Uncapped with Jack Altman

• Uncapped #11 | Jordan Bramble from Antares

  Jordan Bramble is the CEO of Antares, a nuclear energy company that has raised over $50M to become America’s industrial base partner for special-purpose microreactors. Antares focuses on high-value use cases in power-constrained environments that wouldn’t be possible without nuclear power. They are developing resilient fission-based power systems for critical assets for the Department of Defense on earth and in space. Unlike grid-scale reactors, these use cases primarily favor kilowatt-scale systems. This focus on non-commodity energy applications with smaller scale reactors will enable Antares to develop its first deployments on faster timelines with less research and development and capitalization risk. Antares also partners with commercial companies in extractive industries, edge computing, and space power, in turn bringing the benefits of commercial scale back to the DOD. We covered: History of nuclear Demand for nuclear Small modular reactors Government collaboration Building in hard tech Scaling nuclear reactors A few highlights: First nuclear reactor built under UChicago’s football field A nuclear powered airplane that could fly indefinitely Net zero not being possible without nuclear Powering the AI demand for data centers The Golden Dome and lasers in space Working back from the mission effect Interdisciplinary problems attracting talent --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:22) History of nuclear (6:50) Radical decline in development  (10:51) Current appetite for funding (20:53) Small modular reactors (30:11) Selling to defense (34:30) LA becoming a hard tech hub (37:13) Fostering a culture in hard tech (43:42) How to scale nuclear reactors --- More on Antares: https://antaresindustries.com/ https://x.com/jordanbramble More on Uncapped: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod https://x.com/jaltma --- Email: [email protected]

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• Uncapped #10 | David Tisch from BoxGroup

  This week I enjoyed riffing with David Tisch, Managing Partner of BoxGroup. BoxGroup is an NYC-based seed stage venture capital firm that has invested in over 500 seed-stage startups over the last 15 years, including Plaid, Ro, Ramp, Clay, Scopely, Warp, Cursor, PillPack, Amplitude, Flatiron Health, Stripe, Warby Parker, Harry’s, Oscar, Flexport, Classpass, Vine, GroupMe, Airtable and more. David is the Chairman of GoodDog, a marketplace to find pets online. He is the co-founder of TechStars NYC and serves on the board of Friends of Hudson River Park. We covered: Scaling something deemed unscalable Art of being collaborative Taste not being teachable VC help being overrated Building a NYC brand --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:27) Scaling a collaborative fund (8:23) Stack ranking portfolios (11:29) Investing at seed (17:29) Hiring for taste (22:30) The art of being collaborative (29:03) VC help is overrated (41:38) Why VCs pass on companies (48:11) Building a brand in NYC (55:02) North Stars in early-stage investing --- Linktree: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Twitter: https://x.com/jaltma Email: [email protected]

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• Uncapped #9 | Qasar Younis from Applied Intuition

  I had a blast sitting down with Qasar Younis, Co-Founder and CEO of Applied Intuition, a company that’s on a mission to accelerate the world’s adoption of safe and intelligent machines. The company builds software that makes it faster, safer, and easier to bring autonomous systems to market. Last valued at $6B, Applied Intuition has raised a total of $602M since its inception in 2017 and plays a critical role in both the commercial and defense sectors.  Previously, Qasar was a Partner and COO of Y Combinator, the renowned startup accelerator that has invested in companies like Airbnb, Coinbase, Cruise, DoorDash, Stripe, among others. Prior to Y Combinator, Qasar founded a technology firm, which was later acquired by Google, and worked as an automotive engineer at General Motors and Bosch. Younis has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Kettering University (formerly known as General Motors Institute) and an MBA from Harvard Business School. We covered: Radical pragmatism Roots of the automotive industry Complexities of being dual use Fostering an intrinsically contrarian culture Evolving with your work --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:31) Psychology of starting a company (17:04) Love for the automotive industry (22:54) Autonomous vehicle landscape (25:45) Deep partnership with customers (28:49) Complexities of being dual use (34:44) Culture being intrinsically contrarian (40:01) Gen AI and humanoid robotics (42:28) More noise than signal in investing (44:14) Evolving with your work (47:43) Companies working is a state in time  --- Linktree: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Twitter: https://x.com/jaltma Email: [email protected]

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• Uncapped #8 | Josh Kopelman from First Round Capital

  It was a pleasure to sit down this week with Josh Kopelman, one of the original architects of seed stage investing who continues to re-invent what it means to operate within venture. Josh co-founded First Round Capital, which has invested at the earliest stages in companies like Square, Uber, and Roblox. Some of Josh’s more recent investments include Notion, Pomelo Care, Loyal, and Perpay. Since First Round’s inception in 2004, Josh has invested in 500+ startups and has frequently made the Forbes “Midas List” which ranks the top 100 tech investors. Josh has been a founder three times (four if you include founding First Round). In 1992, while in college, he co-founded Infonautics Corporation – and took it public on NASDAQ in 1996. Josh co-founded Half.com in 1999 and led it to become one of the largest sellers of used books, movies and music in the world. Half.com was acquired by eBay in 2000, where Josh remained for three years. In late 2003, Josh helped to found TurnTide, an anti-spam company that created the world’s first anti-spam router. TurnTide was acquired by Symantec just six months later. We covered: His “Venture Arrogance Score” The role of relevance in venture Making money in disequilibrium Overlooking margin superiority Decision-making as a product --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:25) Current landscape (4:39) Venture Arrogance Score (10:49) Comparing fund models (14:24) The role of relevance in venture (21:03) Small funds vs large funds (26:36) Making money in disequilibrium (33:57) Overlooking margin superiority (43:17) First Round’s strategy (49:02) Operating like a company (56:49) Future of First Round --- Linktree: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Twitter: https://x.com/jaltma Email: [email protected]

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• Uncapped #7 | Garry Tan from Y Combinator

  This week I sat down with Garry Tan, President & CEO of Y Combinator. YC has funded 5,000+ startups including Airbnb, Stripe, DoorDash, Rippling, and Reddit, among others that have totaled $600B in combined valuation. Garry is a designer, engineer, and investor in early stage startups. Previously Founder & Managing Partner of Initialized Capital, an early stage venture capital fund that was earliest in Coinbase and Instacart. Before that, Garry was a partner at Y Combinator where he invested in and directly worked with over 700 companies at the earliest stage. He previously co-founded Posterous and helped build it to a world-class website used by millions (acquired by Twitter). Garry is a builder at heart. We covered: Running YC like a founder Advice for founders Picking winners What changes because of AI YC being the “YC of hard tech” Public service --- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:25) Running YC like a founder (6:25) Focusing on growth and prosperity (12:40) Incredible pick rate (14:34) Role of the Group Partner (19:21) Lean vs fat startups (20:53) Archetypes of special founders (25:18) Rule changes because of AI (33:00) YC being the “YC of hard tech” (37:40) Community and political involvement --- Linktree: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod Twitter: https://x.com/jaltma Email: [email protected]

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