deutsche Bank, advising major private equity firms including Silver Lake, Thoma Bravo and TPG.

Born in Korea and raised across India and China, Han’s upbringing informs a worldview that is both cross-cultural and forward-looking, an increasingly valuable perspective in a venture landscape defined by global competition and rapid technological change.

Today, at Anti Fund, Han is part of a new generation of investors focused on backing founders who are not just building companies, but rethinking entire industries.

What Makes Early Stage Funding So Important?

Early-stage funding is important because it enables people to dream about changing the world.

If someone is not happy with the way things are, early-stage funding gives them the opportunity to pursue a new idea and try to change it. In a free market, venture capitalists are willing to take risks on founders if they believe the idea is worth the risk and if they see the world in a similar way. They invest because they believe that, if the idea succeeds, they will be rewarded.

For example, If you find yourself frustrated with how workplace messaging tools work, you are thinking the same way the creator of Slack did when he set out to improve team communication. If you feel that trading stocks used to be unnecessarily complicated, that is similar to the frustration that led Vlad Tenev to build Robinhood.

And if existing CRM systems seem inefficient or outdated, that mirrors the dissatisfaction that pushed the founders of Salesforce to create a better solution.

No company stays on top forever. Every day, someone looks at an existing product or system and imagines a better way to do it.

Salesforce will not dominate indefinitely, and new entrants will continue to challenge established players. For example, companies in our portfolio, such as Monaco, are developing new approaches to improve on current systems.

That is why the name Anti Fund is “Anti.” It represents an ethos. The best founders are “anti” by definition because their companies must challenge and disrupt the status quo. Anti Fund believes the best founders are rebels, and this “anti” ethos resonates deeply with the most talented engineers, scientists, and creators who want to build something new.

What Is An Early-Stage Investment Fund?

Normally people describe early stage as pre seed, seed and sometimes Series A. However, I think of it more broadly as any private stage company that has not yet been acquired or gone public.

If a company is still in the private market and the average individual cannot easily invest in it, that is where an early-stage investment fund comes in. These funds specialise in investing in private companies before they become accessible to the public markets.

In other words, early-stage investment funds provide capital to private companies during the earliest phases of their growth, long before they reach an acquisition or an IPO.

Would You Say It Is More Important Than Say, Series A Or B Type Funding, As It Helps Get Businesses Off The Ground?

It really depends on the company, because every business has a different point at which it begins to take off, what you might call its watershed moment. Even some of the best companies may not generate meaningful revenue until Series A, B, or even later, and only then begin to accelerate.

Because of that, it is difficult to say that one stage of funding is more important than another. It depends on how you define a company “getting off the ground.” For some companies, that moment happens very early. For others, it may take several funding rounds before the product, market, and timing align.

From an investor’s perspective, later rounds such as Series B, C, or D usually involve clearer key performance indicators and topline metrics. By that stage, investors are typically evaluating companies as early growth businesses rather than purely early-stage ventures.

What Do You Look For In A Company To Decide Whether To Fund Or Not?

I see the most promise in companies where I already have lots of direct signals from them: 

1. Technical AI infra / agentic systems – orchestration layers, tooling, and infra that other AI products depend on (e.g., multi‑agent platforms, eval/observability, infra that makes LLMs reliable in production)
2. Robotics / physical AI – autonomy stacks and software-first robotics where software is the core IP and hardware is a distribution channel
3. Applied AI with clear revenue motion – products that are already driving new revenue or cutting specific line‑item costs by 5–10x in complex workflows (vertical AI: healthcare ops, industrial, logistics, sales/CS, etc.)
4. When I meet founders for the first time, I like to run the same “stress tests” across many conversations, both with me and with other investors and founders in my network
5. Founder signal from repeated conversations – I talk to the founder multiple times over months, often before there’s a formal raise. I see how quickly they incorporate feedback, how they talk about customers, and whether their story gets sharper or just louder
6. Cross‑network references – I hear how other founders, early employees, and investors talk about them and their product in unrelated calls. That gives me “hidden references” that most people don’t get
7. Customer‑reality check – whenever possible, I prioritise situations where I’ve already heard from users/customers (or adjacent operators) about the pain and whether this actually fixes it

We Hear A Lot About AI. Does AI Play Any Role In What You Do And How And Where You Invest?

Yes, absolutely. AI is central to how we think about investing today. In many ways, it has become the default layer across the technology landscape. If a new software company is built today without any AI component, it is increasingly difficult for that company to maintain a long-term competitive advantage (i.e., no moat).

A large portion of our focus is therefore around AI infrastructure, robotics, defence technology and the broader ecosystem that enables AI applications to scale.

We believe the next generation of category-defining companies will be built around AI-driven capabilities, whether that is in software, robotics, autonomy or industrial systems. Our goal is to partner with founders early as these technological shifts unfold.

Jake Paul Is Practically A Household Name; Does That Impact Your Work With Him?

Yes, but in a very constructive way. Jake’s global brand and network create access that most venture firms simply do not have. Founders often want to work with partners who can help them break through noise, recruit talent, attract attention, and accelerate distribution. Jake’s platform naturally opens doors and creates opportunities that can benefit portfolio companies.

At the same time, we treat the fund as a disciplined investment platform. Decisions are based on the quality of the founders, the technology, and the market opportunity. Jake’s visibility creates access, but the investment process itself is driven by rigorous evaluation.

How Do You And Jake And The Rest Of The Team Decide What To Invest In?

Typically, we begin with an evaluation of the founder and the problem they are trying to solve. We look at founder market fit, the size of the opportunity, and whether the technology or approach is truly differentiated. We also ask a simple but important question: whether we can underwrite a path to a meaningful outcome from the entry point.

We See A Lot Of Modern-Day Content Creators Turning Their Hands To Investing. Why Do You Think That Is?

Content creation tends to be a shorter-cycle business. Platforms, audiences and trends can change quickly. Investing, on the other hand, is fundamentally long-term. The companies you invest in today may take five to ten years to reach their full potential.

For many creators, investing becomes a natural extension of what they are already doing. They build large networks, meet ambitious entrepreneurs and see new products early.

Venture capital allows them to participate in building the future rather than only reacting to trends. In that sense, combining content creation with investing can be a very powerful long-term strategy. They move away from earning commissions from “partnerships” or “marketing deals” but start earning equity in the companies they truly believe in.

What Does Jake Paul Bring To Your Investment Equation?

Jake brings a unique combination of access, distribution and entrepreneurial experience. He has built multiple successful businesses and has one of the largest global audiences in sports and entertainment.

For founders, that translates into real value. It can help with recruiting, marketing, partnerships and visibility at key moments in a company’s growth. It also helps us see opportunities earlier, because many founders and operators reach out directly through Jake’s network.

In venture capital, access often determines which deals you see first. Jake meaningfully expands the firm’s access.

Where Do You See Early Stage Investment Going In The Next Few Years?

It is still evolving, but right now the venture ecosystem, particularly in Silicon Valley, often operates around what you could call “king-making.” The assumption is that category winners tend to capture the majority of value in a market, so once a company is perceived as the leader, capital tends to concentrate around that company. Tier one firms often play a large role in shaping that dynamic, and many other investors follow by allocating capital to the perceived category leader.

However, I think we will also see large outcomes that the traditional tier one investors did not initially identify. Just as we saw in earlier waves of software, some companies will emerge through execution and performance rather than through early signaling from well-known investors.

In the next few years, particularly around 2026 and 2027, I believe the market will increasingly reward real progress, product development, and traction rather than simply how much capital a company raised or which investors participated in the round.

All this to say, early-stage investing will likely become even more competitive. The startup ecosystem itself is becoming more competitive and the same is true for venture firms. If a fund does not have a clear and differentiated edge, whether through access, expertise, network, or platform value, founders will quickly notice. The firms that succeed will be the ones that bring something genuinely unique to the table.