How to Build the Next SpaceX or Tesla
a16z partners Connor Love and Erin Price-Wright discuss their AD 50 list and argue that rebuilding America's industrial base, from mines to factories to end systems, can create some of the world's most valuable companies.
The gist
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Price-Wright says defense buyers can pay for costly factory equipment, like a PCB fab, whose output also serves robots and hearing aids.
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Price-Wright says factory technicians now use tools like Claude to reconfigure lines in 20 minutes, versus 3 months and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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Love predicts a new manufacturing middle of suppliers that co-engineer parts with manufacturers instead of rebuilding 50-year-old designs on request.
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Price-Wright says one portfolio company once ordered double its PCBs expecting 50% to fail; with new US suppliers, 70 to 90% now pass.
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Price-Wright says first-half 2026 defense risk capital beat all of last year, and that America's power gap with China is about will, not technology.
Also mentioned
5:06
Waymo
· "Maybe the tip of the spear is focused on the government, but I think in the long run, to your point, what's..."
5:11
DJI
· "I think a good example of this to look at is actually DJI in China, which has gone through multiple arcs of..."
8:49
SpaceX
· "It's not a crazy statement to say really the few modern-day companies that have built anything at scale are..."
9:55
Tesla
· "In the case of Tesla and SpaceX, I would argue the auto industry was a little bit different because there..."
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