Blue Ocean Materials founder @lucasme_12 explains why El Segundo feels like Silicon Valley in the ’80s:
"You’re seeing these founders tackling these very hard problems where we have no playbook. El Segundo feels like what I imagine was Silicon Valley in the ’80s."
"There’s no career path. Who do you mimic? How do you create a Valar Atomics? How do you make it rain like Rainmaker? It’s just a bunch of mavericks trying to solve these problems."
@BOMaterials
Western liberals imported the third world into France and other countries in the name of diversity and compassion. They ignored fundamental questions of assimilation and compatibility. They were told it would lead to this and they didn't listen.
I pray that France, a beautiful country of amazing people, will stop this madness before more of its landmarks burn.
And I hope Americans are paying attention. This is the future congressional Democrats seek for your country.
Stephen Cole retweeted
We are serious about making energy cheaper
If you make a list of teams that have a real, honest shot at making energy 10x cheaper, Valar belongs in the top 5 from a third-party perspective. First startup to split an atom, make power, etc
Dig deeper and you’ll find that it’s #1
Stephen Cole retweeted
You have no choice but to save the United States. There is literally nowhere left to go. This is it. The last bastion. The Alamo. Last stop Saloon. If the US completely falls, it's checkmate Earth. There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, you can't opt out. There is no Shire.
Replying to @MKBHD
I’m not. Will use SpaceX cold gas thruster system with ultra high pressure air in a composite over-wrapped pressure vessel in place of the 2 rear seats.
Stephen Cole retweeted
Fuck watches, suits, designer whatever
The biggest rich flex in the world is building Sci Fi companies and products that redefine the human experience
Stephen Cole retweeted
I don’t disagree with this take, but the value of the deal is really X+Y-Z, with Z being the risk that the other Major Investors with a majority of whatever share class matters in the decision vote to change the rules.
Eg you have added so little value over your tenure holding the shares, or the world has changed and now your shareholding represents negative value to the company, that the other MIs exercise their right to update the charter and change the rules to write you out - and this right is fully defined and contemplated in the original closing docs.
The pro rata right only exists as long as the charter allows. And the docs generally allow for the charter to be changed whenever sufficient votes allow it. It’s not like pro rata can be magically removed - there’s typically a process
Valar is good for America
Day One is bad for America.
These things were true when Day One wrote their first check. Neither is here nor there however in this dispute as framed by Isaiah. Instead the framing is purely about contractual rights so that is how I will comment on it.
Venture is a hard business. A very hard business. 75% of firms shouldn’t exist and won’t in the next cycle. There will be a new crop behind them and 75%+ of those will also fail.
For some firms when they find the rare winner in their portfolio, they NEED to double down on that winner to build the returns that will justify their continued existence.
Hence the existence of pro rata RIGHTS. The pre negotiated right to invest more money and maintain ownership.
We can argue all day long about whether the right should be standard. I for one feel like we should earn our position on cap tables through work and good partnership. However, the argument over “should” is irrelevant when the right has already been negotiated and agreed upon.
In theory when those rights exist, they’ve already been bought and paid for. The valuation assumes the existence of pro-rata rights in the number. The shares purchased are worth X without pro-rata rights and are worth X+Y with pro-rata rights. When an investor pays X+Y, they're relying on the value of Y. Having Y deleted by the company and other investors is… frustrating to say the least. Having it deleted when it’s your biggest career winning investment is doubly so. Having it deleted when it’s your biggest career winner while other investors are permitted to exercise their pro-rata is devastating.
(Now as I said, Day One is bad for America and I think they should have never been allowed to invest but we have no magic wand so here we are talking about contractual rights instead of FOCI concerns for a business working in a strategic field and hoping to sell to USG).
When you strip those rights away ex post, you are literally stripping value out of the fund who purchased those rights.
If you don’t want to honor pro-rata rights, dont include them when you raise the round. The only thing worse than re-trading a deal is re-trading a deal that was closed years ago.
Again, I generally agree that pro rata rights and spring back rights should be reconsidered generally and that firms should earn the right to continue to invest. I’ll also acknowledge that the fact the rights can be waived means that when all agreed to the rights existence waiver was always a possibility that should have also been priced in. That said, the existence of the rights in the first place set expectations and expectations are important. My word is my bond. Honoring one’s commitments is important. It’s what American enterprise is based on.
If this conflict ends up with Masha being expunged from the cap table I’m happy as an American but as someone who plays in a brutally competitive business, fights hard for my portfolio, and plays by the rules with integrity, it kills my soul to see an argument like this laid out for re-trading deals. It’s terrible for the ecosystem and it’s not a good look for anyone.
Mean what you say and say what you mean. (And partner with good people). That’s how we win 🇺🇸
Stephen Cole retweeted
Reindustrialization starts at the base.
@BOMaterials will supply raw plastics, fast.
Let’s get manufacturers producing, not waiting.
Stephen Cole retweeted
This is a tactical nuclear weapon against the forces who have destroyed the ability of Americans to reasonably compete for all of the amazing middle class and upper middle class jobs in tech.
Congratulations to @JDVance @AGToddBlanche @Sonderling47 and the entire Fraud TF.
.@Sonderling47: "I am hereby suspending from the Permanent Labor Certification Program some of the largest IT outsourcing firms in the world — Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini — and also, due to multiple active federal investigations, @USDOL is suspending Microsoft and Adobe from the program."
Stephen Cole retweeted
The @DiscipulusVent Fall Cohort just wrapped up in Gundo. 🇺🇸
Joined by @isaiah_p_taylor, @shaunmmaguire, @ADoricko & more throughout the week.
9 hardtech teams building for the American Interest. Companies below 🧵👇
Plastics at the speed American industry needs. 🇺🇸
Stephen Cole retweeted
Buying plastic sucks.
And waiting for material to arrive can mean job or no job for a machine shop.
We are changing this.
We are going to supply the American manufacturing base with polymers and composites, at the speed that reindustrialization requires.
Replying to @jakobdiepen
Blue Ocean Materials (blueoceanmaterials.com) — Automated plastics supplier
Shortening plastic stock fulfillment from days to hours. @lucasme_12 is a repeat manufacturing founder. $400k of interest one week after launch.
📩 [email protected]
Stephen Cole retweeted
"Never believe the lie that Americans are not good enough to build a future for Americans."
Vice President JD Vance on the lie being pushed to the American people:
“There’s this pernicious idea, and @StephenM alluded to it, which is that Americans are not good enough for the jobs in their own country… To the American people, this visa fraud is a frontal assault on the idea that you deserve to inherit the jobs and the positions in your own country. Never believe the lie that Americans are not good enough to build a future for Americans. That’s what visa fraud tells you, it is a lie, and the President of the United States does not stand for it, and neither does anybody on this stage.”
Stephen Cole retweeted
The @DiscipulusVent Demo Day yesterday was a major white pill.
I am certain that Americans still have the fire our Founding Fathers had.
It's burning brightly in El Segundo and across Southern California. 🇺🇸
It’s impressive what @jakobdiepen has built in a short time
Vibes from the @DiscipulusVent demo day where I just went on stage w @isaiah_p_taylor ☢️
Stephen Cole retweeted
The left is pumping tons of money into our Huntington Beach city council race. They want to take me out. The attacks have begun. I’m fighting for liberty and freedom . secure.anedot.com/gruel-for-…
I can’t make it to LA today but everyone should follow what’s going on with hardtech in El Segundo led by @DiscipulusVent @jakobdiepen.































