Volund and the Future of Propulsion Manufacturing

Volund and the Future of Propulsion Manufacturing

Eric Hostetler spent years as a mechanical engineer building cult consumer brands, from Fox Racing motocross gear to Beats by Dre, logging nearly 100 trips to China and absorbing the high-volume manufacturing philosophy that governs those industries. That background turned out to be the map to buried treasure when he co-founded Volund Manufacturing, a Huntington Beach startup building a vertically integrated factory model to produce low-cost jet propulsion systems for attritable munitions, counter-UAS interceptors, and low-cost cruise missile programs. The core insight is straightforward: defense is starting to demand what consumer goods have always required, namely lower cost, higher run rate, and faster development cycles, and the traditional defense industrial base is structurally incapable of delivering that. The problem Hostetler and his co-founder diagnosed at their previous company was a fractured and aging supplier ecosystem where a pool of 20,000 machine shops nationwide collapses to roughly 25 once you filter for aerospace certification, security compliance, and five-axis machining capability, shops so overwhelmed that lead times stretch to 18 months and a $300 part gets priced at $10,000. Volund's answer is to bring those capabilities under one roof, connect CAD directly to manufacturing artifacts and an ERP system through a custom MES, and run the whole operation on a digital backbone optimized for moving fast within the regulatory rails of high-reliability industries. Hostetler's 10-year vision is a network of small, targeted factories modeled loosely on Foxconn's playbook: each one highly efficient at a single product vertical, collectively capable of serving as the manufacturing layer that lets other founders focus on their engineering innovations without building a propulsion team from scratch.

Aalo Atomics and the New Nuclear Age

In this episode of Pirates Only, I sat down with Matt Loszak and Yasir, co-founders of Aalo Atomics, the company betting that nuclear power isn't just making a comeback but is about to be industrialized at a scale humanity has never attempted. Matt grew up in Ontario watching smog days vanish when the province shut down its coal plants and went all-in on nuclear. Yasir grew up in Bangladesh studying by candlelight during daily brownouts, watching his country's coastline literally shrink. Both were ready to charge into nuclear right out of university, and both got Fukushima'd. What followed were years in the wilderness: Yasir designing five reactors across programs including Marvel at Idaho National Laboratory, and Matt building and selling software companies while waiting for the right moment to return. When they found each other, the alignment was immediate, same vision, same values, same conviction that nuclear is the ultimate underdog technology. What Aalo is building is unlike anything else in the nuclear space. Rather than gigawatt-scale plants that take 15 years to construct, or micro-reactors suited for military bases, Aalo designed a 50-megawatt pod of five sodium-cooled fast reactors purpose-built for AI data centers. Sodium is 100 times more thermally conductive than water, operates at high temperature without pressurization, and enables thin-walled vessels that can be factory-fabricated in two weeks instead of multi-year pressure forgings. The fuel is commercially available uranium dioxide with no exotic supply chains. The architecture provides N+1 redundancy by design, delivering the 99.999% reliability hyperscalers demand. The urgency is real: the US needs 100 gigawatts of new power in five years just to feed AI data center demand, natural gas is hitting its limits, and nuclear is counterintuitively becoming the answer to NIMBYism rather than the cause of it. Aalo was selected to respond to President Trump's executive order to achieve nuclear criticality by July 4th, 2026, America's 250th birthday. While others in that cohort are running small test reactors into existing buildings, Aalo is going to full-power operation on a 10-megawatt commercial-scale system built from a green field in under ten months, for roughly $70 million in total company spend. After criticality, the roadmap moves fast: a co-located nuclear plant and data center with Crusoe, one of the developers behind Stargate, at the Idaho site, followed by a phased Gigawatt Factory in Texas targeting 100 reactors per year. The long game is bigger than data centers: drive costs down far enough to power developing nations, eliminate energy poverty, and unlock billions of acres of currently uninhabitable Earth for human settlement.

The One Big Beautiful Bill: And What It Means for Founders and VCs

In this episode we haul anchor with Clint Brown, our very own Capitol-Hill insider, to chart the One Big, Beautiful Bill that just splashed down in D.C. We unpack how a $150 B defense-tech infusion, sweeter R&D expensing, juiced QSBS rules, and a four-year spending fuse light a fire under founders and VCs alike. Clint explains the process of how the bill came to be, how drones, autonomous shipbuilding, and space-laser line-items send an unmistakable political demand signal, and why private capital is now expected to plug the gaps faster than a pirate plugs a leaky hull. We also riff on the macro ripple effects: deficit worries, tariff tail-winds, and the existential AI sprint with China, plus the new three-year QSBS on-ramp that could turn earlier exits into a liquidity cannon aimed straight back at innovation. TL;DR? Washington just rang the ship’s bell and shortened the plank: founders have four-ish years of clearer regs, generous tax treats, and a giant customer waving orders. So hoist your sails, build like you’ve got a frigate chasing you, and remember, when Uncle Sam says “all hands on deck,” it’s time to build. Highlights: 00:00 Introduction to the One Big Beautiful Bill 01:42 Breaking Down the Bill 34:36 Innovative Programs and Venture Capital Ecosystem 35:38 Political Landscape and Its Impact on Startups 45:08 Urgency in Government Spending and Startup Innovation 54:13 The Call to Action for Founders and Investors

The Data Center Revolution: Including Discussions on Aerospace, AI and Energy

I had the privilege of hosting two remarkable founders from Y Combinator - Sam Mendel from Network Ocean and Philip Johnston from Star Cloud - who are tackling one of the most pressing challenges in modern computing infrastructure: the exponential growth in data center energy consumption and cooling demands. Both companies are pursuing radical solutions to the same fundamental problem, but through dramatically different approaches. Sam’s Network Ocean is developing underwater and floating barge data centers that leverage the ocean’s natural cooling properties, while Philip’s Star Cloud is pioneering space-based data centers that can scale beyond terrestrial limitations. What struck me most about their conversation was how both are responding to the same crisis - the AI boom is driving compute demand that’s outpacing our current infrastructure’s ability to efficiently support it. The technical advantages each approach offers are compelling in their own right. Sam’s ocean-based solution achieves a Power Usage Effectiveness lower than industry standard, translating to cost savings for customers while eliminating the massive cooling infrastructure that consumes enormous amounts of water and energy. Philip’s space-based approach promises even more dramatic economics, with data centers costing millions less than their terrestrial equivalents. Both founders emphasized that they’re not just building alternative data centers - they’re fundamentally reimagining how we approach computing infrastructure at scale. What became clear during our discussion is that these aren’t competing visions but complementary approaches to humanity’s expansion into previously untapped frontiers. Sam envisions a future where ocean-based infrastructure could power entire floating cities and provide grid-level energy storage, while Philip sees space as the ultimate scaling solution for compute-intensive applications that will eventually require Dyson sphere-level energy harvesting. With Network Ocean’s 200-kilowatt pilot launching soon and Star Cloud’s first satellite scheduled for orbit in August, both companies are moving rapidly from concept to reality. The convergence of AI demand, energy constraints, and innovative deployment platforms suggests we’re witnessing the early stages of a fundamental transformation in how and where we build our digital infrastructure. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the Data Center Revolution 05:08 The Technical Advantages of Underwater Data Centers 10:34 Building in Space: Challenges and Opportunities 16:00 The Future of Data Centers: Demand and National Security 21:33 Maintenance and Longevity of Ocean and Space Data Centers 31:15 The Growing Demand for Data Centers 35:58 The Limits of AI and Energy 42:21 Unlocking the Ocean Economy 51:50 Future Plans and Opportunities

Let's Talk About the Weather: AI Forecasting, Ocean Balloons, and Climate Control

In this episode of Pirates Only, I dive into the world of innovative weather technology with three incredible founders: Alex Levy [https://www.linkedin.com/in/levyalex/] from Atmo [https://atmo.ai/], Austin Tindle [https://www.linkedin.com/in/austintindle/] from Sourcerer [https://www.sorcerer.earth/], and Andrew Song [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajsong/] from Make Sunsets [https://makesunsets.com/]. Here are some of the topics we cover: ✨ AI Meets Meteorology Atmo is revolutionizing weather forecasting by leveraging cutting-edge AI, similar to ChatGPT but for atmospheric science, delivering unprecedented accuracy to governments and organizations around the world. 🌊 Oceanic Data Revolution Sourcerer's innovative long-duration balloons are gathering vital atmospheric data over oceans, an area previously lacking critical information, fundamentally transforming our predictive capabilities. 🌋 Cooling the Planet, Volcano-Style Make Sunsets is pioneering solar geoengineering by releasing reflective sulfur dioxide clouds into the stratosphere, safely mimicking volcanic cooling to combat global warming. 🤝 Strategic Alliances for Impact Atmo and Sourcerer’s just-announced partnership aims to deploy balloons for hurricane forecasting, potentially saving countless lives and billions in climate-related damage. 🌦️ Geoengineering Ethics Make Sunsets openly addresses the ethical and environmental considerations surrounding geoengineering, emphasizing cautious optimism and responsible innovation. 🌎 Climate Control for the Earth This emerging synergy among tech startups is creating a holistic approach to climate control, highlighting the human potential to proactively manage Earth’s climate. Bring your sun screen - this episode is hot. Show Links: * US Spending on Climate Damage Nears $1 Trillion Per Year [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-17/us-spending-on-climate-damage-nears-1-trillion-per-year?embedded-checkout=true] * 1991 Eruption of Mount Pinatubo [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_eruption_of_Mount_Pinatubo] * Exclusive: Sorcerer raises $3.9M for weather balloons [https://www.axios.com/pro/climate-deals/2025/06/12/sorcerer-seed-weather-balloons] * EPA Press Release on Make Sunsets [https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-demands-answers-unregulated-geoengineering-start-launching-sulfur-dioxide-air] * Make Sunsets Response to the EPA [https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0685/0042/2976/files/epasent.pdf?v=1747419131] * Southeast Asia's AI Weather Transition Begins in the Philippines [https://www.atmo.ai/news/philippines-ai-transition] * Sixth typhoon in a month makes landfall in Philippines [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg5j1k8w8qo] * The World's Southernmost Active Volcano In Antarctica Spews Gold Dust [https://www.iflscience.com/the-worlds-southernmost-active-volcano-in-antarctica-spews-gold-dust-73779] * Buy Cooling Credits from Make Sunsets [https://makesunsets.com/] * Sofar - Unlocking Ocean Data for Science, Society, and Industry [https://www.sofarocean.com/]