Dino Mavrookas

Where's the company that's software first, hardware enabled, that's vertically integrated, that can produce at scale, that's delivering real capability? Where's that company? And I didn't see it. So then the second question I had to ask was like, does anybody care that this company doesn't exist? Or does it matter? Because it's okay to have a gap in the market.

The question is like, is that gap going to get filled? Can you build a real generational company here? Basically, is the Navy actually going to buy thousands of autonomous systems or not? And if the answer is no, that's okay, then I just don't want to start this company because then it doesn't matter. That's when you start going into...

The question is like, is that gap going to get filled? Can you build a real generational company here? Basically, is the Navy actually going to buy thousands of autonomous systems or not? And if the answer is no, that's okay, then I just don't want to start this company because then it doesn't matter. That's when you start going into...

The question is like, is that gap going to get filled? Can you build a real generational company here? Basically, is the Navy actually going to buy thousands of autonomous systems or not? And if the answer is no, that's okay, then I just don't want to start this company because then it doesn't matter. That's when you start going into...

shipbuilding, shipbuilding capacity, all the things about China that we were talking about. And you very quickly realize, oh crap, the Navy actually doesn't have another choice. There just isn't another choice. We have to move in this direction. We have to augment our fleet with autonomous ships, boats and ships. We have to

shipbuilding, shipbuilding capacity, all the things about China that we were talking about. And you very quickly realize, oh crap, the Navy actually doesn't have another choice. There just isn't another choice. We have to move in this direction. We have to augment our fleet with autonomous ships, boats and ships. We have to

shipbuilding, shipbuilding capacity, all the things about China that we were talking about. And you very quickly realize, oh crap, the Navy actually doesn't have another choice. There just isn't another choice. We have to move in this direction. We have to augment our fleet with autonomous ships, boats and ships. We have to

we have to be a force multiplication to the fleet that we have today in order to maintain naval superiority. Otherwise, we just won't have it. The Chinese have went from this little crappy littoral navy to one that has aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, and hypersonic missiles in less than 25 years. Wow. And They build their military solutions specifically to counter the US.

we have to be a force multiplication to the fleet that we have today in order to maintain naval superiority. Otherwise, we just won't have it. The Chinese have went from this little crappy littoral navy to one that has aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, and hypersonic missiles in less than 25 years. Wow. And They build their military solutions specifically to counter the US.

we have to be a force multiplication to the fleet that we have today in order to maintain naval superiority. Otherwise, we just won't have it. The Chinese have went from this little crappy littoral navy to one that has aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, and hypersonic missiles in less than 25 years. Wow. And They build their military solutions specifically to counter the US.

We are their focus. And that's scary. So then you're like, once we've kind of put all of that together, it wasn't even a question of oh, this is cool, I'm an entrepreneur, I want to start a tech company, I want to do these things. It was like, no, we have to start this company. It's not even a question of do I want to anymore. It's a, we have to, and it's our responsibility to do so.

We are their focus. And that's scary. So then you're like, once we've kind of put all of that together, it wasn't even a question of oh, this is cool, I'm an entrepreneur, I want to start a tech company, I want to do these things. It was like, no, we have to start this company. It's not even a question of do I want to anymore. It's a, we have to, and it's our responsibility to do so.

We are their focus. And that's scary. So then you're like, once we've kind of put all of that together, it wasn't even a question of oh, this is cool, I'm an entrepreneur, I want to start a tech company, I want to do these things. It was like, no, we have to start this company. It's not even a question of do I want to anymore. It's a, we have to, and it's our responsibility to do so.

Because we're the global power, right? Anytime you're on top, people are trying to take you down. And that's just anything. That's life, that's sports. It's competition, right? And that's been happening since the beginning of human civilization. And the other thing is, look, they look at Taiwan and Taiwan's, they view it as their right to go and reclaim that as part of China.

Because we're the global power, right? Anytime you're on top, people are trying to take you down. And that's just anything. That's life, that's sports. It's competition, right? And that's been happening since the beginning of human civilization. And the other thing is, look, they look at Taiwan and Taiwan's, they view it as their right to go and reclaim that as part of China.

Because we're the global power, right? Anytime you're on top, people are trying to take you down. And that's just anything. That's life, that's sports. It's competition, right? And that's been happening since the beginning of human civilization. And the other thing is, look, they look at Taiwan and Taiwan's, they view it as their right to go and reclaim that as part of China.

That is fundamentally their right as a country. And the United States does not agree with that. And we, for better or worse, feel it's our place to project democracy around the world. And I fundamentally believe in that, right? And so Those are two diametrically opposed viewpoints.

That is fundamentally their right as a country. And the United States does not agree with that. And we, for better or worse, feel it's our place to project democracy around the world. And I fundamentally believe in that, right? And so Those are two diametrically opposed viewpoints.

That is fundamentally their right as a country. And the United States does not agree with that. And we, for better or worse, feel it's our place to project democracy around the world. And I fundamentally believe in that, right? And so Those are two diametrically opposed viewpoints.

But to give you a sense of kind of the problem that we're facing, imagine that Cuba was critical to the world's economy, like critical to the world's economy, and the Chinese wanted to stop us from invading Cuba. hard problem. Cuba's 80 miles off the coast. Taiwan's 80 miles off the coast of China. It's on the other side of the world for us.