Tesla

1 Million Drone Deliveries a Day by 2028 | Keller Cliffton, Zipline

Sep 14, 2026 · 41:26

Zipline Co-Founder and CEO Keller Cliffton tells Ti Morse how an Uber Eats partnership demanding 1 million drone deliveries a day within 2.5 years forced Zipline to discard its operating plan six months after setting it. He argues hardware companies are chains of 30 multiplied disciplines where one failure makes the company a zero, producing shifting existential crises from tariffs to maintenance backlogs. Because customers want 'teleportation,' not drones, Zipline is artificially constraining home sign-ups while doubling factory capacity originally sized for 20,000–40,000 aircraft a year—Cliffton needs five times that. He says 5.5 billion annual US instant deliveries could become 55 billion at observed behavior, and closes arguing robotics will 'give the Earth back to humans.'

Starting a Solid Rocket Motor Factory from Scratch | Ethan Thornton, Mach Industries

Sep 2, 2026 · 1:49:34

Ethan Thornton, founder and CEO of defense startup Mach Industries, argues that product iteration speed—not raw performance—is what wins for the West against China's manufacturing scale. He walks through scaling a solid rocket motor factory toward hundreds of thousands of units a year, the 'baking not plumbing' curing process, and vertically integrating jet engines, radars, and warheads to secure surge capacity. He explains block redesigns every three months, Capex-light/Opex-heavy economics, and function-based orgs that keep small teams moving fast. He also details killing hydrogen despite it being 100% of revenue, moving the company from Austin to LA, and lessons on leadership failure and bouncing back from mistakes.

Manufacturing 1 million drones a year | Olaf Hichwa, Neros

Aug 11, 2026 · 1:06:28

Olaf Hichwa, co-founder and CTO of drone maker Neros, says the company now builds over 1,000 Archers a week and plans to reach a 130,000-drone annual run rate by December and one million drones a year by 2028 from its new 250,000 sq ft factory. In the episode he explains why drones cause roughly 70% of casualties in Ukraine, why Neros designs for operators rather than government specs, and how Archer AI lets a drone lock onto a target and strike even after losing comms or GPS. He also details the Bandit interceptor, the decision to vertically integrate components, and lessons from a Chinese production line making 2,000 Russian kamikaze drones a day, arguing the West must rebuild its drone industrial base to maintain credible deterrence.