Thank you to everyone who reached out over the past couple of months. A few life updates:

1. I’ve officially wound down Countdown's operations and delivered a highly profitable outcome for our LPs. Most—if not all—of our investors are pleased with our returns.

2. I’m in the…

This is not how I expected news to get out, but yes: I am shutting down Countdown.

We've delivered strong performance, but I believe the future of this space favors larger firms than mine. I don't know what the future holds for me yet, but I look forward to sharing once ready.

The European mind cannot comprehend this

Unspoken rule in manufacturing: the shittier the website, the higher the quality of product

Lord, please grant me the confidence of a startup raising a $25M Seed round in 2023

Completely automating a manufacturing process is usually a trap in hard tech.

In reality, great technology makes it easier for more ordinary people to participate in production — not less

Week 4 at the factory, building wire harnesses for the biggest companies in the world 🇺🇸

Most people in VC / tech do not grasp how stacked the deck is against startups in industries like space, defense, & manufacturing.

Building a successful company in these areas is not for the faint of heart. But it is glorious.

Spent some time with the incredible duo behind @CountdownVC: Jai and Katerina. And some of their LPs.

So nice to see deeptech focused seed funds incubating and investing in ideas around smart talent leaving bigger companies. Proud to collaborate with them.

At last year's Tech Week Mo Islam 🚀 asked Chris Power to get spicy and he sure did...

'90% of VC-backed companies could disappear and there would be no impact on the world'

Join us this year to hear more spice: thetechweek.com

ChatGPT startups can be built to last 5+ months, while industrial companies can be built to last 50+ years

I know what I'm investing in.

I've met more VCs interested in national security & defense in the past 2 weeks than the last 4 years

Turns out defeating China is a large, growing market

A new set of generational companies are ushering in a modern space age, an abundant energy future, and a powerful industrial base 🚀

Loved bringing together founders, experts, funders addressing the hard tech + talent needs in the US with Lux Capital @CountdownVC First Republic

The best milestone for a pre-seed round is to develop insight, network, and/or a strategy for monopolization that no one else has.

Revenue, profitability, financial models, etc can be helpful in some cases, but distractions in others. Creating an unfair advantage is the goal.

As hard as it is to raise money as a founder today, it’s likely even harder to start a new VC firm.

Have spoken to 30+ new fund managers since Q3, and their message is clear:

1) VC is harder than it looks
2) Only a few firms reliably succeed
3) The bar for new funds is sky high

The best investor I know, Jai Malik at @CountdownVC.

Two months in to our seven month customer discovery process, Jai DM’d me and was like “you’re gonna start a company and I’m gonna back you.”

(summary avail at steinman.substack.com of our Galvanick discovery process)

Biggest change I've noticed in hard tech this fall: a record number of founders interested in semiconductors & rare earth metals.

'Silicon' Valley finally returning back to its roots

For every sexy software startup in the US today, there's a 'boring', recession-proof, profitable manufacturing business quietly printing cash.

Can't wait to see these two worlds collide over the next decade. Let's make manufacturing sexy again