Dino Mavrookas

You can then go to Congress and then lobby for budget and say, look, the military needs this. They're saying they want it. Can we appropriate money so that they can actually buy it? And if you have buy-in of those three groups, Then you go and work with the program offices and the contracting officers and you see if you can actually get a deal done.

But we had to understand how to navigate that ecosystem in parallel to building the best technology. Because if we built the best technology and we weren't working on all of this, that again is a three to five year process. It means you build the technology, one, two years, and then you start the process, now you're five to seven years down the road.

But we had to understand how to navigate that ecosystem in parallel to building the best technology. Because if we built the best technology and we weren't working on all of this, that again is a three to five year process. It means you build the technology, one, two years, and then you start the process, now you're five to seven years down the road.

But we had to understand how to navigate that ecosystem in parallel to building the best technology. Because if we built the best technology and we weren't working on all of this, that again is a three to five year process. It means you build the technology, one, two years, and then you start the process, now you're five to seven years down the road.

And you can't afford those types of time lapses. So we had to do both of those things in parallel. And I mean, I was on Capitol Hill two weeks after we started the company with PowerPoint slides of an electric surfboard with a quadcopter on top of it. And this was just an image and a picture that I kind of just made up.

And you can't afford those types of time lapses. So we had to do both of those things in parallel. And I mean, I was on Capitol Hill two weeks after we started the company with PowerPoint slides of an electric surfboard with a quadcopter on top of it. And this was just an image and a picture that I kind of just made up.

And you can't afford those types of time lapses. So we had to do both of those things in parallel. And I mean, I was on Capitol Hill two weeks after we started the company with PowerPoint slides of an electric surfboard with a quadcopter on top of it. And this was just an image and a picture that I kind of just made up.

I was like, went to artists, render and like, go make this real, make this look cool. It wasn't our actual product yet, but it was a way to start telling the story of, hey, this is the future of the Navy. It's a treatable autonomous platforms built very economically and very large scale. And this is what we need and why. And I started telling that story on day one.

I was like, went to artists, render and like, go make this real, make this look cool. It wasn't our actual product yet, but it was a way to start telling the story of, hey, this is the future of the Navy. It's a treatable autonomous platforms built very economically and very large scale. And this is what we need and why. And I started telling that story on day one.

I was like, went to artists, render and like, go make this real, make this look cool. It wasn't our actual product yet, but it was a way to start telling the story of, hey, this is the future of the Navy. It's a treatable autonomous platforms built very economically and very large scale. And this is what we need and why. And I started telling that story on day one.

As our engineers were figuring out, talking to customers, both within the military and actually commercial customers as well. We can talk about the commercial market and why that's important. It's really important to make sure that you're building for a wide array of customers so that then the military can have the best products with a reliable supply chain that can be built economically.

As our engineers were figuring out, talking to customers, both within the military and actually commercial customers as well. We can talk about the commercial market and why that's important. It's really important to make sure that you're building for a wide array of customers so that then the military can have the best products with a reliable supply chain that can be built economically.

As our engineers were figuring out, talking to customers, both within the military and actually commercial customers as well. We can talk about the commercial market and why that's important. It's really important to make sure that you're building for a wide array of customers so that then the military can have the best products with a reliable supply chain that can be built economically.

You build it so specific for the government, it becomes very bespoke and then you can't build enough of them. So then they don't get what they want anyway. So we built for a variety of military and commercial customers up front, completely modular platforms that could be adapted to a variety of uses and missions. But the whole point is you had to do that in parallel.

You build it so specific for the government, it becomes very bespoke and then you can't build enough of them. So then they don't get what they want anyway. So we built for a variety of military and commercial customers up front, completely modular platforms that could be adapted to a variety of uses and missions. But the whole point is you had to do that in parallel.

You build it so specific for the government, it becomes very bespoke and then you can't build enough of them. So then they don't get what they want anyway. So we built for a variety of military and commercial customers up front, completely modular platforms that could be adapted to a variety of uses and missions. But the whole point is you had to do that in parallel.

And so I'm taking this slide deck, and I'm walking around Capitol Hill saying, this is the future of the Navy. And at the time, it was electric surfboard. I'm like, OK. It wasn't quite the future of the Navy. But it got people's attention, it got us started, and then our engineers worked with those variety of customers to understand, okay, where's that intersection, right? What's actually needed?

And so I'm taking this slide deck, and I'm walking around Capitol Hill saying, this is the future of the Navy. And at the time, it was electric surfboard. I'm like, OK. It wasn't quite the future of the Navy. But it got people's attention, it got us started, and then our engineers worked with those variety of customers to understand, okay, where's that intersection, right? What's actually needed?

And so I'm taking this slide deck, and I'm walking around Capitol Hill saying, this is the future of the Navy. And at the time, it was electric surfboard. I'm like, OK. It wasn't quite the future of the Navy. But it got people's attention, it got us started, and then our engineers worked with those variety of customers to understand, okay, where's that intersection, right? What's actually needed?

What are the most important things in terms of range, payload capacity, power supply, mission sets, payloads? And then don't tell me what you want me to build you. Just let me understand your problems. And then we'll build the most efficient solution.