Why capitalism is great.
"This is a way to do good. It's a way to help people by building a business that provided something of value for them... becoming rich in that process was a byproduct of doing something good."
@LukeNosek at Principled Business Summit.
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What an incredible honoring of @RetentionAdam and @JoshuaBaer by @brettahurt.
youtu.be/YTxzf-sPw3o?is…
youtu.be/YTxzf-sPw3o?is…
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“Most hardware engineering is actually software engineering in disguise.”
12 years ago I founded Boom, as a software engineer doing hardware for the first time. I’m probably the least handy founder in hard tech. My 12 y/o son does my soldering and 3D printing for home projects, and I’ve struggled with imposter syndrome the whole way through. What business does a software guy have building supersonic jets and turbines?
More than a decade in, the most insane realization is that software is the key to reaccelerating hardware engineering. But in a way that I don’t think is widely understood or implemented, even in the burgeoning hard tech community.
Most hardware engineering is actually software engineering in disguise. It’s spreadsheet “code,” engineering calculations done as one-offs. Eg wing structural loads in, spar sizing design out. Thermal loads in, air conditioning system sizing out.
Everything is a calculation, and calculation is software. But these calculations are done essentially by hand, as if we are doing arithmetic but have not yet discovered algebra.
Hardware engineers have baby software, built in spreadsheets, the kind of crappy software I wrote as a kid before I understood architecture, unit tests, APIs, version control, and everything else that makes modern software good.
Our airplanes and engines are built with the software sophistication of a script kiddie.
So what we tell our engineers: don’t design the hardware, design the *algorithm* for designing the hardware. And take the algorithm seriously—as an algorithm and as a first-class engineered software system.
Never design a piece of hardware, such that you couldn’t redesign it tomorrow with a different set of assumptions.
This all sounds obvious, yet our experience at Boom is that it changes everything.
Ten years ago we couldn’t afford to build much software. We had a small team—and there were few software engineers with the curiosity, brilliance, and vision required to learn hardware engineering.
But now AI changes the equation. Now everyone can code. The software engineers define the architecture. The hardware people bring the physics and engineering know-how.
We have a turbomachinery design tool that lets one engineer do in realtime what previously took 100 engineers six months. Another tool auto-generates 65% of entire aircraft structure. I’m sure we’ll figure out the other 35% too. Eventually these should not be multiple tools, but one integrated physics model of a complete vehicle, airframe and powertrain.
The results speak for themselves. A boomless supersonic airplane built by 50. A full scale supersonic turbine made by 150. And with this approach, I don’t think we’ll need that many more people to build and certify a supersonic airliner.
You don’t need a big team to build big things—not when everyone on the team is a software engineer.
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By golly, he’s offering to cancel! Good call @jonwillbanks !
Exactly 😂
Tesla has no government contracts and President Trump ended federal incentives for electric vehicles.
SpaceX contracts with the government are BOTH the best product AND the lowest price! Moreover government revenue will be less than 10% of SpaceX revenue this quarter and less then 5% a year from now.
Happy to cancel any that the government doesn’t want. Just say the word!
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I’ve always loved the term “making money”. It’s the opposite of “taking money”. And the best business leaders literally do make money by making things that are valuable that didn’t exist before.
In a free market, wealth is the reward society gives to whoever serves it best.
@iamjohnmackey at the Principled Business Summit: create value, serve the customer, trade freely. Win-win-win.
Join Principled Business, link in bio.
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Such a cool session at thee @PrincipledBus Summit. Well done, @ericsharry !
Moderated the Investor Deal Lab at the Principled Business Summit in Austin. Four investors were supposed to pitch funds. Their stories took over. Mike Sherbakov came here from Russia at five. I was born into this country. They chose it.
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Paul truly is a hero in the investing space. And his talk at the @PrincipledBus Summit was extraordinary. He didn’t want it recorded. You had to be in the room to hear it. But he gave it so much thought, attention, and insight, that it will remain with those of us who were there for years.
🏆 Paul Leggett is our Principled Business Investor of the Year!
From Mithril Capital, he puts long-term capital behind robotics, energy, and space.
That's how the opportunity to innovate is protected.
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There are few people I respect or appreciate more than @SelimBassoul. Our second time meeting was on a relief trip to Puerto Rico after a hurricane. He not only has built incredible businesses over his career, he has sought to do so in a way that elevates the people around him.
That’s why he received the @PrincipledBus Lifetime Achievement Award this year.
That’s why he received the @PrincipledBus Lifetime Achievement Award this year.
🏆 @SelimBassoul receives our Principled Business Lifetime Achievement Award!
He arrived with almost nothing and grew Middleby from $40 million to roughly $7 billion, always with people's dignity at the center.
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Congratulations @davidmohara from @improving for being the @PrincipledBus Executive of the Year. People need leaders who live up the ideals of capitalism, not those who exploit the system. David has been showing how to do that for a long time.
🏆 @davidmohara is our Principled Business Executive of the Year!
At Improving since 2007: 10 years among the best places to work in Dallas and 11 straight years on the Inc. 5000.
Trust is a principle of capitalism too.
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The movement of capitalists for capitalism requires leaders to step up not only to advocate for it but to organize and lead it. Thank you so much, Brian, for being one of the very best at that. @Bougey
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A great leader of principled entrepreneurship! Congratulations @jonwillbanks !
🏆 @jonwillbanks is our Principled Business Entrepreneur of the Year!
A rescued dog, 16 and a half years of life, and a company, Arterra Pet Science, so more dogs can live longer and better.
A hero of capitalism.
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5/ "Best conference I have attended in 25 years." Richard Thomas Groome, Notre Dame Capital.
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4/ Selim Bassoul's operating lesson from Middleby: hire people stronger than you in their specialties and pay them well. He also took home our Lifetime Achievement Award.
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3/ Surprise guest: Luke Nosek on PayPal's beginnings, and on how trust built through real work makes the next collaboration possible and why capitalism is great.
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