We The Builders EPISODE 1 is LIVE with @Farshchi at @Lux_Capital Shahin has invested in companies manufacturing in space (@VardaSpace), building autonomous transportation systems (@zoox), providing robots as a service (@goformic), automating industries (@CovariantAI), using space to revolutionize the Earth observation industry (@planet), 3D printing rockets (@relativityspace) and many more. The Jetsons Future I thought I would be living in 2025 is partly being built. We have a long way to go but this is exactly how we inspire the next generation. If someone from 1900 woke up and read this, they would call it science fiction. Thank you Shahin, for believing in and being a partner to these incredible companies and founders. Shahin is an incredibly kind soul, helpful, accessible and a role model for younger aspiring venture capitalists. From what I have personally observed and heard from friends building companies, he will cheer you on and have incredible empathy for the fact that you had the courage to build. In many cases, more than capital, that is what you need most. Highlights & Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction 02:13 - Berkeley to Iran in teenage 05:01 - Adapting to different education systems 09:05 - Early transformative experiences 14:49 - Mentors and role models 18:20 - On breaking into research labs and flipping rejections 25:01 - Story of getting into grad school, applying for funding, and early research 32:41 - Going from research to venture capital 34:50 - Commercializing his research and starting a company 38:04 - Thoughts on ingredients of a good startup 45:11 - Where do the best founders come from 50:34 - Why PhDs are not equipped to commercialize 1:02:00 - Breakthrough innovation timeline 1:05:00 - Solving for shareholder demand 1:10:22 - How to think about what problem to solve 1:14:10 State of the education system

We are going to be in El Segundo tomorrow at 2pm. It’s time to build for the next frontier. One of my goals has been to highlight and support the best entrepreneurs of our time on a mission to solve the hardest problems. We are not from this planet. We have worked very hard to colonize it and in the process, humans have evolved as a species and come a long way. All of modern technology sector and Silicon Valley are only 50 odd years old. Internet, mobiles, computers, chips, social media - everything happened in the last 50 years. We have always underestimated what we can achieve in decades. We end up getting caught up in 5 year plans. I believe, in my lifetime, we are going to colonize another planet. Humans will land on another planet. It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when. We figured out how to colonize earth, we will figure out how to colonize another planet. Millennials and GenZ will be around to see it. I just don’t know if they’ll be 60 or 80 when they do. One of the questions me and all my friends building in space-tech get asked very frequently is, how does this benefit life on earth? My answer: Space colonization is not just about spaceships and rockets, we have to make significant advancements in robotics, food and agricultural tech, biotech, materials science, transportation, energy and future of software - AI, AGI, ASI - bits superpower atoms. All of this, benefits life on earth. Every new discovery, every new experiment, advancement, benefits life on earth. Having to reimagine how you would occupy a planet with all the hindsight and knowledge, it’s not just a generational opportunity to make a small dent in human history but it’s also the greatest economic opportunity of our time. We discovered ice and built usecases for it and we eventually invented refrigeration. We discovered fire and eventually invented heaters, stoves and combustion engines. Airplanes were invented only 120 years ago. Zoom out, think about the possibilities. If this makes you jump out of bed, if you feel shivers down your spine, if you feel adrenaline thinking about all this - you’re my kinda people. We saw a historic SpaceX launch a couple of days ago. We have companies who are working on manufacturing drugs in space. We have companies building micro nuclear reactors. What a time to be alive. More importantly, I am hosting the founders building these companies and future of our industry in the heart of El Segundo - the flag bearer of all progress in the world of atoms. You will hear from @DougBernauer , cofounder and CEO @RadiantNuclear , @WillBruey , cofounder & CEO of @VardaSpace Jason Dunn, cofounder and CEO of @outpostspace and @MadeInSpace and @johncoogan from @foundersfund