Sam Altman - How to Start a Startup Relentless 2026-07-25 | Sam Altman is Co-Founder & CEO of OpenAI.Sam on X: https://x.com/samaTi on X: https://x.com/ti_morseOpenAI: openai.comTimestamps:0:04 How to start a startup3:30 Trusting exponentials4:57 Operating in chaotic environments6:12 Learning to enjoy painful experiences8:03 Creating abundant intelligence11:15 Keeping core suppliers on OpenAI’s timelines12:10 Invention of the joint-stock company15:30 The best CEOs aren’t sociopaths 16:46 We are in the singularity 18:09 AI authoritarianism vs liberty 19:24 Texting 300-400 people a day20:32 Having a small number of deep beliefs about the future21:41 Critical path22:25 Thinking about what’s next23:38 Getting on planes in marginal situations28:16 Buying lots of compute30:51 Ambition34:00 Google shouldn’t have let OpenAI survive37:54 Having his life shot through a cannon after the launch of ChatGPT41:20 The growth of Codex 42:02 The Death Star tweet44:46 Status games and desire to be useful47:57 Not being ambitious enough on compute investments50:26 Execution 51:45 Ask for what you want54:11 First few weeks of OpenAI55:15 Shutting down Sora to focus on Codex57:44 Designing beautiful products59:01 Getting addicted to TikTok1:01:03 Inventing a new device1:02:53 Try to get better at your strengths1:05:57 Masa is an n of 11:07:11 Real trends vs fake trends
How to Dominate Manufacturing in the US | Chris Power, Hadrian Relentless 2026-09-21 | Chris is the Founder and CEO of Hadrian, one of the fastest growing manufacturing startups in the United States. Hadrian has opened six factories since it was founded in 2020 with the latest being 2.2 million square feet.Hadrian: hadrian.coChris on X: https://x.com/2112PowerTi on X: https://x.com/ti_morseTimestamps:0:10 How to scale manufacturing in the US1:42 Building ahead of contracts4:21 Burn rate & execution risk6:40 Bets that aren’t risky to you but are risky to everyone else8:34 Scaling capacity10:45 Operating with an 80% risk of death13:10 Sprinting through 1-way doors16:51 “Sometimes you gotta roll a hard 6”18:37 Constructing a new factory21:45 Learning how to build factories28:14 Surviving company killing events32:12 Radically pulling forward timelines37:13 How financing changes as you scale from $1M revenue to $1B revenue38:53 Growing from 725 to 1,325 employees in 4 months43:00 Deciding which contracts to go after45:33 What’s stopping you from growing faster?50:02 “Just f*cking do it”53:23 Designing the finance side of the business56:51 Educating investors on manufacturing and capex heavy businesses59:08 Deciding which competitive advantages to optimize for1:02:08 Building trust with government partners1:04:54 False doors1:09:12 Figuring out the highest leverage activities1:11:04 Investing in velocity1:13:59 Energy management
Manufacturing 50,000 Humanoid Robots Next Year | Bernt Børnich, 1X Relentless 2026-09-18 | Bernt Børnich is the founder and CEO of 1X, a California-based humanoid robotics company. After years of developing NEO, its first home robot, 1X is preparing to manufacture and ship 50,000 units in 2027.1X: https://1x.techBernt on X: https://x.com/BerntBornichTi on X: https://x.com/ti_morseTimestamps:0:03 Shipping 50k humanoids in 20271:45 Cars vs humanoid robots3:51 Living with a Neo5:48 Automating tasks9:14 Manufacturing ramp11:54 Incorporating feedback13:27 Sufficiently advanced engineering is art 14:58 Simplification 17:07 Keeping teams small18:18 Understanding the machine20:15 Designing for warmth23:04 Creating delightful products25:51 Creativity 28:50 Collecting real world data31:14 World models35:00 Teleoperation36:23 Data is diversity bound41:31 Chewing glass
1 Million Drone Deliveries a Day by 2028 | Keller Cliffton, Zipline Relentless 2026-09-14 | Keller is Co-Founder and CEO of Zipline — the biggest drone delivery startup in the world. A few weeks ago, Uber Eats partnered with Zipline to deliver 1 million packages a day within the next 2.5 years.This was significantly more demand than Zipline was planning for, so now they’re trying to rapidly open new factories and scale drone production.Zipline: zipline.comKeller on x: https://x.com/KellerTi on x: https://x.com/ti_morseTimestamps:0:11 Scaling to 1 million deliveries a day4:08 Creating a magical customer experience7:20 The Fermi Paradox for hardware companies12:39 Staying ahead of the company14:31 What won’t change as Zipline scales17:37 Finding people who will tolerate a bad customer experience20:51 Strangest challenges: nesting, hail, solar weather24:12 Selling drones vs selling delivery28:10 Limiting customer growth31:46 Attacking the biggest constraint37:07 Giving the Earth back to humans
Starting a Solid Rocket Motor Factory from Scratch | Ethan Thornton, Mach Industries Relentless 2026-09-02 | Ethan Thornton is the founder and CEO of Mach Industries. Mach is an LA based defense tech startup working on solid rocket motors, high-altitude balloons, missiles, long-range precision strike drones, low-cost kinetic interceptors and multiple other programs which are not currently announced.Mach Industries: machindustries.comEthan on X: https://x.com/ethanrthorntonTi on X: https://x.com/ti_morseTimestamps:0:09 Starting a solid rocket motor factory11:00 Smoothing out the boom bust cycle in defense15:53 Creating tight iteration loops19:58 Block redesigns23:39 Product iteration is more important than performance27:22 Opex vs Capex30:17 Building a flexible organization33:22 Investing in programs before there’s a contract36:27 Asymmetric warfare41:06 From R&D to scaling manufacturing46:10 Starting a new project from scratch48:31 Designing high output teams53:13 Build more vehicles than you think you’ll need58:11 Being a multi product company from day 11:00:26 Vertical integration1:07:49 Acquisitions 1:11:24 Parallel pathing and sequencing1:18:15 Why hydrogen was a bad bet1:26:32 Making painful decisions1:33:07 Refounding Mach in LA1:35:25 Designing the company to scale 10x a year1:39:03 Leadership failings1:46:29 Bouncing back from failure
Manufacturing 1 million drones a year | Olaf Hichwa, Neros Relentless 2026-08-11 | Olaf is Co-Founder & CTO of Neros. They just moved into a new 250,000 sq ft factory, expect to hit a 130,000-drone annual run rate by the end of the year, and plan to scale to 1 million drones a year by 2028.Neros: https://neros.techOlaf on X: https://x.com/OHichwaTi on X: https://x.com/ti_morseTimestamps:0:38 Redesigning a production line from scratch1:15 Building 1,200 drones per week1:43 Drones cause 70% of casualties in Ukraine 3:10 China sells millions of drones to Russia6:40 Focusing on operators9:12 Archer AI11:18 Building for users, not the government14:13 Creating multiple products in parallel 16:24 Bandit — drone interceptor 20:46 Why it’s important to build weapons systems23:30 Russia is targeting civilian infrastructure29:23 Manually shooting down drones 31:43 Learning from operator footage34:21 Consumer photography drones36:51 Choosing what to vertically integrate39:33 Reality forces the Elon algorithm41:32 The different levels of scale45:31 Learning from Starlink46:33 Engineering faster 48:00 Mass production vs prototyping50:58 Working with the US Government54:59 Manufacturing 1 million drones a year56:56 Learning from Chinese drone companies1:02:58 Taiwan
Manufacturing 1,000s of Nuclear Reactors | Isaiah Taylor, Valar Atomics Relentless 2026-07-01 | Isaiah Taylor is the Founder of Valar Atomics.Valar just became the first startup in history to power an NVIDIA Blackwell with a nuclear reactor.Valar: valaratomics.comNuclearWebsite: nuclearwebsite.comIsaiah on X: https://x.com/isaiah_p_taylorTi on X: https://x.com/ti_morseTimestamps:0:32 Manufacturing nuclear reactors is a SpaceX style problem2:58 Scaling from 1 reactor to 104:31 Why it’s so tempting to iterate on paper instead of actually building reactors7:37 Having contact with reality - modular shielding10:09 Steel is cheaper than software engineers11:09 Why the idiot index is so high in nuclear16:02 Becoming a nuclear company18:57 It's important not to lie to yourself21:55 Obsessing over critical path 24:54 Nuclear reactors are relatively simple30:35 Safety is a function of iteration speed30:55 Why Valar had to vertically integrate35:01 Designing a Toyota Camry vs a Ferrari 38:07 Running through 1-way doors41:13 Pulling rabbits out of a hat46:13 Wartime mode48:49 Being willing to do unreasonable things51:20 How Elon injects urgency into his companies56:56 Relentlessly chasing the goal of making energy 10x cheaper58:32 What’s changed over the last 3yrs1:00:51 Designing safe nuclear reactors1:13:05 Learning from SpaceX - optimizing for scale1:18:07 Having a high tolerance for looking dumb1:19:50 How Palmer Luckey handles hit pieces1:20:55 Inevitable time1:25:26 Predicting unknown bottlenecks1:28:08 Scaling1:29:45 July 4th will be a rebirth for nuclear in the United States
Pablo Escobar was a logistics guy — Ryan Petersen Relentless 2026-05-26 | Ryan Petersen is the Founder and CEO of Flexport.Flexport: flexport.comRyan: https://x.com/typesfastTi: https://x.com/ti_morseTimestamps:0:03 Pablo Escobar was a logistics guy2:29 The explosion in tariff fraud 8:58 The Dutch East India Company11:20 History of global trade14:39 1,000x spice markup17:53 The British East India Company24:02 How the British got 20% of China addicted to opium27:44 The Forbes family & opium trade30:40 Jewish trading networks37:33 It’s illegal to criticize the King of Thailand38:58 Strait of Hormuz45:58 Maritime chokepoints
How were going to power the AI data center buildout | Energy Sec. Chris Wright & Scott Nolan Relentless 2026-05-23 | This conversation on how we're going to power the AI data center buildout is between US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Scott Nolan, Founder and CEO of General Matter.DOE & General Matter:DOE: energy.govGeneral Matter: generalmatter.comLinks to X:Energy Sec. Chris Wright: https://x.com/SecretaryWrightScott Nolan: https://x.com/ScottNolanTi Morse: https://x.com/ti_morseTimestamps:0:07 Powering the AI data center boom3:25 Biggest energy bottlenecks over the next five years6:03 Ramping power generation before we have SMRs16:06 Bridging the nuclear transition with natural gas21:39 What if we’re underestimating how much power we’ll need for AI27:10 Staying ahead of China34:07 Why AI is hated + the fear of AI data centers driving up electricity prices40:21 Increasing baseload capacity 42:50 Building hundreds of gigawatts by 205049:37 Copying the SpaceX playbook53:14 Incentivizing founders to build ahead of demand59:03 “If you want to build big things in America, come talk to the government”
The Manufacturing Startup Thats Outcompeting China | Jim Belosic, SendCutSend | Round II Relentless 2026-05-19 | Jim Belosic is the founder and CEO of SendCutSend.SendCutSend: sendcutsend.comTi on X: https://x.com/ti_morseJim on X: https://x.com/JimBelosicTimestamps:0:15 Beating China in manufacturing requires scale1:10 Automation is not a magic bullet2:12 Scaling profitably4:31 Delivering a great customer experience8:44 Why SCS raised $110M11:20 Expectations are promises15:33 Increasing speed and capacity18:46 Focusing on customers 22:20 Frugality and generosity25:06 Creating The Anything Factory26:33 3pm is the new midnight27:49 Figuring out the next bottleneck30:37 Finding buildings with enough power35:21 Lowering prices37:36 Gambling to turn on factories faster39:03 Aim for perfection and you’ll end up at excellence40:04 Maintaining a maniacal sense of urgency through impatience41:30 Seeding SCS DNA at new factories43:08 Solving challenges45:32 Finding great capital partners48:40 Focus on customer pain51:59 Learning from Home Depot54:16 Bringing manufacturing back to America55:11 Building capacity creates demand57:01 Handling demand surges 58:21 Being default skeptical and sensing bullsh*t1:00:27 Getting back to building
How to Start a Cult | Lulu Cheng Meservey Relentless 2026-05-05 | Lulu is a PR & Comms expert who works with some of the best startup founders in the world.Lulu on X: https://x.com/lulumeserveyTi on X: https://x.com/ti_morseTimestamps:0:07 How to Destroy a Terrorist Group3:01 What Makes a Great Cult Leader4:42 Unleashing Palmer Luckey7:34 Why Elon Is Unpredictable10:41 Demanding a Hardcore Culture After the X Acquisition13:41 How Napoleon Rallied Troops to Volunteer for a Suicide Mission18:24 Choosing Who to Alienate 20:59 Picking Someone to Fight For22:59 Deterrence and Shaping Incentives 25:19 Why Google Had an Activist Problem29:12 Tyrant Mode: Stopping a Leaky Culture 32:11 Building Loyalty35:58 Why Visuals Are So Powerful37:40 Time to Train AlexNet: Jensen Huang and Inventing Metrics39:36 Why People Root for You42:15 Recruit Based on the Spirit Not the Letter43:20 The Three Levels of Story51:01 Secret Truths and Trusting Yourself55:25 Cicero’s Impossible Trial58:11 Offense vs Defense 1:03:44 The Roman Concept of Auctoritas
Why Elon Outcompetes Everyone | Eric Jorgenson Relentless 2026-04-16 | Eric Jorgenson is the author of The Book of Elon.This is not sponsored. If you would like you read Eric's book you can find a free version here: elonmuskbook.orgEric on X: https://x.com/EricJorgensonTi on X: https://x.com/ti_morseTimestamps:0:12 Why Elon outcompetes everyone1:53 Not wanting to be CEO6:15 Why there was a 1 in 100 chance of Tesla and SpaceX both succeeding10:03 Thinking in lost future revenue11:58 Living with a gun next to his bed 15:02 How Elon starts companies19:23 Giving Larry Page an early demo of the Roadster21:27 Why Elon calls people into the factory at 2am25:01 The 20 people who execute Elon’s will autonomously - MrBeast clones28:52 Working with Elon is doing a tour of duty31:18 Creating a grand vision that people can believe in36:42 How to thrive under Elon37:30 The Algorithm - question every requirement, delete part or process, simplify and optimize, accelerate, automate41:38 Setting up a tent factory in the Tesla Fremont parking lot43:28 How Elon would play the game if he was born 300 years ago45:10 Empathy for the individual vs empathy for the mission46:57 Being feared vs being loved48:38 The endless churn at Elon companies50:49 Ruthlessness and having a willingness to be disliked56:08 Creating enemies and chaos58:37 Shifting SpaceX’s focus from Mars to building a base on the Moon1:00:07 Justifying Tesla’s valuation by reseting the vision1:02:21 The S-Curve of ambition - colonizing planets, Starlink, Terafab1:04:44 Throwing billions of dollars behind new companies1:06:22 A great team is just the sum of the individual vectors1:11:09 The idiot index at an industry-scale1:13:53 Why it’s critical for space companies to control launch1:15:44 Thinking in limits1:18:47 Expanding the vision until no one can measure it1:23:41 Internalizing pain and dealing with setbacks1:26:03 The evolution of Elon’s operating philosophy over the last 30 years1:27:37 Effectiveness
How Brian Armstrong Built Coinbase Relentless 2026-03-23 | Brian Armstrong, Co-Founder and CEO of Coinbase.Coinbase: coinbase.comBrian on X: https://x.com/brian_armstrongTi on X: https://x.com/ti_morseTimestamps:0:25 Crafting narratives2:28 Bias towards action4:06 Biggest calls in Coinbase’s history5:53 Developing intuition for making big bets7:30 Getting truth out of people 10:04 Being anti-authority 12:30 The 3 levels of communication14:39 Practicing to pitch w Paul Graham in 201216:55 Working w Fred Ehrsam20:33 Hashing out bad decisions in the early days22:23 Having a scarcity mentality around people 23:31 Action produces information27:34 “If you wait for perfect clarity, you’re never going to get anything done” 31:45 Uber vs Lyft in crypto34:23 Building trust36:30 Advancing the mission of Coinbase38:33 Skillsets: fundraising, storytelling, recruiting, sales 40:10 Prediction markets and AI generated content43:58 How he operates differently than other big startup CEOs45:18 Solving his greatest fear48:09 Burnout and running at a marathon pace51:20 Experiencing pain54:32 Hiking and getting out in nature 56:54 It’s always wartime58:58 Defining moments of crisis1:05:35 Finding the next marching post1:07:18 Installing ideas in people’s minds1:10:25 The power of bringing people together over dinner1:13:00 Action produces action1:14:10 Backing founders outside of Coinbase1:15:45 Scheduling 4 week long-long vacations a year1:18:35 Finding people who raise your energy1:20:18 Leaving a trail of proof of work1:23:03 Touching people emotionally1:25:19 Why we built the Iron Bank of Braavos1:26:38 Playing an infinite game1:31:47 Selling brownies on The Silk Road1:35:36 My philosophy for Relentless1:38:35 Business is like playing Civilization1:44:59 Bonding w Fred Ehrsam over video games1:45:47 Never leave a meeting without next steps1:49:06 How Coinbase makes acquisitions1:50:30 Why Coinbase’s best acquisitions were people1:52:00 Bitcoin is the new gold standard
Peter Beck — Were scaling Electron faster than SpaceX scaled Falcon 9 Relentless 2026-03-16 | Peter Beck, Founder and CEO of Rocket Lab. Rocket Lab: rocketlabcorp.comPeter on X: https://x.com/Peter_J_BeckTi on X: https://x.com/ti_morseTimestamps: 0:44 The biggest bottleneck to increasing launch cadence and mass to orbit1:25 Growth of new space startups3:05 Why governments have been ineffective at scaling launch3:53 Tall Poppy Syndrome4:38 Starting Rocket Lab without having $100 million7:24 Scaling Electron vs focusing on Neutron9:17 Rocket Lab hustle11:10 Creating a culture of “F*ck it, let’s do it”11:40 Worst supplier experiences13:54 Having an engine explode before an important meeting18:52 Rocket Lab’s first mission to the moon20:55 Chewing glass and forcing the outcome to be good22:57 Similarities in how Elon and Peter operate25:05 Elon time and how to structure timelines27:13 Designing a culture where everyone runs towards the fire28:44 Making the Ferrari of rockets — the importance of creating beautiful things31:20 “You don’t need to equate a price tag to beauty” 32:12 Why Peter hates launch day34:48 “After a launch failure this place is a morgue”35:22 Moving forward after a failure36:40 Transitioning from an R&D organization to scaling rocket production38:07 Production hell with rockets 39:09 Taking learnings from Electron to Neutron41:03 Having dinner with Elon42:00 Keeping the hiring bar extraordinarily high44:05 “My job is to fix sh*t”44:56 Rocket Lab’s first NASA launch45:55 “The great thing about America is anything is possible”47:40 Coming to Silicon Valley — meeting with Vinod Khosla51:22 Why he decided to take $RKLB public54:12 Creating a company that will outlive you55:41 Turning Rocket Lab into a profitable business57:23 The best space companies will all build their own rockets1:00:35 Scaling Neutron1:01:32 Why they’re using carbon fiber instead of steel 1:02:56 “Going public was a great capital unlock”1:04:10 The importance of relentless optimism
Manufacturing 1 million drones a year | Soren Monroe-Anderson, Neros Relentless 2026-03-12 | Neros just acquired a new 250k square foot factory which will allow them to ramp production to 1M drones a year.This is my second interview with Soren Monroe-Anderson, Co-Founder and CEO of Neros.Neros: https://neros.techSoren on X: https://x.com/soren_maTi on X: https://x.com/ti_morseTimestamps:0:50 New 250k square foot factory5:13 How the Russia Ukraine war has evolved8:51 Learning from the Starlink production ramp12:37 Building a military spec drone15:25 Prototypes vs production product17:27 Creating a fully China-free drone20:27 Scaling production capacity25:53 Production hell vs supply chain hell29:11 Timelines and urgency34:08 Flyoff mode and PBAS37:40 How Soren operates during a sprint40:54 Shifting from building drones to company building42:37 Leadership hiring49:05 Focusing on execution50:30 Defeating drone jammers57:55 Oh sh*t moments1:00:09 Refocusing on health and taking care of yourself1:05:21 Measuring effectiveness by battle field results1:13:04 Evolution of their testing process1:16:05 Archer Fiber1:17:55 Lifting up the entire drone industrial base1:21:12 Building region-specific supply chains1:23:49 How America can win over the coming decades1:26:55 Are we going fast enough?1:29:12 Choosing to work on lethal systems1:32:35 Being pro-America1:35:37 Future of warfare and autonomous systems
The American Uranium Enrichment Startup | Scott Nolan, General Matter Relentless 2026-03-09 | My first interview with Scott Nolan, Co-Founder and CEO of General Matter.General Matter: generalmatter.comScott on X: https://x.com/scottnolanTi on X: https://x.com/ti_morseTimestamps:0:48 What if Russia stopped selling uranium to the US4:47 The history of uranium enrichment10:44 What if he was given $25 billion to turn on reactors as fast as possible13:37 The US doesn’t have the capability to make fuel for Small Modular Reactors today14:43 How Founders Fund decides to start companies19:28 Why you shouldn’t start a company26:02 Working at SpaceX in 200328:10 How Elon drove urgency in the early days of SpaceX30:28 How it felt when the first three Falcon 1 launches failed32:41 Figuring out what to work on after leaving SpaceX34:26 How Peter Thiel convinced him to join Founders Fund38:53 The most unintuitive thing he learned from Peter Thiel44:03 Lowering the cost of uranium enrichment47:32 The idiot index for enrichment50:18 Vertically integrating vs using existing supply chains53:44 The idiot index for timelines59:13 Taking risk to pull in schedule: current burn vs future revenue1:02:44 Choosing where to put their first enrichment facility1:05:42 Maintaining maniacal urgency with multi-decade timelines1:09:10 How a war with China will impact our ability to produce energy1:14:06 What conventional wisdom gets wrong about building this type of company1:17:48 The AI data center boom requires nuclear1:21:02 Why SpaceX switched from an ablative engine to a regeneratively cooled all metal engine 1:25:08 How Elon makes nonobvious decisions1:29:59 Don’t focus on problems that are already getting solved
The US vs. China Manufacturing Debate Relentless 2026-02-27 | My first debate on manufacturing between Sam D'Amico, founder of Impulse, and Aaron Slodov, founder of Atomic Industries.Sam D'Amico on X: https://x.com/sdamicoAaron Slodov on X: https://x.com/aphysicistTi Morse on X: https://x.com/ti_morseImpulse: impulselabs.comAtomic Industries: https://atomic.industries/Timestamps:0:39 Introductions11:34 Is it possible to reverse America’s manufacturing decline?16:37 Where would Sam invest $100M in a factory today?21:28 How California made it illegal to do chemistry w metals25:43 Elon on Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory32:01 Using the data center boom to pull advanced capabilities onshore36:51 Building Chinese level capacity in America38:33 The US Gov hasn't incentivized companies to build base level capacity42:54 Why space companies have to vertically integrate their supply chains45:06 The advantage of building a Chinese supply chain49:10 Why Apple manufactures all their products in China59:42 Apple exports engineering expertise 1:02:19 Consumer electronics 1:07:55 How the advent of humanoid robots will shift the balance of power1:12:29 Why Apple spent hundreds of billions building their supply chains in China
Space Datacenters | Baiju Bhatt, Aetherflux Relentless 2026-02-22 | My first interview with Baiju Bhatt, Co-Founder of Robinhood and Founder of Aetherflux. Aetherflux: aetherflux.comBaiju on X: https://x.com/BaijuBhattTi on X: https://x.com/ti_morse0:05 Rock climbing w Jared Leto5:46 Culture at Robinhood vs Aetherflux15:57 Building a Shelby Daytona over Covid23:44 The hair patterns of founders at different stages28:16 Orbital datacenters38:22 Failures before Robinhood45:57 Hitting dead ends51:39 Seeding Aetherflux with $10M58:08 Willingness to be scrappy again1:01:18 Starting from scratch in a new industry1:08:26 The second company is just as hard as the first1:12:16 Playing Magic the Gathering as a kid1:17:32 Goblin mode vs Monk mode
The Quest to Cure Alzheimers | Sacha Schermerhorn, Babylon Bio Relentless 2026-02-14 | My first interview with Sacha Schermerhorn, Founder & CEO of Babylon Bio.Babylon is on a quest to cure Alzheimer's. https://babylon.bio/Timestamps:1:00 History of Alzheimer’s research8:09 Why tackle this problem12:22 Axon degeneration13:57 Structuring Babylon to survive many failures15:24 Self-financing Alzheimer’s moonshots19:01 Viagra19:59 Swanson linking and Raynaud syndrome 24:16 Most efficacious drugs for Alzheimer’s 27:29 Experience starting Babylon31:34 Attracting mission aligned people36:24 Filtering for missionaries vs mercenaries 41:07 Lack of agency causes burnout46:02 Living without a phone to reduce distraction49:31 Why the information to cure Alzheimer’s might already be out there54:19 How AI changes things55:36 Controversial science1:03:11 Volunteering at memory clinics1:04:28 Impact-per-dollar and being scrappy1:07:55 Internalizing pain when you make a bad decision1:09:26 Time to last embarrassment1:10:51 Risk taking1:12:57 What causes cognitive impairment1:22:11 What keeps him up at night
How micro1 grew from $4M to $200M revenue in a year | Ali Ansari Relentless 2026-02-10 | My first interview with Ali Ansari, Founder & CEO of micro1. Ali Ansari on X: https://x.com/aliansarinikmicro1: micro1.aiTimestamps:1:10 Continuous model improvement2:42 Starting with an AI recruiting tool5:42 Moving into the human data space7:19 The Human Happiness Index13:32 Creating a real world robotics dataset17:03 Hiring hundreds of doctors & lawyers in a week20:15 Providing a world class white glove service22:15 Hiring for agency & risk taking26:03 High velocity on two way decisions 27:35 Going all-in on data 28:52 Structuring incentives38:18 Leadership & staying in the details40:10 Losing their biggest customer right before an investor pitch43:24 Becoming risk averse after an existential crisis50:45 Taking action as fast as possible when you feel the urge to act56:12 What it felt like growing revenue 30x in a year1:00:48 Staying focused & limiting new projects1:02:30 Predicting what the big AI labs will want1:06:50 Creating a model to predict timelines1:12:23 Hiring as a last resort1:18:25 Taking big bold bets1:28:49 Long-horizon tasks
The Future of Metal Manufacturing | Machina Labs Relentless 2026-02-05 | My first conversation with Ed Mehr, Co-Founder & CEO of Machina Labs. Machina: machinalabs.aiEd Mehr on X: https://x.com/EdwardMehrTimestamps:0:46 Creating a sculpture of Tesla’s Chief Designer3:28 What went wrong with early prototypes5:56 How the metal forming process works9:01 Rapid design iteration13:48 The limiting factor in creating more Elons 16:18 Building the first prototype on $300k22:22 The importance of naiveté & having fun24:17 What it was like working at SpaceX in 201229:57 Celebrating customers40:36 Focusing on the biggest risks45:35 Designing the system to fit inside a shipping container47:25 Early mistakes52:22 Finding 10 champions 1:06:42 Selling systems, parts, vs finished assemblies1:10:39 Hardware companies require complex capital structures
My Conversation with Mehul Nariyawala, co-founder of Matic Relentless 2026-01-29 | Production hell, why simplicity is important, pain as a moat.My first interview with Mehul Nariyawala, Co-Founder of Matic. Matic: maticrobotics.comMehul's X: https://x.com/mehulTimestamps:0:43 Why Artists Are Never Satisfied w Their Work3:46 Creating A Minimum Lovable Product6:35 No One Wants R2-D2, They Want A Solution To Their Problem10:35 Selling His First Startup To Google13:30 What YC Was Like In 201215:50 Acquisitions Are Like Organ Transplants19:57 Building The Apple Of Home Robotics25:00 Creating A Problem Deck29:05 Why Most Vacuums Suck35:58 First 250 Iterations46:13 The Wife Test51:46 Surviving 202056:35 Why Roomba Priced At $1991:02:35 AI Products: Overpromise, Underdeliver1:06:13 The Magic Of In-N-Out1:09:06 Simplicity Is The Goal, Not Perfection1:15:08 Designing A Company You Enjoy Working On For Decades1:21:01 Taking Inspiration From Pixar & Harry Potter1:23:24 Products That Give People Their Time Back1:32:44 The Day Tobi Lutke Tweeted About Matic1:39:34 Tesla Optimus1:48:25 Going Through Production Hell1:56:15 Designing Their Reliability & Testing Process2:01:17 Pain As A Moat
WTF is happening at xAI | Sulaiman Ghori Relentless 2026-01-15 | My first interview w Sulaiman Ghori, Member of Technical Staff at xAI. https://x.aiSulaiman on X: https://x.com/sulaimanghoriTimestamps:0:41 WTF is happening at xAI1:46 Predicting future bottlenecks3:05 Shredding conventional timelines4:23 Experience joining xAI9:23 Bootstrapping off the Tesla network11:59 What is Macrohard13:14 How Elon deals w fires16:30 What it’s like working at xAI20:33 Cybertruck bet with Elon21:12 Using 80 mobile generators + battery packs to balance load at their data centers22:45 How they built Colossus in 122 days23:35 Work backwards & figure out the highest leverage thing you can be doing25:51 How xAI hires30:27 Challenging requirements 32:46 Experimentation34:55 How Elon recalibrated his timeline estimates39:15 AI engineers vs AI researchers40:36 No one tells me ‘no’42:09 Everyone’s an engineer44:06 Why fuzziness between teams is an advantage 48:25 Testing human emulators as employees50:00 Biggest blunders53:23 What a meeting w Elon is like54:22 How Elon gives feedback56:44 Figuring out ‘what is truth’ for Grokipedia59:21 What happens when Elon sees wrong Grok outputs on X1:00:08 What a surge feels like & operating in xAI’s war room1:02:53 Making fidget spinners & 3D printers in his bedroom 1:08:48 Creating a liquid fuel rocket engine
My Conversation with Shuo Wang, co-founder of deel Relentless 2026-01-08 | Shuo Wang, Co-Founder & Chief Revenue Officer at Deel. deel.comTimestamps:1:08 Designing Deel To Scale Quickly3:28 Why Companies Should Go Global Early7:30 Building Deel’s Sales Team10:33 Why Shuo Loves Sales14:44 Pivoting 3 Times During YC & Being Shameless 19:06 Dreaming About Intercom22:04 Solving Payment Delays In The Early Days25:11 Joining YC As A Crypto Payment Platform For Content Creators32:37 How To Make Decisions Before You Have Data36:30 Why It Was So Painful To Open Corporate Entities During Covid39:57 Thinking Outside The Box44:15 Why Covid Was “A Lifetime Opportunity” For Deel46:11 Deel Speed47:55 Argentina & Brazil50:07 Interviewing Deel’s First 400 Employees51:33 Screening For Happiness52:59 Creating Ghost Busters (Special Projects Team)59:16 Having A Co-Founder You Can Rely On1:03:31 Why Offsites Are Important1:06:07 Torturing Yourself Into Greatness1:07:20 Learning How To Run A Business From Her Mom 1:11:26 Growing Up In China With Her Grandparents1:15:51 Moving To The United States At 161:24:13 Building An Air Purifier Company In China1:30:18 Being An Outsider In Silicon Valley 1:31:08 Focusing On One Product vs. Building Multiple Products 1:32:46 What PMF Was Like At Deel1:34:46 How Shuo Thinks About Risk1:37:18 Understand The Problem, Not The Solution1:42:08 Creating An 11-Star Customer Experience 1:43:44 What Makes Alex Special1:46:00 Poker1:46:43 Always Look At The Positives Even In Tough Situations
How Zipline Scaled to 2 Million Drone Deliveries | Keller Cliffton Relentless 2025-12-29 | My first interview with Keller Cliffton, co-founder & CEO of Zipline. zipline.comTimestamps:0:51 Building An Automated Logistics System For Earth2:22 Starting In A Trailer Park6:09 Scrappiness In The Early Days9:08 We Do This Not Because It Is Easy, But Because We Thought It Would Be Easy10:47 Shut Up. Just Do Blood18:08 Flying To Rwanda19:46 Scaling Up Is Always A Sh*tshow 23:22 Dropping A Blood Bag On A Hospital Roof26:38 Falling In Love With The Process & Valor 8:30am Meeting32:06 WFIO Moments: We’re F*cked It’s Over38:34 Building A New Industry From Scratch42:29 Launching In Rwanda Without Looking At The Weather 43:39 Building A Relationship With The FAA47:49 Creating Customer Love54:35 4 Traits Of Great Hires: Practical Problem Solver, Fast Learner, Low Ego, Mission Driven58:34 Scaling Zipline1:02:01 Growing 15% Week Over Week
Bringing Back Supersonic Planes | Ian Brooke, Astro Mechanica Relentless 2025-12-22 | My first interview w Ian Brooke, founder & CEO of Astro Mechanica. astromecha.coTimestamps:0:31 Creating Long-Range Supersonic Planes3:07 Private Jets vs Airliners8:26 Why Private Jets Are Insanely Expensive11:30 Building Great Products That Last Forever20:39 Front Loading Work To Design Things Well30:42 Making Contact With Reality43:32 Following Your Intuition48:38 Thinking In Shapes53:54 Expressing Yourself Through Building Things58:56 Starting With A Vague Idea & Sharpening The Vision Over Time1:03:16 Trying To Tell A Story vs Just Building Something1:17:44 Seed & Soil - Emmett Shear1:27:57 Doing Things That Bring You Joy & Energy 1:32:35 Keeping Product Vision In Your Head
How Land Raising Works | Laurence Allen, Terranova Relentless 2025-12-11 | Laurence Allen is Co-Founder & CEO of Terranova. https://terranova.incChapters:0:37 How land raising works4:15 Being reactive vs proactive to wildfires & floods10:26 How Terranova started12:03 Using a hacked concrete pump14:58 The sinking city problem16:45 Why use wood chips18:55 The history of land raising24:32 Working w partners vs vertically integrating 27:46 Scaling to larger projects34:19 Working at SpaceX45:10 Creating a high intensity environment53:57 SF vs El Segundo 57:04 Biggest manufacturing & sourcing challenges1:01:31 Hiring tinkerers1:04:47 Setting the right expectations
Competing to Build the Fastest-Growing Energy Startup Ever | Base Power, Zach Dell & Justin Lopas Relentless 2025-12-05 | My first interview with Zach Dell & Justin Lopas, the Co-Founders of Base Power Company. basepowercompany.comTimestamps:0:38 Violent Execution & Base Pace1:45 Focusing on actionable metrics4:27 Scaling from 40 to 240 employees in 12 months7:31 Executing against the original vision10:58 Entering production hell12:15 Operating in a heavily regulated space13:51 Being intentional about seeking feedback 16:16 Frank Slootman: balancing intensity and focus 18:42 Gemba walks20:14 Putting on the Winning Hat22:02 Pulling in timelines by deleting parts and processes 24:07 Northstar goals25:37 Building a competitive advantage 27:11 Vertical integration29:29 Talking with customers34:02 Staying in the details38:22 Being direct with people40:37 How their Co-Founder relationship has evolved
China, Robotics, & Open-Source AI | Clem Delangue Relentless 2025-12-01 | My first interview with Clem Delangue, cofounder & CEO of Hugging Face. huggingface.coTimestamps:0:52 Creating an affordable robot11:24 Incentives14:20 Hiring generalists20:24 Designing a robot for builders25:13 Focus is saying no31:08 Slowly compounding for years36:30 Optimizing for trust39:12 Sisyphus45:13 Great companies are just living embodiments of their founders48:46 Two-way doors54:17 Figuring out what you love to do1:01:12 Living with uncertainty1:04:36 Setting the right expectations with AI products1:09:15 Why open-source matters1:21:07 Real trends vs fake trends1:30:30 Pavel Durov & France1:33:59 Why China is leading open-source AI1:38:32 XAI open-sourcing Grok 31:43:17 Trends in robotics
The Greatest World Conquerors In History | Ben Wilson Relentless 2025-11-23 | My first interview with Ben Wilson, creator of How To Take Over The World. takeoverpod.comTimestamps:0:37 Where are the Napoleons of today?5:22 There are no peace time CEOs6:29 MrBeast7:58 Creating chaos14:05 Never debase yourself by having an enemy that’s below you 17:32 Who will be remembered 500 years from now?20:13 The Lindy Effect23:03 Why Julius Caesar made the ultimate sacrifice25:25 How The Rothschilds built reputation31:29 Scale economies shared & selective irrationality39:00 Timelessness42:11 Why great stories last45:48 Studying the greats48:26 World conquerors live with uncertainty 50:59 How Caesar borrowed $500M & became too big to fail54:22 Why great leaders repeat the same mantra1:03:21 Operating in a gray area1:07:00 Why there’s a lack of vision1:10:19 Elon’s biggest bluff1:13:38 Eliminating optionality & going all in1:17:13 Ernest Shackleton1:21:25 Designing a life you actually enjoy1:26:25 Being willing to look wrong for a very long time 1:32:20 Every great person is fundamentally an addict
Curing Age-Related Diseases w Epigenetic Medicines | Lada Nuzhna, General Control Relentless 2025-11-20 | My first interview with Lada Nuzhna, Founder & CEO of General Control. https://generalcontrol.incGeneral Control engineers epigenetic medicines for age-related diseases.Timestamps:0:56 FOMO about the future4:47 Epigenetic reprogramming7:47 Starting Impetus Grants13:29 Founding General Control16:39 Targeting disease vs aging22:19 Why there’s a graveyard of biotech startups27:07 Growing up in Ukraine 34:15 Bob Swanson & Genentech37:49 Executing quickly with long feedback loops 43:16 Why using mice in efficacy studies doesn’t make sense47:36 Arguing with vendors 51:13 Longevity escape velocity 53:07 Being self-taught in bio56:22 Living for 200-300 years1:01:17 Journey of getting to the United States
Why Elon Outcompetes Everyone | Shaun Maguire, Sequoia Relentless 2025-11-17 | My first interview with Shaun Maguire, Partner at Sequoia Capital. sequoiacap.com/people/shaun-maguireTimestamps:0:30 How Elon works8:11 Execution speed15:40 15 levels of mathematicians25:52 How he assesses founders 29:31 Starting the next Bell Labs32:43 Why it was so hard to invest in SpaceX in 201936:26 Working at Neros42:36 What Elon looks for in capital partners44:43 Why people underestimate Boring Company51:37 Stepping into the fire56:00 Playing CS:GO competitively1:03:56 Dropping out of high school1:07:20 Getting renamed in 7th grade1:14:02 Lord of the flies 1:21:23 How people like Gwynne Shotwell work with Elon1:25:07 Why Elon is one of the greatest capital allocators of all time1:30:59 Underestimating Jensen Huang
Fireside Chat w Joshua Browder Relentless 2025-11-14 | Sat down with Joshua Browder, founder & CEO of DoNotPay, for the first ever Relentless shoot at night overlooking San Francisco. donotpay.comTimestamps: 0:52 Being anti-authority2:41 Creating The Pret App in 20106:04 Freezing Putin’s assets13:20 Evidence of exceptionalism during childhood16:47 Getting the AWS $100k credit 5 times17:39 Suing robocall companies28:31 Living in the original Facebook house32:26 Almost throwing in the towel on DoNotPay39:18 Building a profitable business40:47 Paying it forward43:26 Having breakfast with Marc Andreessen47:15 Mansa Musa49:50 Blending cities together51:22 Growing up with Dyspraxia
Mold Toxicity & How To Treat It | Ariana Thacker, Moldco Relentless 2025-11-11 | My first interview with Ariana Thacker, cofounder & CEO of Moldco. moldco.comTimestamps:0:04 Sparking the American revolution0:39 How Moldco started3:54 Symptoms of mold exposure10:27 Treating mold related issues16:17 Ariana’s experience with mold illness 21:25 The different types of mold25:19 Raising a VC fund31:05 Shoemaker Protocol 35:12 Mold toxicity awareness40:01 How to avoid mold when traveling49:27 Why mold exposure can compound with other illnesses57:10 What’s been the most surprising thing
Competing With China In 3D Printing | Max Lobovsky, Formlabs Relentless 2025-11-08 | My first interview with Max Lobovsky, cofounder & CEO of Formlabs. formlabs.comTimestamps:0:07 Why there’s a graveyard of 3D printing companies0:59 Starting Formlabs4:31 Being sued by the largest 3D printer company in the world8:08 Forging a great company culture11:38 Creating the Form 123:41 The first fundraising round28:00 Having a superpower30:07 Identifying undiscovered talent33:50 Positioning the company to win37:59 Raising too much money45:43 How to deal with problems48:47 What’s going on in Ukraine51:08 China becoming a global leader55:08 Bell Labs
Building Unmanned Cargo Planes | David Zagaynov, Poseidon Relentless 2025-11-05 | My first interview with David Zagaynov, co-founder & CEO of Poseidon. poseidonaero.comTimestamps:0:05 Cargo and logistics2:28 Starting with a ground effect vehicle3:48 Why certification is so difficult 6:52 Flying a plane by mid 202610:07 Crashing into a lake 16:15 Working on planes during WWI21:26 Drone regulation24:19 Heron & Egret25:34 Decreasing cost per flight ton-mile30:59 Finding warehouse space39:57 What won’t change over the next 10 years47:50 Building airports
How Shinkei Is Reshoring Americas Seafood Supply Chain | Saif Khawaja Relentless 2025-10-30 | My first interview with Saif Khawaja, Cofounder & CEO at Shinkei. https://shinkei.systemsShinkei is building fish harvesting robots with the goal of radically improving the quality & shelf life of the fish we consume. Their Poseidon robot uses the traditional Japanese ike-jime method for killing fish which is humane and preserves texture, flavor, and freshness.Timestamps:0:42 Fish processing vs harvesting4:51 Creating Seremoni8:30 Expanding through word of mouth 9:19 Starting Shinkei12:47 First few iterations of Poseidon16:49 Celebrating fisherman21:59 Helping fisherman make more money25:47 Why he started Shinkei27:09 First deployment29:56 Following your intuition 32:01 Finding the right cofounder
Inversion CEO on Building the Future of Space Delivery | Justin Fiaschetti Relentless 2025-10-24 | First interview with Justin Fiaschetti, cofounder & CEO at Inversion. inversionspace.comTimestamps:0:46 Delivering cargo from space3:14 Inversion’s first mission8:14 Engine malfunction 11:58 Testing process & product iteration16:51 Focus on what’s not going to change23:02 Why mass to orbit matters26:15 Behavior shift over time39:37 What the last 20 years would look like if we didn’t have aircraft44:23 Why they’re vertically integrating everything50:55 Early days at Inversion 1:01:17 Find great people then unblock them1:04:06 Making things happen faster1:08:04 Figuring out the right leadership style1:10:59 What he loves about being a CEO
How To Build A Self-Sustaining City On Mars | Saurav Shroff, Starpath Relentless 2025-10-21 | First interview with Saurav Shroff, co-founder & CEO of Starpath. https://starpath.spaceWe talk about what it takes to build a self-sustaining city on Mars, creating rocket propellent production plants on the Moon and Mars, and selling solar panels to satellite companies.Timestamps:0:40 Inputs to create a self-sustaining city on Mars 3:53 Creating rocket propellent production plants6:21 How much a Nasa rover costs to build8:02 Building solar panels15:51 Scaling Starship production17:56 Why it’s important to make life multi-planetary24:16 Starting Starpath26:53 Creating the first 10 Starpath rovers31:20 Rover testing33:09 How to simulate Martian soil on Earth 35:11 What if SpaceX didn’t exist40:14 Keeping fast iteration loops as you scale49:19 How many Starships it takes to make Mars viable1:02:43 What are Starpath’s biggest risks1:11:31 Finding talent that’s aligned with the mission1:15:30 Living on Mars1:18:46 Idiot index in the space industry
The Creator of Onewheel | Kyle Doerksen Relentless 2025-10-16 | First interview with Kyle Doerksen, founder & CEO of Future Motion, the creator of Onewheel. onewheel.comTimestamps:0:15 What is a Onewheel4:14 Launching on Kickstarter9:02 Finding the right suppliers11:20 Applying to YC 13:40 Juicero15:24 Figuring out how to not lose money & domestic manufacturing24:48 Testing the board 27:09 Creating Onewheel racing31:37 Designing an intuitive experience 33:38 Early prototypes36:45 Scaling challenges40:51 Building a product that’s designed to take abuse43:54 Repairability52:30 Incorporating customer feedback56:03 Expansion over the coming years1:00:05 Production hell1:02:38 0 to 1
The Tesla of Boats | Mitch Lee, Arc Relentless 2025-10-13 | First interview with Mitch Lee, cofounder & CEO of Arc Boats. arcboats.comTimestamps:0:30 Building an electric boat3:34 From v0 to first shippable product6:20 Why he started an electric boat company 7:57 Advantages of not using diesel engines13:30 Showing customers around the factory 15:57 Scaling to three boats a week 20:24 Production hell23:16 Actively trying not to vertically integrate28:55 Why cargo ships & cruise ships should be hybrid-electric36:30 Iterating on the product while improving the build process41:59 Having a great cofounder
Building Long-Range Hypersonic Missiles | Bryon Hargis, Castelion Relentless 2025-10-10 | First interview with Bryon Hargis, cofounder & CEO of Castelion. castelion.comCastelion builds hypersonic missiles. "Deterrence in a can."Timestamps:0:26 Hypersonic missiles3:21 Sunday morning drive in the mountains4:24 Why being relentless is so important6:12 Getting kicked continuously 12:41 Passion for the mission of the company18:19 Traditional aerospace vs SpaceX26:53 How SpaceX tests & iterates32:12 Starting Castelion - why reputation matters38:58 Missile field testing 45:35 Showing employees company’s financial position 52:21 Having cofounders that will let you know when you’re screwing up55:55 Finding the right cofounders 1:04:13 Paying it forward1:07:30 Using comedy to cope with adversity1:10:30 Luck1:12:37 Operating in a resource constrained environment1:17:26 Doing business with the government1:33:47 Focusing on one product vs branching off into multiple products1:36:36 Production hell1:41:49 Expect something WILL go wrong1:43:54 Forgetting to celebrate the wins1:45:03 Working through unknown unknowns1:52:27 Getting stopped by endangered desert shrimp
Why Theres A Housing Crisis In The US | Alexis Rivas, Cover Relentless 2025-10-08 | First interview with Alexis Rivas, cofounder & CEO of Cover. buildcover.comTimestamps:0:30 Why there’s housing shortage in the US5:07 Housing developers vs custom homes7:21 From starting Cover to building the first home10:10 Learn by building13:16 Beginning with ADU’s (Accessory Dwelling Units)15:48 Focusing on the biggest fire18:25 Why onsite assembly is the bottleneck 21:15 Why so many housing startups have failed24:38 Cover’s building process26:22 Why the permitting process takes longer than the actual home building process35:47 Building codes: subjective vs objective41:32 Biggest unexpected problems49:28 How Cover will scale to 10,000+ homes a year
How US Hardware Startups Will Outcompete China | Pari Singh, Flow Relentless 2025-10-06 | First interview with Pari Singh, founder & CEO of Flow. flowengineering.comX: https://x.com/ti_morseTimestamps:0:00 Pivoting from rocket engines to software4:44 SpaceX's design process12:22 How hardware teams will work in the future14:51 What happens if China and the US go to war20:57 Regulation23:05 Future of war: networked autonomous systems31:40 Agile vs iterative34:47 Starting Flow44:31 Figuring out the right path to build the company49:09 Increasing scope until your underestimated1:01:14 Building a special forces culture
The Manufacturing Startup Thats Outcompeting China | Jim Belosic, SendCutSend Relentless 2025-10-02 | First interview with Jim Belosic, founder & CEO of SendCutSend. https://SendCutSend.comTimestamps:0:44 Manufacturing in the United States3:48 Building trust with suppliers - beer test5:47 Fun coupons9:54 Don't save money - be frugal not cheap14:39 Marketing by creating a magical customer experience 16:02 How SendCutSend started18:28 Starting out with no money21:05 Negotiating on terms instead of price24:04 Creating a delightful customer experience from day 127:51 Building a moat while competing with China32:58 Seeing how your business is evolving by walking the floor36:55 Dealing with chaotic customers 40:35 Hiring your customers 47:03 Winning lifetime customers52:05 The gaslight launch & SendCutSend’s secret menu56:08 Learning from other industries58:35 Sam Walton & Les Schwab1:01:24 Focusing on things you can control1:05:52 Never run out of inventory1:12:32 “What can Jim do?”1:17:29 How Jim thinks about risk1:26:09 Self-funding the business1:29:06 Hiring problem solvers & experimentalists1:37:18 Creating a company where people actually want to work
Hardtech Roundtable: China vs USA, Manufacturing, AI Cults, Silicon Valley, Regulation Relentless 2025-09-30 | This is a *mostly* hard tech roundtable that we shot on a ferry in San Francisco with Sam D'Amico, Jason Carman, Will O'Brien, Michael LaFramboise, and Laurence Allen.Sam D'Amico - Impulse: impulselabs.comJason Carman - Story: https://www.story.inc/Will O'Brien - Ulysses: https://www.ulysses.eco/Michael LaFramboise - Aurelius: aureliussystems.comLaurence Allen - Terranova: https://www.terranova.inc/Timestamps:0:37 Introductions2:49 Why they started their companies15:40 Building a future you actually want to live in 23:38 Storytelling & narrative aircover26:43 Future of appliances 32:37 Building in China vs America 37:04 Overpaying software & AI talent 44:16 AI cult houses46:35 Silicon Valley’s cultural shifts over the last 60 years54:07 What’s wrong with SF58:34 Turning Presidio Golf Course into the next Kowloon Walled City1:04:37 Resetting regulations so we can actually build things
Well Build 1 Million Humanoid Robots by 2028 — Bernt Børnich, 1X Relentless 2025-09-28 | First interview with Bernt Børnich, founder and CEO at 1X.1X is building humanoid robots that live with you in your home.Timestamps:0:25 Designing a humanoid robot that’s pleasant to live with3:30 Living with Neo5:31 How people form attachments with robots8:41 The quantum serial number10:23 What’s gone wrong during testing12:19 When the robot actually became useful15:39 Inefficiency in society 19:02 How Bernt got interested in robots21:22 Starting 1X 26:28 Biggest scaling challenges28:40 Managing expectations with early adopters30:03 Getting Neo’s into homes
#50 - Jason Carman, Founder of Story Company Relentless 2025-09-26 | Second interview with Jason Carman, founder & CEO of Story. https://www.story.inc/Planet will be released on youtube here: youtube.com/@sciencestartupsandstoriesTimestamps:0:37 Creating Planet - Story’s first short film7:18 Story inspires science, science makes story real11:50 Building the Nike for technology14:51 The full production story for Planet30:45 Collaborating with legendary directors33:31 Hiring great people to do great work37:15 Production mode38:28 Deep tech company vs art company40:18 Transitioning from s3 to making movies44:57 Starting work on the trilogy
#49 - Ian Laffey, Cofounder & CEO of Theseus Relentless 2025-09-23 | First interview with Ian Laffey, CEO & Cofounder of Theseus. theseus.usTimestamps:0:26 Flying in GPS-denied environments4:19 GPS in missiles and weapons8:40 Strapping an Android phone to a drone16:55 Why delays are so painful20:51 Making decisions on intuition32:54 Building trust in Ukraine39:05 Being earnest 41:02 “What is f*ing me the most?”48:47 The danger of unknown unknowns58:53 Understanding a problem before bringing people in1:05:57 Building a team of people who give a sh*t1:12:34 First time going to Ukraine1:19:49 Creating a checklist 1:23:49 Hiking the Appalachian trail1:37:34 From first prototype to nine nines of reliability
#48 - Police Chases, Ride Alongs, Bureaucracy | Daniel Francis, CEO Abel Police Relentless 2025-09-15 | First interview with Daniel Francis, Founder & CEO of Abel Police."We do this not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy."Ride alongs, police chases, alcoholism in China. abelpolice.com*At 20:22 the math is wrong 1,600 * $50,000 is $80M not $1B0:19 What Daniel says about the allegations0:25 Thoughts on backpacks and merino wool1:58 Police chases3:58 How to ask a cop to do a ride along6:03 Seeing a guy get hit by a train 7:50 Alcoholism in China11:09 Why police conferences are great 12:36 What Abel does17:19 Body cam footage22:30 Spending 3 months in China26:50 Being alone in Japan 30:02 Expanding to all 18,000 police departments33:10 How body cams have changed policing 40:37 Trying to sign on SFPD48:04 Making American cities safe50:18 Why crime data is extremely misreported54:43 Going on ride alongs to understand police problems1:09:43 Impact of the marginal officer on violent crime1:12:13 Future products1:17:19 Being paralyzed at 15
