Intro

I’m obsessed with the problem of building and scaling American hardware startups that want to manufacture their products domestically.

This problem is extremely difficult. We’ve barely scratched the surface on figuring it out, the infrastructure and government have only just started to mobilize, decades too late, and it’s a vital and valuable problem to solve. I also believe it can be figured out, and that we must figure it out.

Why does it matter where our stuff gets made?

I think we’re in the early stages of 3 major generational trends, which will come to matter a lot soon in terms of our collective well-being as a society:

» The loss of American dominance in the world order.
» A return to economic nationalism and sovereignty after decades of globalization and inter-dependence.
» Seismic technological shifts.

We have spent the last 3 decades in a highly globalized world, where trade was free, tensions were low, and America had dominance. This will certainly flip in the coming years, and already has by a lot of measures.

I also believe we are also returning to a less globalized world over the coming decades, where countries have more sovereignty and independence, due to a breakdown in trust, and because America’s dominance is being eroded.

At the same time, technology advances mean it is getting exponentially easier to build hardware and software, as well as automate their production. This is a massive tailwind that will vastly accelerate global wealth as well as global tensions as countries vie for dominance in this more sovereign and competitive world.

If we want to continue to live freely, in wealth, and in harmony with one another in America, we must figure this out.

The worst case scenario is that we do nothing, we lose all leverage and ability to negotiate to secure the millions of products we depend on for survival or our daily needs, and we fall into chaos. This is far from an unrealistic possibility, and it’s still avoidable for now.

I also believe startups and our capital mechanisms in America are perhaps our greatest strengths to succeed at overcoming the problem we find ourselves in, and we should double down on them. They have arisen from a culture of high risk tolerance, bold action, and the belief that wealth and prosperity are good. I want to preserve and nurture these strengths to avoid what seems to be an incoming catastrophe.

To do this, I want to tell the stories of hardware startups that are trying to build and scale in America, so that they can all learn and succeed together, starting with Rival Robotics.

Rival was started by my friend and former student at buildspace campus, Lucas. His initial idea was to start a national robotics competition for engineering students in universities across America.

This is a similar idea to how DJI, the Chinese drone company, runs a national robotics competition every year for university students in China where winners are recruited to join their company. It is essentially a state program to foster national progress in robotics and engineering, and China is currently far ahead of the world in drone technology and manufacturing, which is now crucial to defense.

Lucas’ company is really important, but he is choosing to pivot it, because it’s an extremely tough idea to raise an adequate amount of money for in the short term, even if it could be an extremely valuable company later.

I have seen Lucas go from just an idea, to running local robotics competitions that people love, to raising a small seed check as a solo founder, to pivoting to a hardware product, to now figuring out how to build and scale production, with little to no guidance or support.

I believe it is imperative that he succeed, and I want to help all hardware startups that are trying to produce in America by writing about Lucas’ journey, the challenges he faces daily, how he overcame them, and share all insights and resources freely. If we can move the needle on our collective rate of progress by even 1%, our work will have mattered.

Get in touch if you have any feedback, ideas, or want to help.