Molly O’Shea
@MollySOShea • 72,439 subscribers
Investing & Tech →Newsletter/Podcast @Sourceryy | BIG Fan @brexhq @Turingcom @public @deel @getvcx
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BREAKING: Inside Rocket Lab ( $RKLB ) w/ Sir Peter Beck FULL INTERVIEW (Part I) We sat down with Peter Beck Founder & CEO of Rocket Lab after another record quarter, $234M in revenue & $2.36B in backlog "The lawyers hate me saying it, but global domination is definitely part of the plan." "I didn't want to build a space company that just lives for the lifetime that I'm running it. It needed to be multi-generational." We go deeper into Iridium, Neutron, the $397M Space Force contract to build + launch "Flatellites," & how 81% of revenue last quarter was outside of launch. Covering: › Why the fix for a 9-month lead time was buying the supplier › The $8B Iridium acquisition & why he was surprised nobody saw it coming › Why the Neutron question should be about the 10th rocket, not the 1st › The 24-hour turnaround constraint that produced Hungry Hippo › Flatellites, building satellites for volume rather than one at a time Plus: building a launch industry in New Zealand from zero suppliers & no regulation, staying out of broadband to play in L-band, going public before SpaceX, GHOST & the launch site that ships in a container, & why the Archimedes engines are painted black. 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Sir Peter Beck, Founder & CEO at Rocket Lab (00:59) Rocket Lab's biggest quarter (02:53) The competitive edge in Space (04:10) Rocket Lab's Acquisition Strategy (05:04) Reason behind the Iridium Deal (06:13) Competing with Blue Origin & SpaceX (09:56) Rocket Lab's Global Domination (11:19) Building a Launch Monopoly in New Zealand (12:33) Is this why Peter got Knighted? (16:42) Beating SpaceX to the Public Markets (20:05) Why Neutron is still facing delays (24:24) The reality of running a Rocket Company (27:38) Rocket Lab's latest contract wins (29:04) How defense became a prime mover for Rocket Lab (30:39) Ghost: Rocket Lab's portable launch pad (31:30) Has he seen Aliens? (33:18) What's next for Rocket Lab? (34:30) Where does Peter draw his inspiration? (36:12) Why he's never read a Business book (37:31) Why their Engine is painted black
Molly O’Shea864,348 views • 13 days ago
BREAKING: Northwood Space Opens New 185,000 Sqft HQ & Factory in Torrance, CA Interview & Tour w/ CEO Bridgit Mendler This takes Northwood's manufacturing footprint from 25,000 to 135,000 sqft & puts antenna production on assembly lines. Portal & Prism each get a dedicated line, PCB assembly & machining come in-house. Production moves in October 2026. Specs: › Prism line: 4 parabolic antennas/wk across S-, X- , & Ka-bands › Portal line: over a full ground site's worth of panels/mo › Adding 400 jobs over 3 years › $136M raised to date, plus a $49.8M Space Force contract "Building the future of space networking is as much a manufacturing problem as a technology one. This facility is how we build the network at rate." 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Bridgit Mendler, Co-Founder & CEO at Northwood (00:50) Inside Northwood's 180,000 sq. ft. facility (01:50) Why space missions need Ground Stations (04:45) What "Full-Stack" means for Northwood (08:40) How the SpaceX IPO changed space hiring (10:43) What makes Hardware roles so exciting (13:32) Winning a ~$50M Government contract (17:17) Defending against Hacking attempts (22:45) Turning $136M funding Into a 10-year plan (26:24) The customers behind Northwood's growth (29:07) The hardest part of building Infrastructure (30:44) The Mentors behind Bridgit's journey (32:24) Learning to trust her gut as CEO (34:54) Underwater UFOs: Real or not? (37:22) This is where Antennas will get built (38:04) Touring the Build & Test stations (39:26) Anechoic testing chamber (42:51) The NASA Astronaut
Molly O’Shea354,517 views • 6 days ago
BREAKING: Inside Rocket Lab's ( $RKLB ) Engine Development Center How Archimedes & Rutherford are made FACTORY TOUR (Part III) Sir Peter Beck walks us through Rocket Lab's engine factory in Long Beach, CA. It used to be Sir Richard Branson's $1.2B Virgin Orbit's facility. When it went bankrupt, Rocket Lab bought the building & every machine in it for $16M against over $100M of assets. I asked if he keeps a list of which companies might d*e next.. he said yes. Roughly 10 people now run one of the largest 3D print shops in the industry, turning out a Rutherford engine every day and an Archimedes every 8 days. We cover: › Buying a competitor's factory for 16 cents on the dollar › Why space companies are almost impossible to k*ll › Why Archimedes was designed to be the most boring engine possible › Why it qualifies on 1 hour of runtime & Rutherford on 5 minutes › The hot fire that ate its own injector and kept running Plus: whether investors are any good at space diligence, methane vs kerosene & the soot problem, the machine arriving next year that prints a whole engine in one go, & Beck's hot take on where the industry actually is. Rocket Lab Week: › Part I: Full interview w/ Sir Peter Beck › Part II / Tour 01: Rocket Lab HQ, Mission Control & Satellite Manufacturing › Part III / Tour 02: Rocket Lab’s Engine Development Center, Rutherford & Archimedes 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Sir Peter Beck, Founder & CEO at Rocket Lab (00:48) Buying a $100M building for $16M (02:30) Why Space companies never die (04:15) Where Rocket Lab's engines actually get built (06:55) Biggest differences: Archimedes & Rutherford (07:56) This is where Rocket Lab actually tests its Engines (10:01) How 12 lasers print a Rocket engine part (15:04) A full walkthrough of the Electron Rocket (16:29) Why Iridium was just the beginning (18:35) Methane vs. Kerosene: why it matters (19:28) Why Reusability creates its own set of problems (24:17) What makes a Vacuum Engine different (26:39) The future of Space
Molly O’Shea443,360 views • 9 days ago
BREAKING: Inside Rocket Lab ( $RKLB ) HQ Tour in Long Beach, CA w/ Sir Peter Beck FACTORY TOUR (Part II) Rocket Lab reached space in 2009 on ~$60,000 in total capitalization, using fittings pulled out of a junkyard. "From that adversity, comes good ideas" Electron reached orbit in 2017 on <$100M w/ 80 people. Meanwhile, their nearest competitor, billionaire-founded Virgin Orbit, burned $1.2B & went bankrupt. Rocket Lab now runs 13 acres of factory across 9 locations, globally. But before any of that, with dream of reaching space, Peter Beck applied to NASA: "I was objectively too dumb & also a foreign national. So foreign national, no degree, it wasn't looking good." NASA turned him down. He ended up launching their payloads instead, including CAPSTONE to the Moon, NASA's lunar pathfinder for Artemis, which operated out of the mission control room we walked through. We cover: › The $3.20 ferrules that got Rocket Lab to space › Why $100M & 80 people beat $1.2B at Virgin Orbit › Going public as a succession plan, not a financing event › Why a reaction wheel is a moat › The reality of buying companies Plus: the 2001 lobby, his take on "number eight wire," the CAPSTONE spare that stayed home, 12-year missions that cannot fail, & where new space entrants actually die. Check out the rest of the series: › Part I: Full sit-down interview w/ Peter Beck › Part II: Tour 01 - *This episode* › Part III: Tour 02 - Engine Development Center (Friday) 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Touring inside Rocket Lab HQ (01:44) The origin story (05:45) What "Number Eight Wire" actually means (07:14) Too much Capital can kill a startup (09:03) Why Rocket Lab decided to go public (10:45) From Rockets to an entire Space Ecosystem (15:11) Where Escapade & CAPSTONE were flown (16:44) Inside the satellite build floor (17:15) In search for life on Venus (18:08) Inside the Electric Propulsion Lab (19:58) Inside the Thermal & Shock Testing Facility (20:47) How big is this facility? (21:45) Inside the NASA LOxSAT project (23:06) Why so many Space startups fail (24:00) Up Next: Inside the Engine Lab
Molly O’Shea433,974 views • 11 days ago
BREAKING: Inside Palo Alto Networks ($PANW ) w/ CEO Nikesh Arora (Nikesh Arora) Rogue agents are just the start. "This is the beginning. This is not a moment." Nikesh joined 8 years ago at an $18 Billion market cap. Today it's grown to $300+ Billion "For 8 years I tried to convince CEOs to pay attention to cybersecurity. You know what Mythos did? Every CEO wants to talk about Mythos." "The average time to fix a vulnerability was 55 days.. The average time they'll find it, try & attack you is in minutes.. We launched a capability that delivers patches in 4 hours. From 55 days to 4 hours." We cover: › The liability question behind agent deployment › Why he signed Jensen Huang's open weights letter › 40+ acquisitions behind the run to $300B › End of the 'SaaSpocalypse' ? › Hiring AI natives out of hackathons › Why every piece of software gets rewritten in the next 10 years 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Nikesh Arora, Chairman & CEO at Palo Alto Networks (00:51) The AI attack era has already started (03:30) What happens when agents go rogue (04:39) Why AI Labs are slowing down (06:31) The Mythos Fallout (17:25) Cybersecurity's secret weapon (19:43) Buying a company is the easy part (20:48) Where most acquisitions go wrong (24:58) Predicting the SaaSpacolypse (28:03) The question nobody in Tech is asking (30:54) There's never enough Compute (33:12) Palo Alto's bar for AI fluency (35:37) The controversial hire (37:12) Using LinkedIn to spot opportunities (39:19) What a CEO's day actually looks like (43:47) The leadership traits that matter (47:02) Google vs. SoftBank: What was different? (51:02) Why planning horizons are shrinking (52:55) Lessons From Elon & Masa (56:44) What's next for Nikesh?
Molly O’Shea669,989 views • 20 days ago
BREAKING: Inside AppLovin's $100B+ Ad Engine Co-Founder & CEO Adam Foroughi CTO Giovanni Ge FULL INTERVIEW AppLovin is one of the most efficient companies in public markets at ~400 people. Approaching $7B in EBITDA. That's ~$17M per employee, roughly 3x the revenue per head of Nvidia & 7x Apple, Meta, or Google. Engineering hasn't grown in 3 years (100 people) while cash flow scaled 20x. The most extensive breakdown yet of how they built the ad model that grew AppLovin ( $APP ) from a -92% post-IPO decline to $100B+ company, with billions in profit Gio joined AppLovin in late 2022, when the company was worth ~$5.5 billion to help architect Axon 2, the recommendation engine that became central to AppLovin’s transformation. The new architecture improved predictions & advertiser returns, helping drive the company’s expansion beyond mobile gaming into e-commerce ads & a full recovery "Technology moves really fast, & you gotta be humble about what you have. If technology goes faster than what you've developed, you gotta throw away what you have & rebuild it. And it's probably gonna happen every couple years, or even faster in the future." - Adam Foroughi We go inside the machine: › Rebuilding Axon from scratch with 100 engineers › No one-on-ones, no training manuals, almost no PMs › New hires ship production code in week 1 › Engineers on top of AI, not next to it › The e-commerce product designed on a napkin › Dropping 92%, then becoming their own best investor › The math to $1 trillion 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Adam Foroughi, Co-Founder & CEO & Giovanni Ge, CTO at AppLovin (00:52) Gio's first impression of AppLovin (03:38) Joining AppLovin after a 30% stock drop (09:59) How Axon 2 actually got built (20:23) Why AppLovin never needed a sales team (21:59) From gaming ads to e-commerce (24:47) From a napkin drawing to a real product (30:54) The onboarding mistake most companies make (34:37) What "AI-Native" actually means (36:37) Should new engineers still learn to code? (41:41) UGC vs. traditional ads: what's winning? (47:56) Adapting to AI without rebuilding from scratch (54:50) Gio's daily tech stack (1:02:17) AppLovin's path to a trillion-dollar valuation (1:06:19) Recovering from a 90% stock drop (1:09:47) What's next for AppLovin? (1:13:44) What happens when AI takes over? (1:15:48) Adam and Gio's hottest takes (1:19:50) How to actually stay locked in (1:24:47) Building something that lasts
Molly O’Shea695,423 views • 23 days ago
BREAKING: David david friedberg on America vs Socialism FULL INTERVIEW Exposing the underlying problems no one wants to talk about. How the bottom 50% got left behind. "I don't blame Americans for finding themselves in the situation that they're in. I blame the bad policy that brought us to this moment." "Americans should feel good about America. We just have to fix the policies." "This can't just be a CCP psyop. It's coming from a place of hurt, of turmoil, of fundamental struggle." "I'm saying everyone is right, but we need to be honest about what has happened to get us here & what the right path is to get us out of it." We cover: › Real wealth data: $183T total US net worth, $8T held by billionaires, $4T by the bottom 50% › The 1982 Social Security mistake that cost the bottom 50% an extra $37 trillion (vs bankrupt !!!) › Why capital gains & labor taxes should reverse › Wealth tax as asset seizure › Invest America for Children, a 401(k) from birth, & flipping Social Security into equities › Joe Lonsdale: paying taxes that actually work 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) David Friedberg, CEO at Ohalo Genetics & Co-Host at All-In (01:11) Is California functionally bankrupt? (02:28) The real reason Americans can't afford anything anymore (12:13) Why a wealth tax is really government theft (21:22) Why blaming billionaires is a political strategy, not a solution (25:33) How Socialism grows like a virus (30:40) Inside Trump Accounts: a 401(k) for every American (34:22) Why rational arguments can't compete with viral outrage (40:56) Jeff Bezos's radical fix for the wealth gap (45:47) 5 years till Social Security is bankrupt (46:35) Is AI actually coming for your job? (50:29) The K-shaped economy (55:39) Five things America needs to fix to survive (59:21) David's research process (1:02:54) "It's about making Americans feel good again"
Molly O’Shea1,439,426 views • 1 month ago
BREAKING: Base Power Raises $1 Billion Series D, Hitting $13 Billion Valuation & Launching "Base Core" First-of-its-Kind Home Battery Built in the USA $2.5B+ in total funding to date Co-Founder Justin Lopas (Justin Lopas) gives us a Factory 1 tour in Austin, Texas Founded in 2023, by Justin & Zach Dell (Zach Dell). Base Power designs, manufactures, & installs home batteries that back up the house & support the grid Just 10 months after their Series C, this round was led by Micky Malka's Ribbit, Addition, Valor Equity Partners, & JPMorganChase's Strategic Investment Group, with participation from Altimeter, D1 Capital Partners, Sands Capital, Coatue, Layer Global, & Energy Impact Partners Base’s major existing investors are re-investing, including Thrive Capital, a16z, Lightspeed, Trust Ventures, CapitalG, & more "It is so critical to bring manufacturing back to the US, especially for critical infrastructure." "It's a vertical integration thesis. We can cut down cost. We can reduce lead time. We can change the hardware much more quickly." We Cover: › Base Core, 40 kWh with a 20 kW inverter, roughly 3X a conventional home battery › Whole home backup, installed in under an hour › Fleet past 500 MWh, over 100 installs a day › 200+ MW of utility partnerships with El Paso Electric, Austin Energy, & CoServ › Factory 1 built in 6 months, targeting 4,000 units a week by year end › 100% US and Mexico supply chain › Batteries installed around data centers to offset interconnection load 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Justin Lopas, Co-Founder & COO, Base Power (01:06) Base Power raises $1B Series D (02:26) Meet Base Core (05:42) Demo: Whole-home backup in action (07:06) How Base Power's business model works (08:55) Inside Base Power's Factory (11:28) Why Base Core is 3x larger than other home batteries (12:05) Inside the manufacturing line (13:23) Can humanoid robots build batteries? (14:13) Why Base Power manufactures its own batteries (15:47) Inside the robotic assembly line (18:09) How lithium-ion batteries work (21:40) Scaling production to 4,000 units a week (22:33) Installing 100+ systems a day (23:03) COO or Electrician? (23:53) From oil rigs to Base Power
Molly O’Shea961,737 views • 1 month ago
“Steve Jobs isn't the name that's mentioned as much anymore. Maybe that's an understatement, but I think there's a lot of emphasis on Elon-mode.” Northwood CEO Bridgit Mendler on the lessons she takes from Elon Musk & Steve Jobs: “Elon’s has been a huge influence for the industry & set a lot of axioms that companies now abide by.” “But the things I really relate to or admire are more of the Steve Jobs-mode of operating—the obsession with craft & perfection. That's definitely in the Elon-mode as well, but maybe I'm just connecting to more of the artistic aspect of it in the Steve Jobs way because I very much am a perfectionist & I wrestle with that sometimes because sometimes things just need to get shipped & done. But I think there's also a lot of value in just being maniacal on craft & quality.” “Knowing when to apply each of those is really important.” - Bridgit Mendler
Molly O’Shea82,013 views • 3 days ago
BREAKING: Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora (Nikesh Arora) says there’s massive alpha on LinkedIn & nobody else is paying attention to it: "Our general counsel I hired off of LinkedIn. I had a dinner last night with somebody who I found on LinkedIn because I think he'd be great for our company." "It's a great place to find people. You get to look at everything they say and see if they're intelligent or not." "They're not interviewing when they're posting on LinkedIn. So if I can read what people have written over the last 40 years on LinkedIn, I can tell you who they are without having to ask them." "I bring them in the room for half an hour.. if you can't fool me for half an hour, then you shouldn't come work here anyway."
Molly O’Shea374,966 views • 20 days ago
BREAKING: Senra Systems Raises $65M Series B co-led by Lowercarbon Capital & Interlagos Total funding hits $112M+ Full interviews: › Co-Founder & CEO Jordan Black › Ken Venner Chief Tech & Product Officer (fmr SpaceX CIO) › Factory tour Wire harnesses are the nervous system of every rocket, car, & missile. Up to 25% of a vehicle's cost, & still 100% built by hand. Senra Systems is rebuilding wire harness manufacturing around software. Series B participation from General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Dylan Field, CIV, 8VC, The Friedkin Group, Jaws Estates Capital, Sozo Ventures, & Alumni Ventures We cover: › $65M round & Factory 3 › Ken Venner on scaling Broadcom & SpaceX › Quitting SpaceX to build harnesses on an apartment carpet › Supplying the fastest-scaling defense companies in America › Amp, their operating system › Where the name Senra comes from 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Jordan Black, Co-Founder & CEO & Ken Venner, CTPO at Senra Systems (00:57) Senra raises a $65M Series B (01:36) What Senra Systems actually builds (05:18) Why they built two very different factories (07:00) The reindustrialization of America (09:09) Commercial vs. Government: who's really buying? (09:52) The origin story (17:35) Turning a 2-year training pipeline into 4 weeks (25:06) Bringing on SpaceX legend Ken Venner (29:23) Why Jordan became obsessed with wire harnessing (31:46) The investors betting big on wire harnesses (34:16) The real story behind the name "Senra" (36:49) Will the SpaceX IPO fuel Senra's growth? (39:32) Ken Venner (41:40) Scaling lessons from Broadcom and SpaceX (43:21) Why Ken left Broadcom for SpaceX (44:40) Life as SpaceX's CIO (46:11) The secret to Elon Musk's management style (47:15) What it's really like working with Gwynne Shotwell (51:28) Scaling with AI vs. pure headcount (55:04) Factory tour with Jordan
Molly O’Shea942,971 views • 1 month ago
BREAKING: Devin now writes ~95% of Devin's code Scott Wu (Scott Wu), CEO of Cognition says the abundance era of AI is real & coming soon.. FULL INTERVIEW Cog Stats: › $2.5B raised, $26B valuation › $500M+ run rate, up from $37M LY › Customer usage is up 11x-12x in 6 months › Total code shipped inside Cognition has grown 7x › Devin writes ~95% of Cog's code, up from 89% at May Series D › The entire Windsurf acquisition was negotiated over 1 weekend, ~40 people buying a 200 person company with $82M of ARR › Goldman Sachs, Mercedes-Benz, Citi, Dell, Santander, NASA, the US Navy & the US Army all run Devin R I P : "The tokenmaxx era lasted from January to May of 2026, roughly." "I'm excited to have AI that allows me to spend all of my time & focus on the things that I care about & take care of the rest. I think the abundance era is real, & I think we'll be there pretty soon." Recorded 7 July 2026. On 23 July 2026 Cognition acquired Poke maker The Interaction Company 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Scott Wu, Co-Founder & CEO at Cognition (01:00) The Identity crisis of building Devin (01:42) How Cognition 7X-ed its output in 6 months (02:55) The Metric every AI company gets wrong (04:18) Cognition's 12x growth curve (07:46) The Windsurf acquisition (13:26) Scaling overnight: Cognition's hardest week (15:11) The strategy behind the integration of Cognition products (17:23) Cognition's M&A playbook (20:01) Why the DMV is Cognition's next big target (22:59) Why Cognition bet against AI centralization (25:09) Why enterprises refuse to bet on a single AI lab (28:32) Scott's honest take on Superintelligence (32:36) Is Silicon Valley losing its mind over the AI gold rush? (33:26) Devin's origin story (37:17) The question Scott thinks nobody's asking yet (39:59) Poker with Peter Thiel & Napoleon ? (41:24) Scott's vision for the next year
Molly O’Shea676,838 views • 1 month ago
![BREAKING: Inside $12 Billion Colossal Biosciences® Biosciences + Colossal Spinout 'Astromech' Announces $20M Raise at $3.8 Billion Woolly Mice, Dire Wolves, & AI-Driven Biotech "We are one of the most undervalued companies in the world." "[AI x Biotech] is truly exploding. You're gonna see this Precambrian explosion of new drugs & new therapies that all come from AI-assisted drug design & discovery." Co-Founder & CEO Ben Lamm Up to 50% of all biodiversity is forecast to be lost in the next 25 years. Asian elephants get cancer at 2% to 3%, humans at 24% to 25%. That gap is the thesis behind both companies. Colossal has raised $635M in total to date. CEO Lamm says each round was 2X oversubscribed, including a most recent round planned for $200M that closed at $400M. Six target species, 260-plus employees, 55,000 sqft Texas HQ, & no animal has ever been sold. Astromech is the AI-driven predictive biology startup spun out of Colossal that aims to forecast how biological systems, evolution, & diseases will change over time. Astromech has raised $60M total. $30M in 2025, a $10.5M extension reported in April, & now $20M led by Bob Nelsen with Peak 6, NeoGenesis Capital, Builders VC, & CAZ Investments. Valuation moved from $2B in March to $3.8B today. Co-founded by Lamm & George Church. On the spinouts: "When new ideas & technologies arise that have other applications outside of de-extinction & species preservation, we spin them out or license the technology so our core teams can focus on Colossal's mission." Colossal Spinouts: › Form Bio, 2022, computational life sciences platform › Breaking, plastic degradation using Colossal bioengineering › Astromech, 2026, evolutionary AI › Artificial wombs, next in line, tech expected ready in ~2027, with human fertility applications We cover: › Astromech, AI for Biology › Gene drives, screwworm, and a half trillion dollar invasive species market › Woolly mice from edit design to live animals in 30 days › The Viagen acquisition and 80% cloning efficiency › Artificial wombs, IVF, & germline applications › $635M raised & why every round was oversubscribed › The no-go list on human and primate work 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Ben Lamm, Co-Founder & CEO at Colossal Biosciences (01:07) Inside Colossal's De-Extinction Lab (05:07) Every wall in this lab has a purpose (06:02) The AI idea that could save the planet (08:09) What Colossal is building next (08:28) Revealing Colossal's woolly mice (10:49) Wild requests they get every day (13:35) Colossal's business model (15:07) How Colossal raised $635 million (20:17) How AI is converging with Biotech (22:44) How ancient DNA actually gets to the lab (26:24) The real stats behind Mass Extinction (32:07) Will their animals ever live in the wild? (34:58) Building this company with no background in Biology (41:44) Choosing their earliest backers (52:51) Why they refuse to work on Humans (58:07) Are they secretly working on Aliens?](https://image.24vids.com/tw-2090438715063566401/amplify_video_thumb/2090384251170467841/img/TZzcfI2lBnXSQFeC.jpg)
BREAKING: Inside $12 Billion Colossal Biosciences® Biosciences + Colossal Spinout 'Astromech' Announces $20M Raise at $3.8 Billion Woolly Mice, Dire Wolves, & AI-Driven Biotech "We are one of the most undervalued companies in the world." "[AI x Biotech] is truly exploding. You're gonna see this Precambrian explosion of new drugs & new therapies that all come from AI-assisted drug design & discovery." Co-Founder & CEO Ben Lamm Up to 50% of all biodiversity is forecast to be lost in the next 25 years. Asian elephants get cancer at 2% to 3%, humans at 24% to 25%. That gap is the thesis behind both companies. Colossal has raised $635M in total to date. CEO Lamm says each round was 2X oversubscribed, including a most recent round planned for $200M that closed at $400M. Six target species, 260-plus employees, 55,000 sqft Texas HQ, & no animal has ever been sold. Astromech is the AI-driven predictive biology startup spun out of Colossal that aims to forecast how biological systems, evolution, & diseases will change over time. Astromech has raised $60M total. $30M in 2025, a $10.5M extension reported in April, & now $20M led by Bob Nelsen with Peak 6, NeoGenesis Capital, Builders VC, & CAZ Investments. Valuation moved from $2B in March to $3.8B today. Co-founded by Lamm & George Church. On the spinouts: "When new ideas & technologies arise that have other applications outside of de-extinction & species preservation, we spin them out or license the technology so our core teams can focus on Colossal's mission." Colossal Spinouts: › Form Bio, 2022, computational life sciences platform › Breaking, plastic degradation using Colossal bioengineering › Astromech, 2026, evolutionary AI › Artificial wombs, next in line, tech expected ready in ~2027, with human fertility applications We cover: › Astromech, AI for Biology › Gene drives, screwworm, and a half trillion dollar invasive species market › Woolly mice from edit design to live animals in 30 days › The Viagen acquisition and 80% cloning efficiency › Artificial wombs, IVF, & germline applications › $635M raised & why every round was oversubscribed › The no-go list on human and primate work 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Ben Lamm, Co-Founder & CEO at Colossal Biosciences (01:07) Inside Colossal's De-Extinction Lab (05:07) Every wall in this lab has a purpose (06:02) The AI idea that could save the planet (08:09) What Colossal is building next (08:28) Revealing Colossal's woolly mice (10:49) Wild requests they get every day (13:35) Colossal's business model (15:07) How Colossal raised $635 million (20:17) How AI is converging with Biotech (22:44) How ancient DNA actually gets to the lab (26:24) The real stats behind Mass Extinction (32:07) Will their animals ever live in the wild? (34:58) Building this company with no background in Biology (41:44) Choosing their earliest backers (52:51) Why they refuse to work on Humans (58:07) Are they secretly working on Aliens?
Molly O’Shea251,003 views • 17 days ago
BREAKING: David david friedberg says "California is functionally bankrupt" "People don't realize how screwed California is, & I worry that if California falls, so does the union. "$250 billion to $1 trillion short." "This is because for California to get rescued would be a big cost to red states, & I think it creates in the years ahead a lot of tension." "California's functional bankruptcy is a major risk to the country. & I think we need to figure out what we can change to fix it." How we got here: "California has a public pension system, & that public pension system retirees have paid into it & they get some benefits out, & the amount that they're owed back out is somewhere between $250 billion - $1 trillion dollars more than has been paid in. $250 billion to $1 trillion short. If it was the federal government, it would be like, okay, we'll just print more money. California doesn't have the ability to print money, so California has to pay this out, and you can't restructure retirement benefits. There is a Supreme Court case in California that said that once an employee has been offered retirement benefits, even if they're currently an employee, you can never restructure their retirement benefits. It has to stay forever, and the state cannot declare bankruptcy. There's no way for the state to functionally declare bankruptcy. There's no law to allow it. No state has ever declared bankruptcy, and the retirement benefits sit senior to the bonds in California. So you have to pay out the retirement benefits before you pay out all the bond holders that have loaned California the money that they use to run all their programs and services." Hill & Valley Forum 2026 (The Hill & Valley Forum)
Molly O’Shea2,672,542 views • 5 months ago
NEW: Private Jets 101 — Should you buy the $75M+ Global 8000? SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, Cerebras, Cursor.. we're in the biggest wealth event of all time, with $4T+ in combined value The most sought-after next step is flying private. I flew Van Nuys to SF on a Challenger 350 w/ Craft ( Part 135 charter company) founder Israel Slodowitz (Izzy) to break down what flying private actually costs We cover: › Who flies more: Elon, Sergey Brin, Jensen, Alex Karp, Taylor Swift? › PJ shortage?! › Charter vs jet card vs fractional vs own › A G650 that sold in one hour › What a jet really costs per year › Why capital gains wealth can't write off a jet › The $10M deduction w/ $2M down (+recapture trap) › Hidden fees, safety gaps, & first-timer mistakes that cost the most › Does flying private actually cure jet lag? › Starlink Video also features Captain Raz Matus. 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Israel Slodowitz, Founder & CEO of Craft (00:58) The state of Private Aviation in 2026 (04:09) Why first time buyers are buying the biggest planes (05:14) A coming shortage of private jets (06:00) The Private Jet size chart nobody explains (08:26) When does it make sense to buy vs. charter? (11:24) The real cost of a $75M jet (13:30) Breaking down prices by jet category (15:07) Charter vs. Jet card vs. Fractional ownership (19:31) Inside Craft's exchange fund model (25:33) The most economical way to fly private (26:24) Alex Karp's $17M flight bill (28:01) How Aircraft financing actually works (29:25) The Biggest mistakes people make buying a plane (30:23) What to ask before you buy any Private Jet (33:48) The best part of being a Pilot (34:38) The Biggest misconception about Private Aviation (35:48) How Starlink changed the business (37:03) Why Commercial WiFi is so far behind (42:12) The real causes of aircraft downtime (43:48) Do plane windows actually pop out? (45:04) Why jet prices are climbing as supply shrinks (47:25) How to avoid buying the wrong Private Jet (48:58) The Tax Loophole behind $75M Private Jets (58:52) Biggest Health hacks while flying (1:00:02) The Hidden fees in Chartering (1:02:39) The Wildest onboard story (1:03:25) Safety standards and how to vet an operator (1:05:59) Why Pilots refuse to fly into Aspen at night (1:07:26) The Busiest private airports in the U.S. (1:09:39) Flying private, work culture, & the future of wealth (1:11:15) How Captain Raz became a private pilot (1:13:16) The real health hacks for surviving constant flying (1:14:13) Do you actually need a flight attendant on a private jet? (1:17:07) What to actually look for when chartering or buying a jet (1:18:04) His favorite plane vs. the hardest one to fly (1:21:05) The Wildest in-flight catering secret nobody admits
Molly O’Shea1,159,688 views • 2 months ago
BREAKING: Neros Raises $250M Series C at $2.5 Billion Valuation FULL INTERVIEW "America should have the capability to have factories that can make millions of drones per year because that's what modern conflict demands." Co-Founder & CEO Soren Monroe-Anderson (Soren Monroe-Anderson) takes us inside the new 250K sq ft Torrance factory. Currently shipping ~1,250 drones a week. Sized for 1 million a year by 2028. Fresh off a $500M Army IDIQ for 100,000s of drones over 5 years This round was led by Shaun Maguire of Sequoia Capital & American Strategic Technology Fund w/ participation from Interlagos, Valor Equity Partners, Allen & Company, Thiel Capital, Spark Capital, & Mantis With this capital Neros Technologies is now going multi-product with: › Archer AI — Autonomous strike drone › Bandit — Counter-drone interceptor › Marksman — Ruggedized operator handset › Useful Autonomy — Framework for evaluating autonomy claims ICYMI: China builds an estimated tens of millions of drones a year & arms both sides in Ukraine. America is way behind, representing just 1% of the world's small drones. Neros was the first FPV maker to win Blue UAS certification, meaning a fully NDAA-compliant supply chain with no reliance on China. "You can look at our boards, you can look at all of the chips that go onto our boards. Those will not have ever touched China." 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Soren Monroe-Anderson, Co-Founder & CEO at Neros Technologies (01:02) $250M Series C at a $2.5B valuation (03:34) Working with Shawn Maguire (04:25) Inside the Army's $500M drone contract (05:38) How the Ukraine war rewrote modern combat (08:05) The Interceptor drones taking over the battlefield (10:31) How many drones China really makes in a year (12:55) Is it even possible to build a drone without China? (16:09) China is arming both sides of the war (17:08) What actually separates Neros from every other drone company (19:55) The biggest BS claims in defense tech right now (20:51) Why most defense startups never actually deploy? (22:58) Neros’s growth to over 250 employees (24:00) Why defense startups need to screen for spies (25:29) The Talent bottleneck slowing down American manufacturing (26:51) How AI is quietly reshaping engineers (29:43) The biggest myth about re-industrializing America (30:50) Neros's plan to build drones with U.S. allies (32:53) The brutal tradeoff between speed and scale (34:51) Why Neros keeps a permanent office in Ukraine? (35:52) What actually happens on a modern battlefield? (37:41) How Starlink is changing drone warfare (39:14) What happens when a drone loses its signal (40:41) Soren’s learnings from Kelly Johnson
Molly O’Shea345,877 views • 26 days ago
BREAKING: Inside Palantir with Alex Karp Exclusive interview in Palantir’s office. We cover: - $PLTR record earnings - ~$500B market cap milestone - New Biography: The Philosopher in the Valley - The rise of AIP & its impact on global enterprise - Morality, value creation, & helping Americans win - Dyslexia, artistry, & Karp’s leadership philosophy - The Legacy of Rosita - Cupcakes Special thank you to @elianoayounes for the strategic vibes & the Palantir team for helping put this together! Highlights: (00:00) Inside Palantir w/ Alex Karp (02:16) Building w/o hierarchy, the anti-playbook culture (05:00) Artistry & conviction in product creation (06:45) Ignoring consensus & betting on vision (08:45) Helping Americans win - soldiers, workers, investors (11:00) Moral conviction & the foundation of Palantir (13:00) Meritocracy, realism, & Western values (15:41) The Eisenhower Award & moral leadership (19:45) Dyslexia, intuition, & leading through instinct (22:38) Value creation vs. hype in the AI boom (26:19) Launching AIP - Palantir’s turning point (28:30) AIP as the operating system for the AI era (33:15) Rosita - family (39:55) Cupcake
Molly O’Shea4,589,187 views • 9 months ago
BREAKING: Impulse Space Raises $500M Series D Reaching $1+ Billion in Total Funding to Build In-Space Mobility Infrastructure aka "Move Things in Space" Full interview w/ President & COO Eric Romo (Eric Romo) (SpaceX Employee #13) Founder & CEO Tom Mueller (Tom Mueller) (SpaceX Employee #1): "We're building more than spacecraft: we're building the economic & technical engine that will power humanity's expansion into space. From Earth orbit to the Moon & beyond, the ability to move quickly, precisely, & affordably on orbit is the fundamental capability that will unlock a true space age." We cover: → The $500M raise → Mira: precision maneuvering → Helios: same-day delivery → Caravan: GEO rideshare → Commercial vs defense → Space Force demand → SpaceX origins → Hiring 200+ roles The Series D was co-led by 137 Ventures & BANNER VC. Additional participating investors include Founder’s Fund, Lux Capital, & Linse Capital. 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Eric Romo, President & COO at Impulse Space (00:58) Fueling the next phase with a $500M Series D (04:30) Crossing the $1B funding mark (06:00) The freedom to execute (07:09) Why startups d*e from indigestion (08:30) Building beyond SpaceX (13:32) How defense became the real opportunity (16:19) Impulse’s product stack: Mira, Helios & Caravan (23:43) The economics of urgency (26:23) "Closer to a fighter jet than a tugboat" (30:40) The new era of space defense (37:33) The SpaceX DNA at Impulse (38:27) The biggest lesson from SpaceX (44:23) Hiring world class engineers (45:38) If not COO, then what? (46:43) The road to first Helios launch
Molly O’Shea1,161,644 views • 3 months ago
Nikesh Arora is a prime example of why you should never let a title intimidate you. When he was named CEO of Palo Alto Networks, he was called a "controversial hire." He had never worked in cybersecurity. Never been a public company CEO. Never sold enterprise software. And even today, he says he still deals with imposter syndrome. "I'd never done cybersecurity in my life. This is a cybersecurity company. I'd never been a public company CEO. This is a public company CEO job. I'd never sold enterprise. I was a consumer guy." "Over time, I began to learn."
Molly O’Shea203,120 views • 19 days ago
