Re-industrialization is about autonomy, skilled labor, software-defined processes, and extreme levels of operational efficiency. These are the jobs of the future and they will be dynamic, technically rigorous, and high-paying.

Feels like there’s more discussion lately around evaluation criteria for physical reasoning abilities of AI. Maybe an extension of evaluating visual reasoning, but likely something wholly different. “The people yearn for benchmarks” — Jacob Phillips

Congrats to the CX2 team on their Series A! We a16z are honored to continue supporting this team on their mission to deliver spectrum dominance.

The recent Sonnet release actually showed a small regression on MMMU, a visual reasoning benchmark, despite large advances in long-context reasoning for agentic coding and AIME. Excited to see better embodied reasoning benchmarks in the future!

There’s lots of discourse around agency, taste, IQ, etc. and how much these qualities matter for founders. But the one thing that matters above all else is a love of Technology Business. Few (mostly just TBPN)

Good breakdown from Cameron Porter on the importance of properly pricing industrial machinery and the opportunity in equipment financing:

This is the part of the new job at a16z that I’m most excited about: Building an incredible team. I’ve been deeply impressed by the level of talent and ambition here and I’m pumped to build off it. We’re hiring for the following roles first at the intersection of media,

A portco I work with is hiring one of their first SWEs. They’re a vertically-integrated, software-enabled, ‘factory is the product’ company building a key part of reindustrialization across many verticals. You’ll be first 10, in-person in NYC. Reach out if this is you! 🏭🦾🇺🇸

Next Thursday, join me, Oliver Hsu, and a16z to discuss building a vehicle company from scratch #NYTechWeek

Many people are saying

When you say ‘AI for the physical world’ people tend to think embodied agents, world models, etc. But that underrates how many tasks in a physical-world company are primarily textual/visual — design optimization, back-office workflows, supplier mgmt, etc. A lot of these don’t

One of the interesting traits I’ve noticed in many of the people I get along with best is an affinity for mountains or deserts (or both). No clue what this means 🏔️🏜️

Technology must be the beating heart of our minerals supply chain if we want to compete with China. Not single site pilots, not innovation units. Technology is the whole enchilada. Check out our thesis on mining here:

“We believe vertical integration is no longer optional” Full stack startups define American Dynamism. That’s especially true in the mineral supply chain. Our view a16z on critical minerals and how to secure them, from my partners Ryan McEntush and Erin Price-Wright:

The team Amca is launching a new project to tell the stories of the people and personalities behind American manufacturing. Check out their first episode on the story of Candy Suits, a former runway model turned aerospace component manufacturer.

Startups are increasingly challenging dominant incumbents in highly regulated spaces such as energy, healthcare, defense, and education. In these areas, government is not just a regulator, it can be a customer, competitor and gatekeeper all at once. I’ve felt this firsthand at

We must reshore shipbuilding

Everything’s better when it’s forward deployed

Few understand that when Neutral Milk Hotel wrote “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” they were actually talking about ground effect vehicles