In this Influencer Series conversation, Ravi Belani speaks with Hayk Tepanyan, co-founder of BlueQubit, about why quantum computing is on the verge of real-world impact. Hayk explains what scientific quantum advantage actually means, why the field's benchmarks have often been misleading, and how BlueQubit's recent breakthrough differs from the quantum hype that came before it. The conversation also covers what a "ChatGPT moment" for quantum might look like, how AI fits into the picture, and what it takes to stay laser focused while building a company at the frontier of science.
The Influencer Series is an intimate, invite-only gathering of influential, good-energy leaders. The intent is to have fun, high-impact, “dinner table” conversations with people you don't know but should. The Influencer Series has connected over 4,000 participants and 15,000 influencers in our community over the last decade.
These roundtable conversations provide a space for prominent VC funds, corporate leaders, start-up founders, academics, and other influencers to explore new ideas through an authentic and connective experience.
In this Influencer Series conversation, Ravi Belani speaks with Hayk Tepanyan, co-founder of BlueQubit, about what it actually means to achieve quantum advantage, why so many previous claims in the field have fallen short, and how BlueQubit's December breakthrough changes the conversation.
Quantum computing has been described as transformative for decades. But the gap between theoretical promise and practical proof has frustrated researchers, investors, and founders alike. Hayk's view is that the gap is finally starting to close, not because the hype has caught up with reality, but because the science has.
BlueQubit's milestone, which the team calls scientific quantum advantage, demonstrates that a quantum computer can solve a real-world-input problem orders of magnitude faster than any classical supercomputer. That is a different kind of claim than the field has typically made, and Hayk is clear about why the distinction matters.
This article covers what quantum computing actually is, why most "quantum advantage" claims have been unconvincing, what BlueQubit's breakthrough represents, how the field gets from here to commercial impact, and what focus really means when you are building at the frontier of science.
Quantum computing uses the laws of quantum mechanics to solve specific problems far faster than any classical computer, including CPUs, GPUs, and AI systems.
Most prior quantum advantage claims were built around problems specifically designed for quantum computers, limiting their real-world relevance.
BlueQubit's scientific quantum advantage milestone uses a problem that takes real-world inputs, making it fundamentally harder to dismiss as manufactured.
Their quantum computer solved the problem in 2 hours; the same problem would take years on the world's largest supercomputer.
Commercial quantum advantage, where quantum computing delivers value in finance, drug discovery, or materials science, could be 2 to 3 years away.
A "ChatGPT moment" for quantum will likely look different from the AI breakthrough: most people will benefit indirectly, through new drugs, better batteries, or more efficient materials.
Focus is not just about what you work on. It is about what you choose not to do, even when other ideas feel compelling.
Ask a quantum physicist for a full explanation and you will need a few books. Ask Hayk Tepanyan, and you get something more useful.
Quantum computing is a new type of computer that uses the laws of quantum mechanics. In specific tasks, it is not marginally faster than a regular computer. It is orders of magnitude more powerful.
The key phrase is "in specific tasks." Quantum computers are not general-purpose replacements for the laptops and servers we use today. They are specialized tools designed to handle certain categories of problems that classical computing struggles to crack at scale, including simulations of molecular behavior, optimization problems in logistics and finance, and cryptographic challenges.
The promise has always been enormous. The challenge has been proving it in ways that actually matter.
For years, the quantum computing field has been generating headlines about breakthroughs. And for years, skeptics have pointed out the same flaw: most of the problems being solved were essentially built for quantum computers from the start.
It is a bit like a rapper taking the stage and delivering a flawless freestyle, only for the audience to learn later that the lyrics were written the night before. Impressive, technically, but not quite what was advertised.
Hayk uses exactly this analogy to explain why BlueQubit's approach is different. The real test of a freestyle rapper is not the performance itself. It is whether they can take random words thrown from the audience and compose something coherent on the spot. The input has to come from the real world, unscripted and unmanipulated.
BlueQubit's algorithm works the same way. Rather than constructing a problem optimized for quantum processing, their system can take any message from the real world, encode it inside a quantum circuit using what are called peak circuits, and then pose the question: can you decipher it? A quantum computer can. A classical supercomputer, even the largest one currently in existence, cannot, at least not within a human-relevant timeframe.
That extensibility is what makes the claim credible. It is not a narrow demonstration. It is a proof that quantum advantage can generalize to real-world inputs.
BlueQubit achieved this milestone in December 2025, nearly a year after the team began working toward it.
The specific result: a problem that takes their quantum computer 2 hours to solve would take the world's largest supercomputer years to complete. Not hours. Not days. Years.
Hayk and his team call this scientific quantum advantage. The terminology is deliberate. The problem being solved is not yet directly tied to curing a disease or optimizing a supply chain. It is a demonstration at the scientific level, a proof that quantum computing can outperform classical computing on inputs drawn from the real world.
That is the first rung on the ladder. The second rung is commercial quantum advantage, where the same capability gets applied to problems with direct economic value in finance, materials science, chemistry, or drug development. According to Hayk, that rung is closer than most people realize. He puts the timeline at 2 to 3 years.
BlueQubit's roadmap is structured around this two-stage model. Accumulate scientific quantum advantages across a range of problem types. As those results compound, some will spill into domains with commercial stakes. At that point, the technology stops being a research story and becomes an industry story.
One of the most compelling questions in the conversation is whether quantum computing will ever have its own ChatGPT moment, a single, undeniable demonstration that shifts public understanding and unlocks mass adoption.
Hayk believes it will. But he thinks it will look different from what happened with AI.
ChatGPT was a moment that billions of people could experience directly. Anyone with an internet connection could interact with it, be surprised by it, and immediately grasp what had changed. That kind of direct access made the shift visceral and fast.
Quantum computing's equivalent moment is unlikely to feel the same way. Most people will not hold a quantum computer in their pocket. They will not know when one has been used on their behalf. But they will feel the effects. A new drug that would not have been discovered without quantum simulation. A battery breakthrough that accelerates the clean energy transition. A financial algorithm that performs at a level no classical system could reach.
The moment will register most clearly for large companies, governments, and investors who understand what had previously been impossible. For the broader public, it will arrive quietly, embedded inside products and discoveries that simply work better than what came before.
Hayk estimates that kind of inflection point is 5 to 10 years away. The scientific groundwork being laid right now, by teams like BlueQubit, is the prerequisite for getting there.
The question of whether AI and quantum are connected, or competing, comes up often. Hayk's answer is grounded.
AI accelerates development across almost every technical domain right now, and quantum is no exception. It is helping researchers design better algorithms, analyze results faster, and surface patterns in experimental data that would take much longer to find manually. In that sense, AI is a tailwind for quantum, not a substitute for it.
The more speculative territory, whether quantum computing could one day unlock machine consciousness or fundamentally change what AI is capable of, is a different conversation. Hayk is a scientist, and he treats those questions as philosophy rather than near-term research agenda. Interesting. Worth thinking about. But not what BlueQubit is building toward today.
What BlueQubit is building toward is more specific and more near-term: algorithms that can run on quantum hardware, outperform classical alternatives on meaningful problems, and eventually deliver commercial value at scale. AI helps. But it is not the point.
The conversation takes a brief detour into boldness. Hayk, asked about the outer limits of what quantum might enable, puts a roughly 20% probability on human teleportation becoming possible within 50 years. Not as science fiction, but as a scaled extension of quantum teleportation that already works at small levels today.
He is quick to add that he has no idea how to actually build it. But his broader point is worth sitting with.
Scientists are often poor predictors of long-term futures in their own fields. Not because they lack intelligence, but because they are so close to the current obstacles that they tend to project those obstacles indefinitely forward. They overestimate how hard things will be in the short term and underestimate how much can change over decades.
Hayk points to Michio Kaku as a rare exception, a scientist willing to make genuine long-term predictions, and one who is widely criticized by peers for exactly that willingness.
The pattern Hayk describes is well-documented: short-term overestimation, long-term underestimation. For anyone building a company or investing in a frontier technology, that asymmetry is worth internalizing. The obstacles that feel permanent rarely are.
Hayk ends the conversation with a framing of focus that is more honest than the usual startup-speak version.
A friend once told him: laser focus is when you get up every day with an idea you want to pursue, and you still do not pursue it, because you are committed to something else. That is the discipline. Not the absence of other ideas. The active, daily choice to stay on the thing that matters.
For Hayk, that thing is quantum computing software and algorithms. BlueQubit has a clear lane. Scientific quantum advantage first. Commercial quantum advantage next. Stay in it, compound the results, and let the adjacent opportunities come later.
For founders building anything that requires years of compounding work, whether in quantum, deep tech, or any other domain where the payoff is not quick, that discipline is often the difference between building something real and building something scattered.
Quantum computing is not waiting to become relevant. The infrastructure is being built now. The algorithms are being developed now. The first demonstrations of real-world advantage are happening now.
What BlueQubit proved in December is not the end of anything. It is an early marker on a longer road. But it is a meaningful one, because it shifts the question from "can quantum computing work?" to "how quickly can it become commercially useful?"
Hayk's answer is faster than most people expect.
The founders and investors who take that timeline seriously, who understand the distinction between scientific demonstration and commercial readiness, and who have the patience to stay focused while the science compounds, are building toward something genuinely significant.
Quantum will not announce itself loudly when it arrives. It will show up inside a discovery or a product that changes what is possible. The work happening now is what makes that moment inevitable.
Investing globally since 2001, BASF Venture Capital backs startups in Decarbonization, Circular Economy, AgTech, New Materials, Digitization, and more. Backed by BASF’s R&D and customer network, BVC plays an active role in scaling disruptive solutions.
A premier international law firm with deep expertise in Corporate Venture Capital, WilmerHale operates at the nexus of government and business. Contact whlaunch@wilmerhale.com to explore how they can support your CVC strategy.
FinStrat Management is a premier outsourced financial operations firm specializing in accounting, finance, and reporting solutions for early-stage and investor-backed companies, family offices, high-net-worth individuals, and venture funds.
The firm’s core offerings include fractional CFO-led accounting + finance services, fund accounting and administration, and portfolio company monitoring + reporting. Through hands-on financial leadership, FinStrat helps clients with strategic forecasting, board reporting, investor communications, capital markets planning, and performance dashboards. The company's fund services provide end-to-end back-office support for venture capital firms, including accounting, investor reporting, and equity management.
In addition to financial operations, FinStrat deploys capital on behalf of investors through a model it calls venture assistance, targeting high-growth companies where FinStrat also serves as an end-to-end outsourced business process strategic partner. Clients benefit from improved financial insight, streamlined operations, and enhanced stakeholder confidence — all at a fraction of the cost of building an in-house team.
FinStrat also produces The Innovators & Investors Podcast, a platform that showcases conversations with leading founders, VCs, and ecosystem builders. The podcast is designed to surface real-world insights from early-stage operators and investors, with the goal of demystifying what drives successful startups and funds. By amplifying these voices, FSM supports the broader early-stage ecosystem, encouraging knowledge-sharing, connectivity, and more efficient founder-investor alignment.
Alchemist connects a global network of enterprise founders, investors, corporations, and mentors to the Silicon Valley community.
Alchemist is a global venture-backed accelerator focused on accelerating seed-stage ventures that monetize from enterprises (not consumers). The accelerator invests in enterprise companies with distinctive technical founders and provides founders a structured path to traction, fundraising, mentorship, and community during the 6-month program.
Join our community of founders, mentors, and investors.