True Ventures co-founder Jon Callaghan believes that the way we use smartphones today will be drastically different in five years — and that we might not even be using them at all in ten.
With a history of supporting successful companies like Fitbit, Ring, and Peloton, Callaghan’s insights carry significant weight, especially since True Ventures has a proven track record of going against the grain.
Despite managing about $6 billion across various funds, the firm has maintained a low profile while focusing on building strong relationships with repeat founders. This approach has led to 63 successful exits and seven IPOs from a portfolio of around 300 companies over the past two decades. In the last quarter of 2025, three of True’s four exits involved founders who had previously collaborated with the firm.
Callaghan stands out in the current wave of excitement surrounding AI and tech investments. “We’re not going to be using iPhones in 10 years,” he states confidently. “I kind of don’t think we’ll be using them in five years – or let’s say it differently, we’re going to be using them in very different ways.”
His rationale is straightforward: smartphones fall short as effective interfaces for human interaction with intelligence. “The way we take them out right now to send a text or an email is super inefficient and causes disruptions in our lives,” he explains.
True Ventures has been exploring alternative interfaces for years, investing in various projects that propose new methods for human-tech interaction. This same intuition led them to back startups like Fitbit, Peloton, and Ring when such investments seemed risky.
The latest embodiment of this philosophy is Sandbar, a hardware device Callaghan refers to as a “thought companion.” Essentially, it’s a voice-activated ring meant to capture and organize your thoughts. “It does one thing really well,” Callaghan asserts, addressing a fundamental human need that technology often overlooks.
The goal isn’t just to record audio but to be available when inspiration strikes, acting as a sort of collaborative partner. It connects to an app, utilizes AI, and represents a shift in how we interact with technology.
True Ventures was impressed not only by the product but also by the vision of Sandbar’s founders, Mina Fahmi and Kirak Hong. Their previous work on neural interfaces at CTRL-Labs, which was acquired by Meta, helped solidify their alignment with True’s aspirations for new technologies.
Callaghan’s perspective is reminiscent of his approach to Peloton: “It’s not about the bike.” Though the bike itself was attractive to some, the true value lay in the enabled behaviors and community it fostered.
This mindset also explains how True has maintained discipline in its investments, sticking to seed checks of $3 million to $6 million for 15% to 20% ownership in startups, despite a landscape where other firms are raising enormous amounts of capital.
While he acknowledges the potential for companies like OpenAI to achieve valuations in the trillions, he remains cautious about the current capital-intensive cycle and the risks associated with it.
Callaghan sees the greatest opportunities in the application layer of technology, where innovative interfaces can foster new behaviors rather than just focusing on the infrastructure that supports them.
At the heart of his investment philosophy lies the belief that true innovation should be “scary and lonely,” and that success takes time, often revealing itself five to ten years down the road.
Given True’s history of successfully betting on hardware trends — from fitness trackers to smart doorbells — it’s worth noting when Callaghan predicts that smartphones are on borrowed time. The smartphone market is nearly saturated, growing at only 2% annually, while wearables are experiencing rapid growth.
The landscape of how we want to interact with technology is changing, and True Ventures is positioning itself accordingly.
Pictured above is Sandbar’s Stream ring. For more insights from our conversation with Callaghan, check out the StrictlyVC Download podcast next week, with new episodes released every Tuesday.
