WTF is happening in El Segundo?!

Summary

This roundtable discussion brings together seven of El Segundo’s most prominent hard tech founders to discuss what makes the small LA suburb the center of America’s defense and manufacturing renaissance. The conversation reveals that El Segundo has the highest concentration of good founders in America, with a group of young patriots who have decided they are going to save America through building real things.

The founders discuss why they chose El Segundo over other tech hubs, the importance of building meaningful companies versus crypto schemes, and how China’s manufacturing dominance threatens American security. They joke that if “the wrong thing happens at this table,” the United States would be set back 30 years, as this small group essentially represents America’s counter to every great power adversary in critical industries from drones to energy to materials.

Highlights

”This Table vs Every Great Power Adversary”

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“It is essentially this table versus every great power adversary of the United States. If the wrong thing happens at this table right here, the United States is set back by 30 years at least.” — 26:34

”Crypto is Dishonorable”

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“Our civilization is dying. Birth rates are collapsing. The economy is largely this fake financial instrument on top of what little hard assets we still have. As long as we do get giddy and excited about rugpulling people for 4 million bucks that you’re going to go blow on a car and online casinos, we’re going to see these issues persist.” — 15:30

”Software Industry Looks Like a Joke”

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“These industries on net just dwarf the entire software industry. It makes the software industry look like a joke. The real money is to be made by owning the atoms and doing so across all of these industries.” — 21:03

”SpaceX Flew a Booster 30 Times”

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“They flew a booster 30 times. The most valuable privately held company in the world is SpaceX. Building something intensely meaningful that they will always have. That is far more honorable than releasing the next token.” — 17:59

”China Built 30 Nuclear Reactors”

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“We built two new nuclear sites in the last 50 years. China has 30 nuclear reactors under construction right now.” — 26:25

Key Points

• Highest Concentration of Founders (0:20) - El Segundo has the highest concentration of good founders in America
• Security Risk at This Table (1:00) - Getting all these founders together is “maybe not the best idea” from a security standpoint
• Re-industrialization is Happening (2:15) - A group of patriots decided they are going to save America by building things
• Parts Economy (2:45) - What’s happening in El Segundo: parts, parts, and more parts
• Austin vs El Segundo (12:30) - Austin calling itself “the new El Segundo” is actually a compliment
• Crypto is Dishonorable (15:30) - Building crypto while civilization is dying is not just less honorable, it’s dishonorable
• SpaceX as Role Model (17:59) - Most valuable private company does meaningful work; no trade-off between bags and meaning
• Software Industry is Small (21:03) - Hardware industries dwarf software; real money is in atoms
• Services Economy Failed (23:10) - US prided itself on being services economy; now realizes atoms have inherent value
• China’s Manufacturing Investment (24:45) - China puts more into subsidizing manufacturing than Western countries combined
• Table vs Adversaries (26:34) - This table represents America’s counter to great power adversaries
• 30 Nuclear Reactors (26:25) - US built 2 nuclear sites in 50 years; China has 30 under construction
• Weather Modification (26:10) - China invests $1.4 billion/year in cloud seeding; Rainmaker competes alone for US
• Two-Thirds Relocated (30:15) - About two-thirds of one team relocated from elsewhere to work on the mission
• Software to Hardware (31:00) - People used to go into CS because “real hard things don’t happen anymore” - that’s changing
• Vibe Code Can’t Replace Hardware (28:50) - Someone can clone your software; they cannot put 50,000 drones on front lines
• Deeper Than Nuros (30:00) - The pull to El Segundo is the meaningful problems being worked on
• Discord Server (34:00) - Community started somewhat through Discord; but authentic city history matters more
• Aerospace History (34:30) - Space shuttle solid rocket booster testing happened in this facility
• Bonfires Together (33:50) - What sets El Segundo apart: founders actually love each other and socialize

Mentions

Companies

• SpaceX (17:59) - Most valuable private company; flew booster 30 times
• Valor (18:30) - Will be a trillion dollar company working on energy
• Rainmaker Technology Corporation (26:10) - Competes against China’s weather modification program
• Range View (26:00) - Manufacturing and casting company
• DRA Automated (36:20) - Assembly company founded by Phil Aronstein
• Beijing Weather Mod Office (26:10) - China’s $1.4B/year weather modification program

Products & Technologies

• FPV Drones (26:00) - Key technology in Ukraine conflict
• Falcon 9 Booster (17:59) - SpaceX reusable rocket; flew 30 times
• Cloud Seeding (26:10) - Weather modification technology

People

• Isaiah (0:55) - One of the founders at the table
• Augustus (0:55) - One of the founders at the table
• Ted (0:55) - One of the founders at the table
• Cameron (0:55) - One of the founders at the table; LinkedIn posts brought people
• Zayn (0:55) - One of the founders at the table
• Saurin (0:55) - One of the founders at the table; keeps winning
• Ty (1:05) - Put all of the boys together in one room
• Phil Aronstein (36:20) - Founder of DRA Automated; in New York
• Colin (35:55) - Connected some of the founders

Surprising Quotes

“Getting all of us at one table is like maybe not the best idea. If the wrong thing happens at this table right here, the United States is set back by 30 years at least.” — 1:00

“Our civilization is dying. Birth rates are collapsing. The economy is largely this fake financial instrument on top of what little hard assets we still have.” — 15:30

“We built two new nuclear sites in the last 50 years. China has 30 nuclear reactors under construction right now.” — 26:25

“I think Valor will be a trillion dollar company and every single one of us will be extremely glad that we built it because it was meaningful in the world.” — 18:30

“The real money is not to be made in software. The real money is to be made by owning the atoms.” — 22:15

Transcript

0:20 El Segundo is the highest concentration of good founders in America. The fellas are just off and running. Saurin keeps winning. Zayn keeps winning. These guys keep winning. So you have to win with them.

0:55 Getting all of us at one table is like maybe not the best idea. If the wrong thing happens at this table right here, like the United States is set back by 30 years at least. It is essentially this table versus every great power adversary of the United States.

1:20 I am here in El Segundo with Isaiah, Augustus, Ted, Cameron, Zayn, and Saurin to answer the question, what the fuck is happening in El Segundo? I think there’s a lot of things happening in El Segundo, particularly our favorite person in the world, Ty, who just like put all of the boys together in one room, which is extraordinarily hard to do.

2:00 I’ve never seen very, very difficult to get this group of people all in one place at one time. Have gone by, actually. This might be like a giant OP. Like getting all of us at one table is like maybe not the best idea, but we’ll roll with it. It’s a giant security risk from God, guys.

2:30 Listen, if the bad if the wrong thing happens at this table right here, like the United States is set back by 30 years at least, it’s not good. 100 thousand years of darkness. Re-industrialization in booze is happening in El Segundo. Cheers.

3:00 I think it’s a group of patriots who have come together and just decided that we are going to save America. That it has come upon us and that we can actually do something about it. And many are heeding that call. What’s happening in El Segundo, Cameron? Parts. Many parts.

12:30 Guys, do you think that like El Segundo-ism spreads to other places and you have like Austin? Nah, it’s not going to be Austin. Just kidding. We like Austin. There’s a little bit of competition. Someone was talking about Austin is the new El Segundo. People are trying to meme this on Twitter right now.

13:00 The truth is I don’t think it really matters, right? What the energy and the drive that a small group of guys who literally just met on Twitter kind of brought out into the world is indicative of what I hope to be something that touches the entire country and is not limited to this tiny little spit of land in LA.

13:30 This will continue to be the beating heart of the defense and hard tech ecosystem, but for us to actually win, we cannot be limited to a tiny little slit of land along the Pacific. This has to be a countrywide effort.

14:30 I met this kid who just graduated with a philosophy degree. He’s an exceptional painter. And he just started an electrical engineering degree because he really wants to move into defense. To see someone specifically go into electrical engineering because they want to build the next weapon systems for the United States, that is a real fundamental structural change.

15:30 Do you ever think about the fact that there are still people running crypto companies? I think the valorization, the lionization of securing the bag simply for the bag’s sake, going after crypto money or selling a course or otherwise. That not only is something that is less honorable and materially consequential than building like hardware and deep tech, but it’s actually like dishonorable.

16:00 Our civilization is dying. Birth rates are collapsing. The economy is largely this fake financial instrument on top of what little hard assets we still have. Rates of depression and suicide are higher than they ever have been. Drug addiction is higher than it ever has been.

16:30 I think that’s because people’s work and life has been devoid of meaning and consequence. As long as we do get giddy and excited about rugpulling people for 4 million bucks that you’re going to go blow on a car and online casinos, we’re going to see these issues persist.

17:30 I would actually ask people to think bigger. There are massive massive bags to make in the actual physical world. We’re not saying like don’t go chase the bag. The biggest companies in the world do things in the real world. The largest privately held company in the world, the most valuable privately held company in the world is SpaceX.

18:00 That is actually launching. They just landed their 400th booster out at sea. They flew a booster 30 times. If you talk to ex-SpaceX people, the thing that’s most abundantly clear is that those were the most intense and the most meaningful years of their life.

18:30 I think Valor will be a trillion dollar company and every single one of us will be extremely glad that we built it because it was meaningful in the world and we were able to bring manufacturing back to the US because we made energy cheaper.

21:00 These are just truly massive industries when you look at them on net are just dwarf the entire software industry. It makes the software industry look like a joke. The real money is not to be made there. The real money is to be made by owning the atoms.

23:10 For a generation it was seen as dishonorable to go and work in the real world. The US prided itself for a generation on being a services economy. We no longer build things. We’ve decided that that is for the other countries around the world.

24:00 That has shifted because we realized that it is still incredibly valuable to own the atoms all the way from the raw materials pulled out of the ground all the way to the finished product and beyond.

24:45 China puts more money into directly subsidizing manufacturing than most of these Western countries combined. It’s a ridiculous difference. There’s a different investment thesis and I think we’re actually starting to see that play out.

26:10 On weather modification, China invests $1.4 billion a year in their cloud seating program and every time I go abroad and we’re competing with the Beijing weather mod office on bids, there’s a stack of bids this high and then it’s Rainmaker Technology Corporation representing the US.

26:25 The UAE, they’re turning on nuclear reactors and the US has built like what two in the last 50 years? We built two new nuclear sites in the last 50 years. China has 30 nuclear reactors under construction right now.

26:34 It is essentially this table versus every great power adversary of the United States. I would bet on this table 100 times out of 100 still but it is essentially this table versus every great power adversary.

28:50 Someone else can build a clone of your software product with like Vibe Code or whatever, whereas they cannot at the drop of a hat put 50,000 drones on the front lines.

30:00 I think even potentially more than Nuros, a lot of the companies at this table have been very vocal about what is happening and been a very strong force to pull people here. But it’s because of the problems that are being worked on and how meaningful they are.

30:15 What percentage of hires or how many people we’ve pulled from other places because they want to come work on this? About a third of my team has moved in from elsewhere across the country. Yeah, a third of my team too. Probably like two-thirds.

31:00 People have uprooted their entire lives to come and work on the mission. And that’s honestly one of the most sobering and also rewarding things is to see somebody pick up and join the mission.

32:00 People loving their jobs. Walking around the factory and seeing people who love their job, that is hard to beat. Walking around the factory and seeing people at 8, 9, 10 p.m. loving their job.

32:30 The reason why you have to pay software guys in SF so much is probably because the missions don’t matter in a meaningful way. If something that you’re waking up in the morning for doesn’t matter, you just don’t care.

33:00 It’s Kafka-esque. You’re sitting at a desk, you are essentially becoming a bug person, hunched over said desk, clicking away on a keyboard. To speak on the tangible work, if you’re pouring a casting or if you’re forward deployed…

33:50 Many people have tried to start communities in the past of new startup communities and from my view none of them work. Even in Austin, there’s a few people but it doesn’t feel like they really love each other. They don’t go to bonfires together.

34:00 What did you guys get right and then how is that exportable? I would credit it to our Discord server. You had a Discord server? I think it’s the city.

34:30 This place isn’t manufactured. Look back in time. We haven’t built anything new. We merely revived something that was like this. The space shuttle happened inside of this facility. They did the solid rocket booster testing here.

35:00 There’s a feeling. You don’t have to say anything. You don’t have to attract anybody. It’s just what it is. And the city has been that at its core. And I think we’ve just brought that to light.

35:30 I came here because of you and Zayn. That’s why I came here. You said a bunch of things about how the city has all these benefits and like you had your spreadsheet and did your analysis of the best place to start a hardware company in the US, but I was sold on the vision that you two guys had.

36:20 Phil Aronstein, founder of DRA Automated, the assembly company, recently closing a new big client in Southern California. We miss you. I’m sorry that whatever is keeping you in New York is keeping you in New York.