Robert Mitchell

Hey everyone I will be joining Navy Seals, military members of all branches, first responders and other patriots for the NYC Navy Seal swim this August 16th. This is a huge fundraiser for the Navy seal foundation & any support anyone can provide goes a long ways! Check out robert mitchell's fundraising page - impact.navysealfoundation.org/fundraiser/650…

@GJarrosson YC

🚀 YC F25 is HERE — and I just published the full breakdown you’ve been waiting for. After weeks of 1:1s with founders and deep dives into the batch, I pulled together: 🔥 The entire YC F25 startup list 📊 Category breakdowns + % share 🤖 Theme analysis (spoiler: AI is still everywhere) 🧠 Insider look at which YC partners backed what ⭐ And our top favorite companies of the batch If you’re an investor, founder, or just YC-curious, this is the most comprehensive look at F25 anywhere. 📩 Want to read the full analysis + download the complete list? Comment "YC" and I'll send it to you ⚡ Curious what surprised us most this cycle? Why certain founders are breaking out? Or which categories YC partners are really leaning into? Drop a comment!

@andrewmccalip What is the fine from USCG if you just send "bob"

Waiting for the Coast Guard

App submitted to blueprint @fdotinc

@DustinWalper @realAAAbbott One other thing want to watch out for is that your not making more confined space entry voids or tanks because those are a nightmare to deal with and everything takes 10X longer in them

@pump_kicker @realAAAbbott Yeah exactly. There’s no fundamental physics reason why it can’t work, it’s more about developing a process that favorably balances weight savings against overall cost. Class societies like DNV already publish guidelines on sandwich panels.

Even the most ardent supporters of American shipbuilding don’t think we’ll ever export US-built ships. I think they’re wrong. It will take a radical rethink of everything from the fabrication process to hull design, propulsion and autonomy. But I not only think it’s possible, I intend to prove it at @ValstadShip. What might that look like? Imagine cargo ships with hulls built from composite sandwich panels instead of stiffened steel plate, powered by small modular reactors driving the largest electric motors ever built in this country, with no superstructure - designed from the ground up for autonomous operation. Every major component could be built here. No need to import huge diesel engines from Europe. It would have greater cargo capacity than any ship in its class and be far less expensive to operate, gliding silently from port to port for months at a time without refueling and only minimal maintenance. America can dominate the future of shipbuilding, but only if we are radically ambitious.

@DustinWalper @realAAAbbott Def might work, key things would be corrosion control of the panel’s interior surface and how one would weld/ attach panels together

I was thinking something more like steel sandwich panels in that case, e.g. an outer steel shell with something like an elastomer core. We’re actively working on robotics for hull construction & it’s a stupid amount of welding. There’s room for creative thinking given the current state of materials science/automation. For example: angle is extruded, but could you find a way to extrude entire stiffened steel panels? It’s already done with aluminum panels, so not outside the realm of possibility.

@realAAAbbott @DustinWalper 1000 & 1001 had composite deck houses but that is extent on that class. 1002 was steel

@DustinWalper Are you saying they use composite hulls?

@cory Interested @cory

hosting an event in SF this Friday evening if ur working on side projects and new to the Bay Area… @ reply and ill dm you an invite pending space!!

@DustinWalper Point is spot on, 10%-20% in SV can make the difference between being profitable vs losing your shirt in ship building

I'm often asked by venture investors why speed matters in shipbuilding. Do customers want things faster? Yes, but that's not the primary reason. Achieving a 2x speed increase means your yard can be ~1/2 as big for the same throughput. Which means your CapEx will be lower and payback period shorter. Which makes it easier to finance. Which means you can move faster and have more competitive pricing, higher margins, or both. Land with deep water frontage anywhere near a city ain't cheap.

NYC Navy Seal foundation Swim

Last nights last training swim before Saturdays swim in NYC for the navy seal foundation fundraiser. Thank you to everyone that donated so far! Still pushing to make the 2K goal only $500 away impact.navysealfoundation.org/fundraiser/650…

The “eco friendly” gear case oil just doesn’t work well 🤦‍♂️

chine walking at 80

Took the speed boat for a test & tune ride this evening

@chris_dalke Okay yeah don’t blame you there! Using epoxy resin?

@pump_kicker Some PETG, some PLA - PETG technically more hydrophilic than PLA, unsure how seawater will affect it. Going for cheap!

80 hours into printing this RC-scale boat which I’ll use for some autonomy testing. The print is a substrate, I’ll sand -> add fairing compound -> sand some more -> 3 layers of 4oz glass

Here’s to you, Dad, six months gone but never forgotten. Wish we could take one more spring ride or wrench on your bike together. Miss you and always thinking of you.

@NWischoff Boston dates 📅?

On the road starting next week. If you are in Chicago, Boston or NYC and want to grab coffee, lets do it.

@johnkonrad @SeaAirSpace No design changes to would be an amazing concept but the navy won’t do this…

Naval speak word of the year? “Build To Print” If you took a shot everytime an Admiral says this @SeaAirSpace you’d pass out before breakfast.

@andrewchen Cloud/Ai data center construction & cooling?

new announcement from a16z: startup founders -- come work with me 1:1 and let a16z invest up to $1M in your very early stage startup :) (yes, this is via a16z speedrun, and we are launching the next cycle today, taking applications over the next ~month. Here's how to apply: sr.a16z.com) More details: I’m back in (currently cloudy) LA after spending a couple months in San Francisco. It was super fun to be back in the bubble. It seemed, right after COVID, that so many other geos were ascendant — you saw a big explosion in LA and NY, and a lot of VCs (including us) starting offices in London. But very clearly the AI revolution has brought a lot of the action back to SF, even if folks are doing it remotely and SOMA is a bit dead. It was great to catch up with many of you over dinners, events, mixers etc. Bumped into a lot of friends during urban hikes in the city also! I was in SF working on my big project at Andreessen Horowitz right now, which is building a16z speedrun . This is a new program where we invest up to $1M into very early stage startups and then work with them closely over 90 days, then launch them into the world. I am very involved, and it’s been fun to get my hands dirty working 1:1 and in small groups with founders early on their journey. There’s a new cycle kicking off, so would love if you could: - recommend anyone I should be working with! - fine to share the website below, or reach out via neutrals - details + dates are: up to $1M investment from a16z speedrun plus $5M credits from our main partners (AWS, GCP, OpenAI, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Stripe, Deel, etc) - the next programs kicks off July 28 to October 10, 2025 this year. - speakers include the founders of Figma, Zynga, Zillow, DoorDash, Twilio, etc etc - application deadline is May 11, so please get ahold of us by then how to apply: sr.a16z.com more details: speedrun.a16z.com OK — so a bit more details on how this all happened: I started working on Speedrun at a16z because there are a ton of very early stage startups out there that are building in and around our focus of tech, entertainment and AI. Many of these early wouldn’t know what to do with a16z’s usual check size of $10 or $20 million, but they would benefit from the a16z team (now numbering nearly 600 strong!) that provide access to everything from hiring, partnerships, financing, marketing, and everything else. I love working with founders at this stage. Also it does not slip our mind that many of the best startups on the planet were started by first time founders and also repeat founders that also have a chip on their shoulder. We feel like we’re not able to help as many entrepreneurs if we just focus on ones that have a ton of revenue and are growing quickly (though we want to work with those ones too!). So starting about 18 months ago, we kicked off a16z Speedrun which is now heading into its 5th cycle. It’s been awesome and very rewarding! If folks have any questions, I’ll try to address stuff in the comments here. But best thing to do if you have a specific startup in mind is visit the website.