Village Global's Solarpunk

Mo Islam (@itsmoislam), co-founder of Payload Space, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon on this episode. Takeaways:- There is no doubt that we are in the early stages of the space economy, Mo says.- The cost to go to Mars will be paid many times over by the young engineers who will be inspired by the mission.- There are three main buckets in the space economy: space for earth (companies creating products for humans on earth via their space endeavors), space for space (companies serving other companies in space) and beyond earth (“science fiction”-type activities like colonization, mining, and exploration).- The International Space Station cost $100B to build.- SpaceX built the Falcon 9 at 1/10th the cost that NASA estimated.- In the 1960s there were only two space programs but now there are 80+ and they are all trying to get an economic return on investment.- Mo's contrarian take is that launch is actually underhyped. Very few companies have a launch vehicle that has made it to orbit with a significant payload capacity.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Ari Schuler, CEO of goTenna, and Andrea Garrity, Chief Growth Officer of goTenna, join Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon join us on this episode of Solarpunk. Takeaways:- goTenna was founded after Hurricane Sandy when a brother and sister didn't know if the other was safe because the cell network weren't working. It has since grown into the company that it is today, selling to government as well as consumers.- Ari and Andrea suggest that startups refrain from complaining or dwelling on how tough the procurement system is to navigate in the US government. They say “pass the test, don't fight the test.”- Andrea says that much of innovation is personality driven — finding the right people who will run through walls when everyone else gives up.- There is plenty that they would change about the government procurement system. If one agency has found a tech useful, other agencies should be able to also use that tech without going through all the paperwork and bureaucracy over again.- The fact that US doesn't manufacture much at home and would be stranded if a major war started tomorrow is of concern to them.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Ian Cinnamon (@iancinnamon), co-founder and CEO of Apex Space, and Max Benassi (@mxbenassi), co-founder and CTO, join Lucas Bagno on this episode of Solarpunk. Takeaways:- The cost per kilogram to get things into space has gone down dramatically over the last several years. - Satellites have two parts: a payload and a bus. The bus is the actual structure of the satellite and despite all the hundreds of billions of dollars invested in launch companies, basically no venture money has gone into satellite bus manufacturing.- Satellite buses are currently designed from the ground up and assembled by hand in small volumes.- Apex (apexspace.com) is working on building scalable and reliable satellite buses.- The founders fundamentally believe that humans will be a multi-planetary species and that in the future all these spacecraft that will be carrying people around the solar system will not be made by hand. - Despite the economic downturn, there has never been a better time to be a founder. Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Ben Van Roo (@DavidNorthStar), co-founder and CEO of Yurts AI, joins Lucas Bagno on this episode of Solarpunk. Takeaways:- The Small Business Innovation Research program was originally developed as a grant program to allow small companies do innovative research. The gene for cystic fibrosis was discovered from the program.- If you're a small company and you get an SBIR contract, you should not count on getting a government contract.- It has been very difficult for software companies to get a program of record contract because that has not been the typical model of defense in the past.- The nature of war is shifting away from large platforms and big garrison-style bases.- There have been 20-30 “SBIR mills” that have taken $3.5B combined in phase 1 and 2 contracts. Ben would put hard caps on the amounts that companies can get from the program and the types of companies that can apply to the SBIR program.- Commercial technology has outpaced the defense industry by far.- It's very difficult for small companies to even fill out the forms required for the SBIR program. Making it more friendly for newcomers would make a big difference to the program.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Christian Brose (@cdbrose), Chief Strategy Officer at Anduril and author of The Kill Chain joins Lucas Bagno on this episode. Takeaways:- The US military and its procurement system has been built for equipment that is big, heavy, and hard to replace — things like ships and aircraft carriers and tanks. - Commercial technologies can contribute to a military with equipment that is more agile, lower cost, and easier to replace.- People in the government are, in 2022, trying to figure out what the military is going to need in 2032. This eliminates incentives for disruption and surprise. The military gets what it wanted, even if what it wanted doesn't solve the problem.- It would be ideal to bring capitalism into the procurement process so that there are new incentives and real competition.- China has been using a systematic, methodical strategy since the 1990s with the aim of displacing the US.- There has never been a competitor to the US with the scale that China has in more than a century.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT), New York Times columnist and author of The Decadent Society, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon on this episode. Takeaways:- Since the moon landing, we have entered a period of stagnation. Confidence and optimism have declined and culture has entered a repetitive spiral where patterns from the 60s/70s have been repeating themselves.- Government has become less effective and more gridlocked over time.- The world's richest societies are dealing with a population problem. They are not reproducing themselves, which has led to aging societies that are “stable but stuck” because they are resistant to change.- The internet has been more of a conduit to cultural repetition than people think — old music is often most popular music on streaming services.- The traditional story of science has been that it triumphed over religion but science emerged from an extremely religious society and it would be no surprise to Ross if as religion decays scientific progress might as well.- Ross says that we need a renaissance to get ourselves out of the age of decadence — a reaching back into the past while synthesizing all the advancements that have come about in the meantime.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Raj Shah, Managing Partner at Shield Capital, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon on this episode. Takeaways:- Raj and Shield don't care whether a founding team has experience selling to government, because the firm can help with that. They evaluate the team, the market and the tech when they're looking at an investment.- Ash Carter was the first sitting Secretary of Defense to come to Silicon Valley in decades when he visited to jumpstart new initiatives to encourage startups working with government.- Raj recommends that startups work with organizations within the government that have a mandate to move quickly. - If a company decides to work with consultants, ensure that incentives are aligned such that the consultant benefits when the company benefits, rather than the consultant receiving a large payment regardless of the outcome.- Many more generalist investors have been investing in defense, but it's a very difficult space to invest in. It takes time for investors to learn the jargon and the players.- When a company is evaluating and investor, it should ask two primary questions: 1) Does this investor truly understand the customer set? 2) Can this investor be helpful in company building in the boardroom?Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Mike Brown, former director of the Defense Innovation Unit, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon on this episode. Takeaways:- It can easily take 10-20 years for tech to make its way into the Department of Defense. The Defense Innovation Unit helped speed that process up dramatically.- Some of the most important technologies being used in the war in Ukraine are commercial technologies. Mike thinks that the Department of Defense should be focusing on commercial technology much more often.- Many founders don't realize that government dollars are allocated for specific uses, i.e. marketing, or research and development, and those dollars can't be used in another area, even within their company.- Commercial synthetic aperture radar technology used in satellites made a big difference in Ukraine. The US played a large role in developing that game-changing technology and Mike wants to keep it that way.- It's estimated that there will be 1000 commercial satellites for every government satellite in the future.- Defense primes are great at integrating several technologies into a single solution. - Mike says that CIFEAS should be harmonized with our allies so that China and other countries can't go to a different country and find the same tech.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Alex Moore (@AustinGiraffe), investor at 8VC and board member at Palantir, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon on this episode of Solarpunk. Takeaways:- Alex was one of the original team members at Palantir. He says that helping build the company helps him pattern match today to find the best founders.- Defense investing is not like normal VC investing. The usual model of investing $2M, then $10M, then $30M to give a company momentum doesn't work when you have to deal with budget cycles, lobbying, and politics.- It typically requires $1B to get a defense company to IPO.- Alex would like to see procurement officers in the US government be allowed to be more entrepreneurial and for the government itself to move away from rigid line item budgeting, so that it wouldn't take 2-3 years for high priority items to make it into the budget.- He would like to radically expand the SBIR program so that more contracts go to startups.- Governments should be picking winners, in his opinion. The best tech should win the whole market and the government should invest in the one big startup that will deliver massive scaled solutions.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Nathan Picarsic, co-founder of Horizon Advisory, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon on this episode of Solarpunk. Takeaways: - There are 17 rare earth metals that are of immense strategic importance. They are used in a vast array of everyday products like consumer electronics, medical devices, electric vehicles, and more.- China has a strong influence in this space. They have many mines but are even more dominant downstream — they control much of the processing of these metals and the manufacturing of products from them.- Nathan says there should be more awareness of the geopolitical risks associated with rare earth metals, there should be more investment in the space within the US, and the US should work with its partners and allies to help secure the supply chain.- China's ambitions to control rare earth metals intersect with their Belt and Road initiative and their Made in China 2025 strategies.- Nathan says that the US needs policy changes to combat this threat, including changes to the tax code to incentivize investment, encouraging more domestic and allied materials in the supply chain, using the Defense Production Act, and monitoring market manipulation by China.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary onthe latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Steve Blank (@sgblank), creator of Hacking For Defense and author of 4 Steps To The Epiphany, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon on this episode of Solarpunk. Takeaways:- The secret history of Silicon Valley is that it emerged from the government's desire to develop advanced technology and weapons in universities during World War II.- Stanford became a powerhouse in microwaves and electronics post-WWII. People were encouraged to leave to start companies, which kickstarted Silicon Valley.- The Department of Defense needs a radical redesign. Steve says the US can't even keep pace with innovation in North Korea, let alone China.- The DoD was designed for a different world. China currently operates like Silicon Valley and the DoD operates like GM.- The “game is fixed” against small startups trying to sell to the government.- Steve says things typically don't change unless there's a leadership change or a crisis, and that the US is lying to itself about China and how fast it is advancing.- Billionaires like Peter Thiel, Palmer Luckey, and Elon Musk have accomplished “miracles” building companies in the defense space in spite of how the system is designed. Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

AJ Piplica (@AJ_Piplica), founder and CEO of Hermeus, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon on this episode. Takeaways:- Every time there has been an acceleration in the speed of transportation in history, high GDP growth has followed.- A switch to hypersonic transportation would unlock $4T in growth.- In the future the key differentiator in air travel will be speed, rather than comfort.- It's currently extremely expensive to do flight testing at hypersonic speeds — $5-10M for only a few seconds of data.- In the 40s and through the Cold War, there were new aircrafts released every few years, but since then the pace of innovation has slowed significantly.- Cost-plus contracts are very comfortable for companies and create perverse incentives.- We are in the midst of a techno-economic pursuit in hypersonic transport and whichever country gets there first gets to write the rules.- The immense amount of political strife in this country keeps AJ up at night but unity amongst smaller cohorts of people working on challenges at a global scale keeps him optimistic.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary onthe latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Peter Newell (@PeterANewell), CEO of BMNT, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon on this episode of Solarpunk. Takeaways:- Peter was “handed the Ferrari of skunkworks” when he came to be in charge of the Rapid Equipping Force. It was a program that handled over a billion dollars to deploy new technologies.- He became more of an entrepreneur after his time at the REF and that led to starting BMNT.- Often times procurement in the US military is HQ-centric and product-centric and does not take into account the needs of the people on the ground.- The acquisition system that was built in the 1950s in the US presumes that the military can perfectly understand the problem and build a perfect solution for it. However, this takes much too long to deploy and isn't suited for modern times.- A founder can't go all-in on selling to government — they have to be able to build for both government and commercial.- Often times companies will receive indefinite delivery contracts where it is unclear how much money they will actually receive. You might land a budget with SOCOM but it's hard to actually get the dollars out of Congress.- Hiring a lobbyist to educate you on the processes and people within the US government is a good idea but hiring a lobbyist to do business development for you is often not the right approach.- It's best to invest in building networks in VC and at DoD before hiring consultants.- Not having enough people to do the advanced manufacturing that the US needs keeps Peter up at night.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary onthe latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg), co-founder and general partner at Village Global and co-founder and co-CEO of On Deck join Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon on this episode of Solarpunk. Takeaways:- Startups are the most effective organizations for solving our biggest problems.- Startups disproportionately contribute to economic growth.- Governments and startups need to work together, not against each other.- China has the GDP per capita of Mexico but they have power because of how big their population is.- Increasing population should be an aim of the US government.- Humans are a naturally technological species and the only way out of our current problems is through technology, not without it.- People in Silicon Valley need to invest in storytelling and capturing hearts and minds. They have a new appreciation for how important politics is.- Ideas from Silicon Valley are being exported around the world —among them are giving without asking for anything in return, alignment via equity, and decoupling where you live from where you work. Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary onthe latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

James “Hondo” Geurts, former Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon on this episode. Takeaways:- What kept Hondo up at night was that there was a good idea out there that wasn't passed on to him and thus wasn't used on the battlefield.- A society can't be secure without prosperity and can't have prosperity without security.- The challenge for startups working with government is that the public is a fickle venture capitalist. They don't like to fund things that don't go anywhere.- It tends to be small and large companies (but mostly large) supplying the Department of Defense. The “middle has been lost.”- The DoD overvalues standardization.- Often in government, the user of the product is not the same as the buyer. Commonly startups make a mistake by not having buyer fit even if there is user fit for a product.- Government values past performance to a fault.- The United States, both via government and private enterprise, needs to build the industrial network of the future.- Commercial technology companies will be on the front lines of the next conflict and need to adapt features to make them resilient.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

- The narrative that China can do no wrong and why Noah says it is out of date at this point.- The long-term headwinds that China is facing, including demographic changes, resource limitations, and real estate challenges.- Why America should raise tariffs on anything made in China where it would be strategically important for those goods to be made somewhere else.- The state of real estate in China, including the fact that China's economy is 30% real estate (double the percentage in the US) and that cities in China are sprawling and more akin to Chicago than Tokyo or Seoul.- Xi Jinping's performance to date, why he's “picking losers” in the Chinese stock market to try to bolster certain industries, and why the Zero COVID push is about Xi trying to appear strong.- The fact that China could be moderately competent and could still take over the world because of its sheer size.- Noah's book recommendations for people who want to learn more about China.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Jacob Helberg (@jacobhelberg), foreign policy expert and author of The Wires of War, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon to discuss:- Why he says peace through trade was the biggest foreign policy miscalculation in US history.- How US companies have approached operating in China and why Jacob would advise them to proactively work to decouple themselves from the Chinese market.- Why Jacob would prefer that American laws change to restrict Chinese investments in US companies.- Why the Belt and Road Initiative has come to be seen as a debt trap.- What keeps him optimistic and what ordinary Americans can do if they are concerned about China.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Geoff Lewis (@GeoffLewisOrg), founder at Bedrock, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon to discuss:- His thoughts on the markets and the advice he has for founders operating in a market like this one.- What is driving financial nihilism and how it has changed society.- Why he's only investing in founders where their company is their life's work.- Bedrock's investments in hardware and companies making things in the physical world.- The perils of politics replacing religion as our mechanism for forming community.- The crisis of meaning in society.- The institutionalization of venture capital over the last decade and why he's an advocate of going back to basics with small teams making fewer high conviction investments.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Bilal Zuberi (@bznotes), partner at Lux Capital, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon to discuss:- Bilal's investing thesis of finding companies building solutions to interesting problems that impact a lot of people.- Why he's investing in space and defense companies.- What keeps him up at night and how his investments are working on those areas.- Why he's optimistic about unifying America.- How to solve the problem of different people having different sets of facts.- Whether there will be a reckoning for American firms that have invested in Chinese companies.- His advice to founders building in complex markets and working with the government.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Laura Crabtree (@llcrabbie), founder and CEO of Epsilon3, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon on this episode to discuss:- What she accomplished during her time at SpaceX and her journey to starting Epsilon3. - Whether the biggest contribution of SpaceX to the industry will be all the amazing people leaving to start their own space companies.- How to get into the space industry if you don't already have a background in it.- Why a company like Epsilon3 hasn't been built before.- The importance of being vulnerable as a founder.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Joshua Steinman (@JoshuaSteinman), founder and CEO of Galvanick, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon to discuss:- The history of cybersecurity at big industrial companies and how he is building “Splunk for industrial systems” to solve that problem.- His time at the National Security Council, what motivated him to work in government, and his work creating an “embassy in Silicon Valley.”- Why, with internet-connected devices, we've traded predictable downtime for unpredictable downtime. He gives the example of a Cadbury plant that was completely shut down by malware.- The different types of cyber attacks, the evolution of war over time, and how to “defend forward” by disabling malware before it shows up on systems.- The concept of “unrestricted warfare” and the fact that the Chinese government thinks about war as a continuous process across many dimensions while the US typically thinks of war on only one dimension.- Information operations and how they have affected public opinion in the US on various topics.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Martin Gurri (@mgurri), author of The Revolt of the Public, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon to discuss:- The genesis of the thesis about the revolt of the public while Martin was working at the CIA analyzing communications as social media and blogging began to take off.- The challenges to authority that the free flow of information has presented and why those societies that allow for open communication have been winning.- The internet's reactionary moment and whether there will be a “revolt of the revolt.”- Why he says that China is “the 20th century gone digital” and why he thinks that will not last.- His belief that democracy will survive and why he thinks that the “psychotic conditions” in American society will not last.- Why elites need to have humility about their ability to solve problems in society.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Chris Power (@2112Power), founder and CEO of Hadrian, joins Lucas Bagno and Ian Cinnamon to discuss:- Why manufacturing is key to a strong position in the world order. - The changes in the landscape that have enabled a company like Hadrian to be possible now, where it wasn't five years ago. - What Chris would do if he was running the United States to win the new space race.- How to change the culture in the US so that more serious people can work on serious problems.- Why it's easier than you think to get involved in deep tech.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Mike Maples (@m2jr), founding partner at Floodgate, joins Lucas Bagno (@lucasbagnocv) and Ian Cinnamon (@iancinnamon) to discuss:- Why there has been an “epidemic of fakery” in society over the last 50 years or so. Mike says that institutions are pretending to be working rather than doing actual work.- Why the right “angle of attack” for societal problems is not head-on but rather to create something completely different than changes the subject entirely.- Why he advises founders to make sure they are working on an idea that is worthy of their time and why as a founder you need to “get out of the present and start living in the future.”- How Silicon Valley can have more empathy and make the case for broader prosperity.- How to build connection and shared purpose in an American society that is increasingly tribal.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Delian Asparouhov (@zebulgar), co-founder of Varda Space Industries and principal at Founders Fund, joins Lucas Bagno (@lucasbagnocv) and Ian Cinnamon (@iancinnammon) on this episode to discuss:- Why he says that VCs have a moral obligation to fund companies that help keep America a step ahead of its adversaries.- Why space matters for him personally and why expanding the economic bounds of humankind is the best way to achieve all of humanity's other goals.- The current state of the space economy and the space supply chain, and how he sees them evolving in the future.- Why the US is in a new space race with Russia and China.- His advice on building a space company for aspiring founders.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

- What needs to change inside the federal government for more contracts to go to startups.- How startups should think about working with state and local governments.- How trust has declined in public institutions over the last several decades and how companies can credibly step into that void by building in public and telling their own story.- How Starlink will change where people live and how they live their offline life.- Why, if people are laughing at you, you're probably taking yourself seriously enough.- What tech misunderstands about government and vice versa, including how Silicon Valley came to have a positive sum mindset and Washington ended up with a zero sum mindset.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Trae Stephens (@traestephens), co-founder at Anduril and partner at Founders Fund joins Lucas Bagno (@lucasbagnocv) and Ian Cinnamon (@iancinnamon) to discuss:- What keeps him up at night when he looks at the US today.- What he would change about the US government if he could wave a magic wand.- Common mistakes made by people selling to government.- How they think about acquisitions at Anduril.- Advice for people looking to build in the defense space.- What gives him hope when he thinks about the future of the US.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Solarpunk is a new podcast series about space and defense from Village Global: https://www.spreaker.com/show/village-globals-solarpunkJosh Wolfe (@wolfejosh), co-founder and managing partner at Lux Capital, joins Lucas Bagno (@lucasbagnocv) and Ian Cinnamon (@IanCinnamon), investors at Village Global, to discuss:- The problems that some of the leading companies working with the US government have been trying to solve.- The threats that America faces today and how technology has been used by its adversaries against it.- New domains where America is in conflict with other countries, including cyber, financial warfare, and space.- The reinvigoration of space that has been led by SpaceX.- Josh's thoughts on polarization and tribalism in the US.- What people who want to get involved in improving society should do to make a difference.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup