Building Resilience in Hard Tech Communities

How would the health of the planet be impacted if we could control the weather? Augustus Doricko, founder and CEO of Rainmaker, is on a mission to find out.

Augustus’ company makes it rain— literally. Through a process called cloud seeding, Rainmaker creates rain for farms, watersheds and ecosystems. In this conversation, Augustus tells Sammi about the brain-bending challenges of engineering cutting-edge technology, the impact of being a Peter Thiel fellow, and why his company motto is “we love the taste of blood in our mouth.” 

Here’s what Sammi covers with Augustus:

00:00 Augustus Doricko’s Social Currency

01:45 The Mission of Rainmaker

02:38 The Tech Behind Cloud Seeding (Making It Rain)

03:34 The Origin Story of Weather Modification

04:46 The Importance of Attribution 

05:36 How To Create a Brand-New Market

08:02 How Rainmaker Makes It Rain

09:42 Augustus’ Path to Rainmaker

11:00 How Rainmaker Can Address Water Scarcity

21:23 The Community of El Segundo

25:25 Making Engineering Cool 

29:08 Fundraising for Hard Tech

31:14 The Peter Thiel Fellowship Experience

34:06 Advice for Aspiring Founders

35:55 Social Currency Corner

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