Emergent: Building the Future

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.emergentproduct.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.emergentproduct.com

In this episode, we sit down with Brett Granberg, co-founder and CEO of Vannevar Labs, a defense technology company developing advanced software and hardware systems for the U.S. national security community. With a background at In-Q-Tel and McKinsey, Brett shares his path from the corporate world to building one of the most successful emerging defense startups in recent years.We dive into how Vannevar is bridging the gap between Silicon Valley engineering and national security missions, starting with data collection from adversary nations and scaling to $80M+ in revenue. Brett shares lessons from their earliest failed product attempts, why speed is the key advantage for startups over defense primes, and how they think about non-kinetic warfare, generative AI, and building a multi-product roadmap for the future of U.S. defense.If you’ve ever wondered what building a defense tech company from scratch really takes, how DOD’s acquisition ecosystem actually works, or what distinguishes Vannevar from Palantir and Anduril, this episode is for you.Key Takeaways* Vannevar’s mission is to fill collection gaps in U.S. intelligence by building sensors and software that detect adversary activity in hard-to-access domains* The company operates on a “sense, decide, act” model—collecting novel data, transforming it into insights, and driving operational outcomes* Vannevar’s flagship product, Decrypt, started as Arabic OCR but pivoted to open-source Mandarin military data after early customer feedback* The team discovered early that features don’t matter if you’re solving a problem no one cares about—traction is the true signal* DOD doesn’t buy features—they buy complete, integrated mission systems. Minimizing integration work is critical to adoption* To win in defense, companies must self-fund product development, iterate faster than government teams, and own IP to avoid cost-plus traps* Active data collection is what sets Vannevar apart from Palantir, whose early value was organizing and exploiting existing data. * Selling to DOD involves mapping funding flows, using OTA contracts, and leveraging unpaid pilots to demonstrate value* Generative AI is most useful for multi-step agent-based search across complex datasets. Vannevar uses LLMs for summarization and recall, not just chat* Brett stresses building new product bets from direct contact with users—every successful product came from sitting with operators, not brainstorming in a room—Brought to you by:PropelAuthStartups and corporate innovation teams routinely waste months building core user authentication and authorization flows into their products. PropelAuth has automated all the most important pieces of the user management lifecycle. Instantly set up waitlists, magic links, social login, user impersonation, user management, Role-Based-Access-Control, SAML integrations for enterprise, team management and much more. With PropelAuth, each of these challenges takes just a few lines of code instead months of development and integration time. And with thoughtful control over design and skinning, it’s easy to keep your product fully on-brand. Get a generous free starter pack that scales through 1,000 Monthly Active Users or mention EMERGENT25 to receive 25% off for the first 6 months for more mature products. Get back to building you actual product and let PropelAuth handle your user management needs. Visit www.propelauth.com to learn more.FlyKittThis episode is brought to you by FlyKitt “F-L-Y-K-I-T-T”, the first full solution to jet lag. This might seem hard to believe, but I’ve flown from Los Angeles to Tokyo and back with virtually no jet lag using FlyKitt. Based on research with Navy SEALs and fighter pilots, the FlyKitt team discovered that long flights cause inflammation in addition to disrupting your circadian rhythm, and they figured out how to solve both these challenges using a customized program for when to eat, sleep, and use their patented supplements and blue light blocking glasses. It’s simple to follow and you don’t have to change anything before your travel day. With FlyKitt, more than 90% of people can sleep well in Europe, Asia, or anywhere else in the world on night 1. Visit flykitt.com, and use coupon code FLYWITHEMERGENT to get 15% off FlyKitt.ChaserChaser is a task management solution completely embedded in Slack. When teammates have requests of each other, it's no longer necessary to involve a project manager add the issues to a task tracker and remember to follow up. Right from within any Slack channel or message, with a few simple keystrokes, you can identify a message as a task for another person, or yourself, and Chaser automatically tracks it and reminds the assignee of the work to be completed until it's done. We started using Chaser at First Principles to create stronger clarity on those important, but less formal tasks that must happen to get from start to finish on a project, but that often don't arise until the middle of a discussion. We now spend less time context switching out of Slack and following up with each other, and balls are no longer dropping. Plus there is great transparency into who owes what to the team for success. Get a 14 day free trial at www.trychaser.com and use the code FP50 to get 50% off your first 3 months.—In this episode, we cover:* Introduction (00:00:42)* Vannevar Labs’ founding thesis and approach to building defense technology (00:04:41)* The intelligence collection gap and how Vannevar closes it (00:06:46)* Non-kinetic warfare and its rising strategic importance (00:08:45)* Why the U.S. government needs vendors to move faster than primes (00:13:11)* Brett’s path from McKinsey to In-Q-Tel and founding Vannevar at Stanford (00:16:42)* Early product failures and the pivot that led to Decrypt (00:22:09)* Crossing the classified divide with forward-deployed engineers (00:35:01)* Scaling from a $15K pilot to over $80M in revenue (00:39:28)* Securing DIU contracts and funding through unfunded requirements (00:43:13)* Integrating LLM agents to enhance search and product usability (01:02:25)* Where to find Brett and Vannevar Labs (01:08:13)—You can connect with Brett Granberg through the following platforms:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-granberg/* Website: https://www.vannevarlabs.com/—You can connect with Adam through the following platforms:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-judelson/* Substack: https://www.emergentproduct.com* X: https://twitter.com/Ajuggles* Website: www.firstprinciples.la—Where to find Emergent Newsletter and Podcast:* Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@emergentproduct* Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5TMMwU5zoSlX5Ex1A4vl9D* Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/emergent-building-the-future/id1746963428* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamjudelsonemergent* TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adamjudelson* Website: https://www.emergentproduct.com—For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast or becoming a guest, email adam@firstprinciples.la.—Get full access of the Emergent’s Newsletter at www.emergentproduct.com/subscribe. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.emergentproduct.com/subscribe

In this episode, we sit down with Christian Marek, VP of Product at ProductBoard, to explore how AI is fundamentally reshaping product management. With experience at Meta, DocuSign, and now ProductBoard, Christian has been at the forefront of integrating AI into product workflows long before the generative AI boom. Now he's helping build ProductBoard's AI-powered features that help PMs distill thousands of pieces of customer feedback into actionable insights in minutes—work that previously took days or weeks.If you've ever wondered how AI will change the day-to-day work of product managers, what skills PMs need to develop to stay relevant, or how the best product teams are already using AI to 10x their productivity, then this episode is for you.Key Takeaways* Product managers are evolving from feature spec creators to curators of vision, strategy, and commercial aspects* The biggest AI value is in discovery—prototyping and processing high data volumes that humans couldn't handle alone* AI is most helpful for customer feedback analysis, requirements definition, and rapid prototyping with tools like V0* Strategic judgment and deep market understanding remain uniquely human and will differentiate future PMs* Companies sitting on large data pools but unable to leverage LLMs due to architecture or compliance are prime targets for disruption* The most successful AI product features solve deep pain points using core LLMs without requiring extensive fine-tuning* PMs need to think strategically, ask AI to think, then think together for exceptional outcomes* Voice interfaces may finally replace keyboard-mouse dominance as AI transcription becomes more accurate—In this episode, we cover:* Introduction (00:45)* Christian’s journey in product and AI from DocuSign to Meta (01:14)* Building for product managers and challenges of the space (04:00)* Where Gen AI is most and least helpful in product work (05:35)* Why being Gen AI-native is a strategic advantage (09:01)* The importance of thinking critically with and without AI (10:25)* Companies successfully applying Gen AI to solve deep pain points (12:34)* UX design pitfalls and patterns in AI-powered products (15:51)* Why foundational model performance varies across tools (18:28)* The shift toward “vibe coding” and PMs shipping faster (21:01)* Impacts of AI on product team size and structure (22:45)* What defines a great AI PM and how to become one (23:53)* Get in touch with Productboard (25:31)—You can connect with Christian Marek through the following platforms:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianmarek/* Website: https://www.productboard.com/—You can connect with Adam through the following platforms:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-judelson/* Substack: https://www.emergentproduct.com* X: https://twitter.com/Ajuggles* Website: www.firstprinciples.la—Where to find Emergent Newsletter and Podcast:* Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@emergentproduct* Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5TMMwU5zoSlX5Ex1A4vl9D* Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/emergent-building-the-future/id1746963428* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamjudelsonemergent* TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adamjudelson* Website: https://www.emergentproduct.com—For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast or becoming a guest, email adam@firstprinciples.la.—Get full access of the Emergent’s Newsletter at www.emergentproduct.com/subscribe. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.emergentproduct.com/subscribe

In this episode, we hear from John Doyle, founder and CEO of Cape, America's first privacy-focused mobile carrier. Before Cape, John ran Palantir’s national security business, served as a special forces sergeant, and attended Harvard Law. Now he's solving critical privacy and security gaps in the mobile carrier industry with Cape’s software-defined mobile network, which is designed to protect users from common vulnerabilities like data breaches, SIM swaps, and unauthorized location tracking.If you've ever wondered how traditional mobile carriers handle your personal data, why privacy breaches in telecommunications have become so common, or how the next generation of carriers are building security from the ground up rather than as an afterthought, then this episode is for you.Key Takeaways* Major carriers such as AT&T have experienced significant data breaches in recent years with most of us unaware* Mobile carriers routinely sell subscriber location and communication data to third parties, including data brokers and advertisers* Technical vulnerabilities in cellular networks can be exploited for location tracking and call/text interception* SIM swap attacks are a growing threat where attackers can gain control of a phone number to reset passwords and act as the subscriber* Traditional telecom security focuses on preventing unauthorized network usage rather than protecting subscriber privacy* How Cape collects minimal subscriber data while delivering superior services* What is looks like to building a privacy-focused carrier from the ground up—Brought to you by:PropelAuthStartups and corporate innovation teams routinely waste months building core user authentication and authorization flows into their products. PropelAuth has automated all the most important pieces of the user management lifecycle. Instantly set up waitlists, magic links, social login, user impersonation, user management, Role-Based-Access-Control, SAML integrations for enterprise, team management and much more. With PropelAuth, each of these challenges takes just a few lines of code instead months of development and integration time. And with thoughtful control over design and skinning, it’s easy to keep your product fully on-brand. Get a generous free starter pack that scales through 1,000 Monthly Active Users or mention EMERGENT25 to receive 25% off for the first 6 months for more mature products. Get back to building you actual product and let PropelAuth handle your user management needs. Visit www.propelauth.com to learn more.FlyKittThis episode is brought to you by FlyKitt “F-L-Y-K-I-T-T”, the first full solution to jet lag. This might seem hard to believe, but I’ve flown from Los Angeles to Tokyo and back with virtually no jet lag using FlyKitt. Based on research with Navy SEALs and fighter pilots, the FlyKitt team discovered that long flights cause inflammation in addition to disrupting your circadian rhythm, and they figured out how to solve both these challenges using a customized program for when to eat, sleep, and use their patented supplements and blue light blocking glasses. It’s simple to follow and you don’t have to change anything before your travel day. With FlyKitt, more than 90% of people can sleep well in Europe, Asia, or anywhere else in the world on night 1. Visit flykitt.com, and use coupon code FLYWITHEMERGENT to get 15% off FlyKitt.ChaserChaser is a task management solution completely embedded in Slack. When teammates have requests of each other, it's no longer necessary to involve a project manager add the issues to a task tracker and remember to follow up. Right from within any Slack channel or message, with a few simple keystrokes, you can identify a message as a task for another person, or yourself, and Chaser automatically tracks it and reminds the assignee of the work to be completed until it's done. We started using Chaser at First Principles to create stronger clarity on those important, but less formal tasks that must happen to get from start to finish on a project, but that often don't arise until the middle of a discussion. We now spend less time context switching out of Slack and following up with each other, and balls are no longer dropping. Plus there is great transparency into who owes what to the team for success. Get a 14 day free trial at www.trychaser.com and use the code FP50 to get 50% off your first 3 months.—In this episode, we cover:* Introduction (00:49)* Privacy issues with existing mobile carriers (04:04)* Mobile network infrastructure vulnerabilities (05:20)* SIM swap attacks explained (05:43)* Data collection and monetization by carriers (07:29)* Cape's approach to building a secure network (09:17)* Software-defined mobile carriers explained (11:16)* Minimizing data collection and retention (14:15)* Journey from military and Palantir to founding Cape (21:49)* National security implications of mobile privacy (23:38)* Securing carrier partnerships with U.S. Cellular (28:06)* Expanding from government to consumer markets (34:10)* Identifier rotation and privacy features (38:03)* Encrypted voicemail implementation (39:49)* Building a team without telecom backgrounds (43:03)* Working with law enforcement while ensuring privacy (46:53)* International roaming while maintaining security (49:12)* Challenges of building a telco from scratch (51:39)* Where to sign up for Cape (56:06)—You can connect with John Doyle through the following platforms:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-doyle-48633227/* Website: https://www.cape.co/—You can connect with Adam through the following platforms:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-judelson/* Substack: https://www.emergentproduct.com* X: https://twitter.com/Ajuggles* Website: www.firstprinciples.la—Where to find Emergent Newsletter and Podcast:* Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@emergentproduct* Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5TMMwU5zoSlX5Ex1A4vl9D* Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/emergent-building-the-future/id1746963428* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamjudelsonemergent* TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adamjudelson* Website: https://www.emergentproduct.com—For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast or becoming a guest, email adam@firstprinciples.la.—Get full access of the Emergent’s Newsletter at www.emergentproduct.com/subscribe. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.emergentproduct.com/subscribe

In this episode, we hear from Karan Talati, co-founder and CEO of First Resonance, a Los Angeles-based company building software to revolutionize advanced hardware manufacturing. Karan shares insights from his experience as an early engineer at SpaceX, where he developed automated systems that reduced production issues during the company's transition to reusable rockets. Now at First Resonance, he's solving critical infrastructure gaps in modern manufacturing with their platform called Ion, which is trusted by next-generation hardware innovators.If you've ever wondered how companies like SpaceX manufacture complex hardware at scale, why manufacturing capabilities are becoming a crucial competitive advantage, or how the latest generation of hardware companies are accelerating development through parallel manufacturing processes, then this episode is for you.Key Takeaways* Advanced manufacturing is rapidly evolving beyond traditional techniques, incorporating technologies like 3D printing, connected robotics, and data analytics* Manufacturing capabilities are becoming a crucial competitive advantage for hardware companies that want to scale* How regulatory environments change the level of complexity of the manufacturing across rockets, satellites, and eVTOL aircraft* Parallelizing manufacturing processes allows teams to work simultaneously on different aspects of the same component, dramatically accelerating development* The U.S. faces significant challenges from having outsourced manufacturing capabilities over decades, creating vulnerabilities in defense and critical technology supply chains* Successful hardware companies are integrating R&D and production as continuous, parallel processes rather than sequential stages—Brought to you by:PropelAuthStartups and corporate innovation teams routinely waste months building core user authentication and authorization flows into their products. PropelAuth has automated all the most important pieces of the user management lifecycle. Instantly set up waitlists, magic links, social login, user impersonation, user management, Role-Based-Access-Control, SAML integrations for enterprise, team management and much more. With PropelAuth, each of these challenges takes just a few lines of code instead months of development and integration time. And with thoughtful control over design and skinning, it’s easy to keep your product fully on-brand. Get a generous free starter pack that scales through 1,000 Monthly Active Users or mention EMERGENT25 to receive 25% off for the first 6 months for more mature products. Get back to building you actual product and let PropelAuth handle your user management needs. Visit www.propelauth.com to learn more.FlyKittThis episode is brought to you by FlyKitt “F-L-Y-K-I-T-T”, the first full solution to jet lag. This might seem hard to believe, but I’ve flown from Los Angeles to Tokyo and back with virtually no jet lag using FlyKitt. Based on research with Navy SEALs and fighter pilots, the FlyKitt team discovered that long flights cause inflammation in addition to disrupting your circadian rhythm, and they figured out how to solve both these challenges using a customized program for when to eat, sleep, and use their patented supplements and blue light blocking glasses. It’s simple to follow and you don’t have to change anything before your travel day. With FlyKitt, more than 90% of people can sleep well in Europe, Asia, or anywhere else in the world on night 1. Visit flykitt.com, and use coupon code FLYWITHEMERGENT to get 15% off FlyKitt.ChaserChaser is a task management solution completely embedded in Slack. When teammates have requests of each other, it's no longer necessary to involve a project manager add the issues to a task tracker and remember to follow up. Right from within any Slack channel or message, with a few simple keystrokes, you can identify a message as a task for another person, or yourself, and Chaser automatically tracks it and reminds the assignee of the work to be completed until it's done. We started using Chaser at First Principles to create stronger clarity on those important, but less formal tasks that must happen to get from start to finish on a project, but that often don't arise until the middle of a discussion. We now spend less time context switching out of Slack and following up with each other, and balls are no longer dropping. Plus there is great transparency into who owes what to the team for success. Get a 14 day free trial at www.trychaser.com and use the code FP50 to get 50% off your first 3 months.—In this episode, we cover:* Introduction (00:45)* Definition of advanced manufacturing (04:23)* Products built with advanced manufacturing techniques (05:38)* Manufacturing as key competitive advantage (09:30)* Parallelizing manufacturing processes (16:16)* Geopolitical importance of U.S. manufacturing capabilities (19:25)* Differences between manufacturing rockets, spacecraft and other hardware (44:21)* First Resonance's Ion platform (32:24)* Lessons from SpaceX for scaling manufacturing (37:55)* Value of software in modern factories (52:10)* The manufacturing paradox and scaling challenges (53:44)* Bridging hardware and software expertise (01:00:02)* Role of humanoid robots in factory automation (01:07:50)* Get in touch with First Resonance (01:10:17)—You can connect with Karan Talati through the following platforms:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karan-talati/* Website: www.firstresonance.io/—You can connect with Adam through the following platforms:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-judelson/* Substack: https://www.emergentproduct.com* X: https://twitter.com/Ajuggles* Website: www.firstprinciples.la—Where to find Emergent Newsletter and Podcast:* Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@emergentproduct* Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5TMMwU5zoSlX5Ex1A4vl9D* Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/emergent-building-the-future/id1746963428* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamjudelsonemergent* TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adamjudelson* Website: https://www.emergentproduct.com—For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast or becoming a guest, email adam@firstprinciples.la.—Get full access of the Emergent’s Newsletter at www.emergentproduct.com/subscribe. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.emergentproduct.com/subscribe

In this episode, we hear from Matthew Steckman, President and Chief Business Officer of Anduril Industries, a trailblazing defense technology company. Matthew shares insights into how Anduril has rapidly scaled in the defense sector, tackling critical national security challenges through AI-driven autonomous systems, modular hardware, and innovative procurement strategies. With a background spanning Palantir and Zipline, Matthew explains Anduril’s unique approach to defense sales and strategy, how the company balances risk with strategy, and why composability in hardware and software is key to staying ahead.Matthew also provides an inside look at Arsenal One, Anduril’s massive new manufacturing facility in Ohio, and how the company is solving production scalability challenges to meet increasing demand. If you’ve ever wondered how a new entrant can succeed in the defense industry while navigating bureaucratic hurdles, closing massive deals, navigating complex procurement systems, and building some of the most important technology on the planet, then this episode is for you.Key Takeaways* Discover the role of composable hardware and software in accelerating military product development* Understand why urgency and trust are essential in government contracting success and how Anduril structures deal teams* Lessons from scaling from $10 million to $1 billion in revenue within the government sales ecosystem* Find out how Anduril approaches acquisitions, yearly bets, and balancing risk-taking and discipline for long-term success* Learn about the impact of Arsenal One in revolutionizing defense manufacturing* Discover how startups can successfully enter and scale in the defense sector without getting stuck in red tape—Brought to you by:PropelAuthStartups and corporate innovation teams routinely waste months building core user authentication and authorization flows into their products. PropelAuth has automated all the most important pieces of the user management lifecycle. Instantly set up waitlists, magic links, social login, user impersonation, user management, Role-Based-Access-Control, SAML integrations for enterprise, team management and much more. With PropelAuth, each of these challenges takes just a few lines of code instead months of development and integration time. And with thoughtful control over design and skinning, it’s easy to keep your product fully on-brand. Get a generous free starter pack that scales through 1,000 Monthly Active Users or mention EMERGENT25 to receive 25% off for the first 6 months for more mature products. Get back to building you actual product and let PropelAuth handle your user management needs. Visit www.propelauth.com to learn more.FlyKittThis episode is brought to you by FlyKitt “F-L-Y-K-I-T-T”, the first full solution to jet lag. This might seem hard to believe, but I’ve flown from Los Angeles to Tokyo and back with virtually no jet lag using FlyKitt. Based on research with Navy SEALs and fighter pilots, the FlyKitt team discovered that long flights cause inflammation in addition to disrupting your circadian rhythm, and they figured out how to solve both these challenges using a customized program for when to eat, sleep, and use their patented supplements and blue light blocking glasses. It’s simple to follow and you don’t have to change anything before your travel day. With FlyKitt, more than 90% of people can sleep well in Europe, Asia, or anywhere else in the world on night 1. Visit flykitt.com, and use coupon code FLYWITHEMERGENT to get 15% off FlyKitt.ChaserChaser is a task management solution completely embedded in Slack. When teammates have requests of each other, it's no longer necessary to involve a project manager add the issues to a task tracker and remember to follow up. Right from within any Slack channel or message, with a few simple keystrokes, you can identify a message as a task for another person, or yourself, and Chaser automatically tracks it and reminds the assignee of the work to be completed until it's done. We started using Chaser at First Principles to create stronger clarity on those important, but less formal tasks that must happen to get from start to finish on a project, but that often don't arise until the middle of a discussion. We now spend less time context switching out of Slack and following up with each other, and balls are no longer dropping. Plus there is great transparency into who owes what to the team for success. Get a 14 day free trial at www.trychaser.com and use the code FP50 to get 50% off your first 3 months.—In this episode, we cover:* Introduction (00:43) * Anduril's Product Portfolio and Technology Stack (04:00) * Keys to Anduril's Success in Defense (07:47) * Navigating Government Contracting as a Startup (15:34) * Anduril's Strategic Approach to Sales Opportunities (21:55) * Arsenal One Manufacturing Facility (26:56) * Anatomy of Winning Major Defense Deals (32:36) * Build versus Buy Decision Framework (43:23) * Balancing RFPs and Outbound Sales (46:34) * Hardware-Software Hybrid Company Challenges (50:54) * Scaling from $1M to $1B in Revenue (55:28) * Get in Touch with Anduril (59:42)—You can connect with Matthew through the following platforms:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-steckman-4a23a8b0/* Website: www.anduril.com—You can connect with Adam through the following platforms:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-judelson/* Substack: https://www.emergentproduct.com* X: https://twitter.com/Ajuggles* Website: www.firstprinciples.la—Where to find Emergent Newsletter and Podcast:* Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@emergentproduct* Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5TMMwU5zoSlX5Ex1A4vl9D* Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/emergent-building-the-future/id1746963428* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamjudelsonemergent* TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adamjudelson* Website: https://www.emergentproduct.com—For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast or becoming a guest, email adam@firstprinciples.la.—Get full access of the Emergent’s Newsletter at www.emergentproduct.com/subscribe. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.emergentproduct.com/subscribe

Jacob DeWitte, co-founder and CEO of Oklo, is reshaping nuclear energy with innovative reactor designs focused on safety and efficiency. He discusses how fast reactor technology and fuel recycling can sustain energy for billions of years. DeWitte emphasizes the benefits of smaller modular reactors for data centers and shares insights on Oklo's unique approach to rethinking nuclear business models. He also addresses challenges in building investor confidence and navigating regulatory landscapes while pushing the boundaries of nuclear innovation.

In this episode, we hear from Andrew Herr, the founder and CEO of Fount. Fount designs sophisticated health and performance products and has developed solutions to challenges ranging from jet lag to PMS. Previously, Andrew led human performance and biotech strategy efforts for the U.S. military, focusing on maximizing the performance of Navy SEALs.Key Takeaways* Understand Fount’s dual approach: an innovative product development engine fueled by a personalized coaching business.* Discover how “n of 1” experiments are designed to meet individual goals, such as energy, focus, mood, sleep, and gut health.* Learn how Andrew prototyped his jet lag solution in just a couple of days, and adapted it to the mass market with a 90% success rate.* Hear a framework for distilling complex scientific concepts into understandable pitches for investors and customers, like Andrew's explanation of ApoB and cholesterol measurements.* Techniques for developing productized programs that people adhere to and creating long-term behavioral change.* Importance of combining qualitative life experience information with biological data and real-time monitoring, such as blood work and wearable data.* How to decide when a product warrants a digital companion app experience.* How Fount evolved its physical product packaging in response to customer feedback* Learn about the company's grand vision to build a comprehensive data set from individual experiments to achieve true customization at scale.* Understand the significant role of genetics in human performance and how Fount uses both direct genetic information and patterns in blood work to tailor their interventions.—Brought to you by:Tonic.aiTonic intelligently transforms your sensitive production data into realistic test data that is safe to use across your lower environments, to accelerate your engineering velocity while safeguarding data privacy. We’ve all experienced the pain and wasted cost of building features with unrealistic data in staging or development environments. Mismatches between prod and test data leads to costly bugs in production, poor user experience, and, when it comes to RAG or LLM applications, even incorrect answers. Moreover, as the data scale increases, it becomes difficult for developers to test their features with high fidelity. Tonic’s products streamline data synthesis, subsetting, and provisioning to get developers the realistic data they need, when and where they need it. Get on-demand access to safe, high-fidelity versions of your structured, semi-structured, or free-text data to shorten sprints, catch more bugs, and ship better products faster. Visit Tonic.ai/emergent to learn more and receive 15% off in your first year.PropelAuthStartups and corporate innovation teams routinely waste months building core user authentication and authorization flows into their products. PropelAuth has automated all the most important pieces of the user management lifecycle. Instantly set up waitlists, magic links, social login, user impersonation, user management, Role-Based-Access-Control, SAML integrations for enterprise, team management and much more. With PropelAuth, each of these challenges takes just a few lines of code instead months of development and integration time. And with thoughtful control over design and skinning, it’s easy to keep your product fully on-brand. Get a generous free starter pack that scales through 1,000 Monthly Active Users or mention EMERGENT25 to receive 25% off for the first 6 months for more mature products. Get back to building you actual product and let PropelAuth handle your user management needs. Visit www.propelauth.com to learn more.—In this episode, we cover:* Introduction (00:42)* How Fount uses personalized n=1 Experiments to Develop Individualized Coaching and Identify Broader Solutions that can be Turned into Marketable Products. (04:00)* The Rapid Prototyping Process behind Fount’s Jet Lag Product and its Effectiveness. (05:24)* The Importance of Real-Time Feedback and Continuous Monitoring (10:50)* Identifying Market Needs and Signals of Product Market Fit (14:19)* Challenges and Strategies in Marketing Niche Health Products (17:18)* Behavioral and Demographic Insights of Biohacking Consumers (19:50)* Prototyping the Jet Lag Product for Rapid Deployment and Building Trust and Running Safe Experiments with Clients (20:23)* Balancing Short-Term Wins with Long-Term Health Goals (25:00)* Fount’s Vision for Customized Health Programs at Scale (27:06)* Launch and Effectiveness of the Supplement Composer System and Utilizing Unique Datasets for Algorithm-Driven Customization (29:05)* Trade-offs in Short-Term Performance Maximization and Ethical Considerations in Performance Enhancement (31:37)* The Significant Role of Genetics in Human Performance and Tailoring Interventions based on Genetic Information (38:54)* Experimentation and Iteration to Find Optimal Solutions (42:40)* Importance of Timing in Health Interventions and Enhancing Compliance with Reminders and Notifications (44:48)* Handling Data Privacy in Fount’s Data Sets (50:11)* Evolution of FlyKit: From Pelican Case to Mylar Bag Packaging and the Introduction of Blister Packs for Supplements (55:22)* Plans for an App Integrating All Lifestyle Recommendations and Enhancing User Experience with Comprehensive Digital Solutions (57:45)* Andrew’s Vision for the Future of Fount and Customized Health Solutions (59:30)* Andrew’s Advice on Pitching Big Visions to Investors and Balancing Intuition with Data (01:01:22)* Getting in Touch With Andrew Herr and Fount (01:09:23)—You can connect with Andrew Herr through the following platforms:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-herr/* Website: https://fount.bio/—You can connect with Adam through the following platforms:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-judelson/* Substack: https://www.emergentproduct.com* X: https://twitter.com/Ajuggles* Website: www.firstprinciples.la—Where to find Emergent Newsletter and Podcast:* Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@emergentproduct* Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5TMMwU5zoSlX5Ex1A4vl9D* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamjudelsonemergent* TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adamjudelson* Website: https://www.emergentproduct.com—For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast or becoming a guest, email adam@firstprinciples.la.—Get full access of the Emergent’s Newsletter at www.emergentproduct.com/subscribe. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.emergentproduct.com/subscribe

In this episode, we hear from Audrey Howell, the Vice President of Product at Butterfly Network (BFLY). Butterfly Network is revolutionizing the field of medical imaging by making point-of-care ultrasound devices more accessible and affordable through massive technical breakthroughs. Audrey has a diverse background in product development, having worked at Palantir Technologies and as a biomedical researcher at Stanford and Duke universities.Key Takeaways* Learn about the challenges required to innovate at a public medical device company building portable ultrasound systems that are both affordable and highly effective.* Discover how Butterfly Network's silicon chip technology is replacing traditional piezo crystals, enabling a single probe to generate multiple types of ultrasound waves.* Hear about Butterfly’s tactics for respecting regulators while still moving fast and performing rapid experiments in controlled settings* Understand their approach to implementing AI and keeping the technology explainable in settings where mistakes are unacceptable* Learn why Butterfly maintains two parallel apps in the market with different user bases as a grounds for maturing new ideas* Understand the importance of making ultrasound technology accessible in various clinical settings, from emergency rooms to family medicine.* Find out how Butterfly Network's software simplifies the use of ultrasound devices, reducing the training burden on healthcare providers.—Brought to you by:FountThis episode is brought to you by Fount. Fount is a next generation human performance company. This might seem hard to believe, but I’ve flown from Los Angeles to Tokyo and back with virtually no jet lag symptoms using Fount’s FlyKitt solution. I also used to commute biweekly across coasts and Fount made me an ongoing intervention program that allowed me to feel in- the-moment and focus on my work on one coast, and my family on the other. After successfully leveraging their “Kitts,” I decided to try to the concierge coaching program. I knew I had unusually high cholesterol, but I was already doing 95% of the interventions the doctors recommended and I wasn’t seeing results. With the support of a Fount tailored-to-me program, I’ve lowered these measurements to safe levels, finished my first Spartan race in the top 20%, and I feel at least as good as I did in my early 20s. Visit fount.bio and use the coupon code EMERGENT to get 10% off any products, $150 off a Deep Dive with in-depth labs and a personalized plan, or $1,000 off Fount Pro, their most comprehensive and customized program where you'll get a former special operator as a coach to optimize your physiology. PropelAuthStartups and corporate innovation teams routinely waste months building core user authentication and authorization flows into their products. PropelAuth has automated all the most important pieces of the user management lifecycle. Instantly set up waitlists, magic links, social login, user impersonation, user management, Role-Based-Access-Control, SAML integrations for enterprise, team management and much more. With PropelAuth, each of these challenges takes just a few lines of code instead months of development and integration time. And with thoughtful control over design and skinning, it’s easy to keep your product fully on-brand. Get a generous free starter pack that scales through 1,000 Monthly Active Users or mention EMERGENT25 to receive 25% off for the first 6 months for more mature products. Get back to building you actual product and let PropelAuth handle your user management needs. Visit www.propelauth.com to learn more.Tonic.aiTonic intelligently transforms your sensitive production data into realistic test data that is safe to use across your lower environments, to accelerate your engineering velocity while safeguarding data privacy. We’ve all experienced the pain and wasted cost of building features with unrealistic data in staging or development environments. Mismatches between prod and test data leads to costly bugs in production, poor user experience, and, when it comes to RAG or LLM applications, even incorrect answers. Moreover, as the data scale increases, it becomes difficult for developers to test their features with high fidelity. Tonic’s products streamline data synthesis, subsetting, and provisioning to get developers the realistic data they need, when and where they need it. Get on-demand access to safe, high-fidelity versions of your structured, semi-structured, or free-text data to shorten sprints, catch more bugs, and ship better products faster. Visit Tonic.ai/emergent to learn more and receive 15% off in your first year.—In this episode, we cover:* Introduction (00:45)* The Importance of Portable Ultrasound (03:10)* Butterfly’s Core Innovation: Ultrasound on a Chip (06:03)* Reducing the Training Burden with Butterfly Network’s Software and Cloud Suite (08:45)* Managing Relationships with Highly Diverse Sets of Stakeholders (10:31)* Understanding Regulatory Challenges and New Thinking Modes for Collaboration (15:07)* Testing Product Hypotheses and Innovating in Heavily Regulated Spaces (20:24)* Setting Up Effective Clinical Studies (26:03)* Leveraging AI in Medical Imaging (28:19)* Balancing AI and User Experience with Educational AI tools like ScanLab and Explicable AI in Clinical Settings (30:17)* Exploring the Challenges of AI in Medical Devices and the Future of AI in Ultrasound (33:12)* Expanding the User Base through Educational Programs for Ultrasound (37:40)* Market Prioritization and Anatomical Focus Area Selection (42:05)* Pairing with Marketing for Success and Selling Direct to Doctors (50:18)* Looking Ahead for Butterfly Network (52:37)* Getting in Touch With Audrey and Butterfly Network (55:18)—You can connect with Audrey Howell through the following platforms:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audrey-h-138a3664/* Website: https://www.butterflynetwork.com/—You can connect with Adam through the following platforms:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-judelson/* Substack: https://www.emergentproduct.com* X: https://twitter.com/Ajuggles* Website: www.firstprinciples.la—Where to find Emergent Newsletter and Podcast:* Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@emergentproduct* Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5TMMwU5zoSlX5Ex1A4vl9D* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamjudelsonemergent* TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adamjudelson* Website: https://www.emergentproduct.com—For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast or becoming a guest, email adam@firstprinciples.la.—Get full access of the Emergent’s Newsletter at www.emergentproduct.com/subscribe. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.emergentproduct.com/subscribe