Jai Malik
@Jai__Malik
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We wanted flying cars, but instead we got planes falling out of the sky. To advance the systems we use today—from aircrafts to ships—we need to reimagine our nation’s invisible industrial base. I’m assembling a team and laying the foundation for a new company to do just that.
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The state of startups/VC today:. Pre-Seed founder Series B founder
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VC fund: "We invest in technologies propelling the future of humankind". Also, VC fund: *leads a $50m Seed round for a selfie app*.
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Quickly learning that I have more AI in my name than startups have in their products.
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Lord, grant me the confidence of a 20 yr old male YC founder raising an uncapped convertible note.
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There is only one NFT I’m interested in right now, and that is Nuclear Fusion Technology.
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By December 2014, Theranos had raised $400m+ in VC funding & was worth $9 billion. The secret to their success? Elizabeth Holmes, AKA the next Steve Jobs. Elizabeth exclusively wore black turtlenecks since she was 8. Lesson: If you're raising money from VCs, wear a turtleneck.
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How to raise a $20M Seed round in 2022:. Step 1 - change your website domain from “.com” to “.ai”.
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All startups are hard, but hard tech startups are really fucking hard.
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How to be a contrarian VC in 2021:. *Replace Superhuman with Yahoo Mail.*Phone calls only.*Make sure founders know you're not helpful at all.*Complain about how safe SF is.*Get rid of Substack & start a physical newspaper.*Invest only in hard tech 😉. Any other ideas?.
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Lord, please grant me the confidence of a startup pivoting from NFTs to defense tech.
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Something I learnt in 2021: underestimate a startup founder without prior industry experience at your own peril. In reality, fresh eyes are often necessary to rethink problems that haven’t been solved.
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I wish more founders sold startup merch / swag so I can rep how excited I am about what they're building.
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Unspoken rule in manufacturing: the shittier the website, the higher the quality of product.
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For every sexy software startup in the US today, there's a "boring", recession-proof, profitable manufacturing business quietly printing cash. Can't wait to see these two worlds collide over the next decade. Let's make manufacturing sexy again.
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Increasingly convinced that the purest form of venture capital at the early stage is "belief capital". Having the audacity to be a first believer in a founder and/or the acumen to challenge founders' beliefs is priceless. Everything else is commoditized.
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Crazy to think that @elonmusk leading PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and now (potentially) Twitter won't be his ultimate legacy. History will show that his largest impact is inspiring thousands of people to start companies, dream big, & work together to solve huge problems.
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Some news: incredibly excited to announce that we’ve raised our second fund of $15M @CountdownVC to continue investing in founders rebuilding the American industrial base at the earliest stages. 🚀🇺🇸.
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1/ 19 years ago, I started a company in my Harvard dorm. What ensued was one of the craziest rides in startup history. Multiple VC funding rounds, dropping out of school, buying WhatsApp, & more. Today, the company is worth $500B+. Here are my top insights from this journey 🧵.
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How to break into VC (2021):. Step 1 - Raise a $500M seed fund.
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This is not how I expected news to get out, but yes: I am shutting down Countdown. We've delivered strong performance, but I believe the future of this space favors larger firms than mine. I don't know what the future holds for me yet, but I look forward to sharing once ready.
Early-stage hard tech firm Countdown Capital shutting down
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The most successful founders I've met are usually not just builders; they're breakers. Breakers of traditions, rules, and/or legacy practices. Both building & breaking are often necessary for real industry change.
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1/ 10 years ago, I received an automated LinkedIn DM that changed my life. Two 19 y/o male founders were raising for the first time & sent me a message asking for funding. I ended up investing $25k; today, my investment is worth $25m. You’ll never believe the story. A long 🧵:.
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My favorite part about VC is investing in founders who will build companies that I myself would want to work for.
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One of the most common & costliest mistakes startups can make: hiring the “right” people (credentials) instead of the most talented people (capability) early on.
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Me, dressing up as "Stealth Startup seeking Seed funding" on Halloween
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Lord, please grant me the confidence and capital of Tiger Global.
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If you’re a guy in your early 20s, buy shares in every defense tech startup in SF. Go into debt if you have to.
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Thank you to everyone who reached out over the past couple of months. A few life updates: . 1. I’ve officially wound down Countdown's operations and delivered a highly profitable outcome for our LPs. Most—if not all—of our investors are pleased with our returns. 2. I’m in the.
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In-person team building beats remote team building, and it's not even close.
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Startup idea: Airbnb but for booking places to stay at other people's homes.
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The unsung heroes in startup world are the early employees at hard tech startups — in aerospace, health/bio, energy, manufacturing, construction, and logistics. Building things that matter takes incredible patience, discipline, and precision; much to be admired.
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The power law in venture capital applies to VC firms themselves, not just startups they invest in. >95% of VCs are absolutely useless or clueless. But the top 1-2% of VC investors are the sharpest people you’ll ever meet.
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You can be pre-product, pre-revenue, & pre-team. But you can't be "pre-insight". It's never too early to talk to potential customers to understand how they think.
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Most people in VC / tech do not grasp how stacked the deck is against startups in industries like space, defense, & manufacturing. Building a successful company in these areas is not for the faint of heart. But it is glorious.
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Biggest shift in hard tech I've noticed recently: engineering talent is in greater supply than "business" talent (sales, finance, ops). There are now 100s of engineers working at aero/defense, mfg, & energy startups. To truly succeed, we'll need a similar surge in other areas.
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*Signaling 101 for tech Twitter*. Resume: 2 month internships at SpaceX and Uber, and met a product manager at Tesla. Twitter bio: "Led product & growth teams at Stripe, SpaceX, Tesla and Uber".
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I've met more VCs interested in national security & defense in the past 2 weeks than the last 4 years. Turns out defeating China is a large, growing market.
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Willing a company into existence is one of the greatest acts of freedom & rebellion a person can undertake.
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Biggest change I've noticed in hard tech this fall: a record number of founders interested in semiconductors & rare earth metals. "Silicon" Valley finally returning back to its roots.
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��Don’t worry, we’ll make sure to keep costs low” - My Lawyer
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ChatGPT startups can be built to last 5+ months, while industrial companies can be built to last 50+ years. I know what I'm investing in.
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Too many people want to bring manufacturing back to the US. It's brave, but many commodities are never returning. The real problem is cultural. Time on the shop floor (wherever it is) is more valuable than in office meetings. This is especially true today. Time to touch metal.
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All this talk about "disruption" in VC, but the game has always been the same:. *Find & invest in founders early.*Support them with patient capital.*Be honest, transparent, & a true thought partner. Bonus points if you ask founders how to be helpful and/or post memes on Twitter.
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Long hard tech in LA. The courage to build the next generation of American industry (rockets, factories, drones, nuclear energy) is infectious here. Hard not to see why, with companies like @SpaceX, @anduriltech, @VardaSpace, and @HadrianSpace leading the way.
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Hard tech startups are high intensity startups. More teammates, more hours, more capital, and more turmoil to reach product-market fit. Many people are unprepared for this.
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Completely automating a manufacturing process is usually a trap in hard tech. In reality, great technology makes it easier for more ordinary people to participate in production — not less.
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The best milestone for a pre-seed round is to develop insight, network, and/or a strategy for monopolization that no one else has. Revenue, profitability, financial models, etc can be helpful in some cases, but distractions in others. Creating an unfair advantage is the goal.
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Generations before us invented modern Western civilization. It's time for us to take the future into our own hands. If you're manufacturing in aerospace and defense, I’d love to learn from you. If you're interested in building with me, my DMs are open.
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@wolfejosh Massive congrats to you & the team (@peterjhebert, @bznotes, @breeves08, @Farshchi, @graceisford, @DannyCrichton). Startup world is very lucky to have such a smart group of investors who work tirelessly to bring new tech to life.
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@JoshuaSteinman @CountdownVC @GalvanickCo You are too kind - long way to go before I earn that high praise, but the real recognition goes to you & the team. The work you all put in, even at the earliest of stages, made my decision easy :).
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@bznotes @CountdownVC Thank you so much for spending time with us Bilal. You & the entire @Lux_Capital team are a true inspiration :).
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@Mihir_Shah_8 Working with you and your family (and being entrusted to manage your capital) was one of the most rewarding experiences. Thank you for the undying support for me and our companies, and I'm looking forward to what the future holds for both of us.
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“Seed stage” venture capital needs a rebrand to “adventure capital”. If you’re not funding or working on an audacious quest, you’re doing it entirely wrong.
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@EdFoste96342711 @NewWrldOptimist You don't need an industrial era to be a valuable industrial company. For the foreseeable future, certain industrial companies will continue to be extremely valuable.
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@fikocian Staging hires is incredibly important - having a large team early on (esp light on engineering) isn’t ideal.
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@larmbrust Infrastructure is certainly part of it, but the economic reality runs even deeper than that.
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@jtssingh Counterintuitively, it should be easier to train people in a world where software reduces complexity involved in manual tasks.
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@bznotes Thank you so much for the support Bilal :) Inspired by all that you do for hard tech companies!.
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If you’re a guy in your early 20s, buy a Rolex. Go into debt if you have to.
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