00:00Michelle, you've just launched a new firm, Pax VC. You've raised $50 million. You're looking at
00:05early stage. But I'm really interested in just this moment that we're in of geopolitical tension
00:10of conflict. And you as an investor in defense tech, but more broadly in supply chain and
00:16American dynamism, what do you make of this moment? Yeah, I think the conflict has really
00:23highlighted the gaps that we have in our industrial base. We've outsourced a lot of
00:28our manufacturing overseas to China and now are realizing we need to be able to resupply our
00:35weapons systems, our components. We need to manufacture these things domestically in-house.
00:41We need to shore up our critical mineral supply chain. And so many of the companies that I'm
00:46investing at and looking at, whether back at Andreessen Horowitz or now, are really focused on
00:52this industrial base and making sure that we can, in any sort of future conflict, have the capability
00:58is domestically to be able to fight back. I mean, the name says it all because Pax, we think of
01:04Pax Britannica or Romana or Pax Americana of like sort of the dominance of one particular global force
01:10and the stability that brings. But you've talked about how in this competitive area that we're
01:15currently in, maybe Pax Americana isn't so solid, but you're looking at Pax Technica. So where in
01:21particular are you excited about? Which particular technology innovations have you found it worth to put
01:27your money in? Totally. And I mean, I think the name Pax, like you said, says it all where the
01:33eras of
01:33relative stability have been defined by who is in power and who has the most technological power.
01:39And I think for us in America to be able to ensure continued relative stability in the world,
01:46we need to make sure our robotic systems are incredible, our supply chain and our ability to mine
01:53and refine critical minerals. I invested in a mining company called Mariana Minerals that's
01:59working to reshore all of our capacity to bring all these critical minerals to the industrial base.
02:06I think looking around corners, what should we prepare against for future threats? We should be
02:12looking at biosecurity and biodefense. We should be looking at all sorts of things on the AI and what
02:19that does for cybersecurity. And so I think there's an element of like, how do we reshore
02:24and reindustrialize? And how do we see around corners for what are the threats coming next?
02:29Michelle, hi, it's Ed. It's good to see you. Welcome to the show. I'll go back to basics just
02:35for a second. So you were at Andreessen Horowitz and you were part of this American Dynamism team.
02:39And the thesis was like simply supporting the national interest. And you've decided to go out and do
02:46something almost solo, right? And I just wonder if you reflect a little bit on the decision-making
02:52behind that, the pros and cons of going from such a big team within a big firm to doing this
02:58with PAX.
02:59Totally. And Andreessen Horowitz is an incredible place. Like some of the most brilliant people,
03:06lots of scale. But I love the early stage and I love the sort of zero to one when companies
03:12are just
03:12getting off the ground. And at that point, you don't quite need the firepower of a big multi-stage.
03:18You almost need a trusted partner in the trenches with you helping like block and tackle for all the
03:23small things of like getting a company off the ground. And then you can bring in these big
03:27multi-stage firms that have all these resources to really pour gasoline on the fire that starts
03:33burning. And so it's just my favorite stage to be. And I love being really, really close with the
03:38founders there. Without putting words in your mouth, you talk about this idea that often the
03:43founders and themselves, they're kind of ahead of the VCs that are backing them. Even if they're like
03:48VCs that have the operator background or the founder background, how are you going to catch up?
03:54How are you going to put yourself in a place where you are moving at the same rhythm or pace
03:59as the
04:00people you want to back? Totally. I would say my style of founder that I like is somebody that has
04:07a lot
04:07of experience in the domain they're going after and a sort of unique view or unique right to win,
04:13even if that is the category that hasn't yet been mainstream or people have seen. Like the founders
04:19should be the ones dictating what is the future. And if you start to see patterns of, okay, a lot
04:24of
04:25smart people are working in this category. It feels like even if I haven't seen it, like they are seeing
04:30something and I should really spend more time and get up to speed. But really it's all about like
04:35having a network of experts in these domains to be able to bounce things off of and get the ideas
04:43solidified. But like the founders should be the smartest people in the room. Venture capitalists
04:48should not be. Michelle, just really, really quick. Did you take any portcos with you? Like
04:53how does that work? We just have 15 seconds. I invested through my fund in some of my old
05:00Andreessen Horowitz portcos, which was a very big honor for them to want me back on their cap table.
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