Village Global's Solarpunk

Latest Episodes:

Steve Blank on Rebuilding the Department of Defense Aug 04, 2022

Show notes

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.
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Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.
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Our Hypersonic Future with Hermeus’ AJ Piplica Jul 12, 2022

Show notes

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

SBIRs, PORs, and Lobbyists with Peter Newell Jul 05, 2022

Show notes

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 on How Startups Can Help Save The World Jun 29, 2022

Show notes

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

The Future Industrial Network with Hondo Geurts Jun 21, 2022

Show notes

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

Noah Smith's Deep Dive on the Chinese Economy Jun 14, 2022

Show notes

- 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 on China’s Global Influence Jun 07, 2022

Show notes

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

Back to the Basics: Building in a Downturn with Geoff Lewis Jun 02, 2022

Show notes

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 on Unifying America May 26, 2022

Show notes

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 on Space Software May 12, 2022

Show notes

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

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