Discipulus Ventures

Cultivating a visionary vanguard of founders solving America's hardest problems in El Segundo.

Apply to the Cohort in bio!

[Discipulus Ventures @DiscipulusVent]

Fall Cohort apps open now! Apply below.

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

250 years ago, a small group built something the world had never seen: America. 🇺🇸

That spirit never died. In 2002, @elonmusk moved into a warehouse in El Segundo and proved Americans could still build the impossible.

A generation of companies was born from that building. They're still being built here today.

If you're building something your family and your country will be proud of, come to the Gundo and build what you need to. Apply for the Fall Cohort below.

Deadline July 17th.

Featuring @jordannoone and @jordan__black

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

Every robot joint runs through a gearbox.

Gears make up ~30% of a robot's bill of materials, and almost none of the precision ones are made in America.

@DiscipulusVent founder @alexpodkin & the Gears team are building gears for robots in AMERICA. 🇺🇸

[Discipulus Ventures @DiscipulusVent]

@Xoo_Fi @alexgolding_ DM @jakobdiepen!

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

Ethylene is the most-produced organic chemical on Earth. It’s the building block for nearly every plastic: packaging, pipe, wire insulation, car parts, medical devices.

@DiscipulusVent Cohort founder @GarrowGeer & the Indigo Ethylene team are replacing steam crackers to make ethylene products 50% cheaper, to REINDUSTRIALIZE 🇺🇸

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

🇺🇸 The Race for Hyper Techno Industrialism w/ @isaiah_p_taylor (CEO, @valaratomics) & @shaunmmaguire (Partner, @sequoia)

A conversation from the @DiscipulusVent Cohort in El Segundo.

Including:
> Why the best builders are congregating in the Gundo
> Hyper techno industrialism & the race against China
> Why hardware will look like software did 20 years ago
> How China actually plays the game
> OSC, raw material subsidies, & catching up
> The Caltech wind tunnel fluke that built SoCal hardware
> What’s next: biology, robotics, & gigawatts at a cent
> Why everyone is underestimating the hardware buildout

Highlights:
(00:00) The race for hyper techno industrialism
(01:07) Why El Segundo: touring every US hard tech hub
(02:15) You bump into great engineers in the Gundo
(03:07) A generation that wants to build things that matter
(04:08) 10 to 100 to 100,000: the race against China
(05:22) Hardware is about to look like software 20 years ago
(06:50) How China really plays the game
(08:38) OSC & subsidizing the supply chain
(09:43) Catching up vs. winning in the net new
(10:45) Americans as the world’s best product engineers
(11:31) Subsidizing raw materials & the Inconel problem
(13:20) Growing up with SoCal as America’s defense base
(14:31) The macro rotation back to hardware
(16:13) The Caltech wind tunnel fluke
(17:46) Designed in El Segundo, scaled in Texas
(18:13) The founding cohort of crazy people
(19:07) What’s next: biology & robotics infrastructure
(20:03) Start what seems a little crazy today
(20:23) Cheap energy & the aluminum lesson
(21:55) We’ll need 100x what people think

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

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 🧵👇

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

.@isaiah_p_taylor CEO and Founder of @valaratomics at the @DiscipulusVent Cohort

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

🚨 LIVE from DAY FOUR of the @discipulusvent Cohort in Gundo.

The Most Important PR Advice for Hardware Founders: @ADoricko, Founder & CEO of @Rainmaker

We cover:

>Using X to share your mission and your real views
> How posting as a human attracts zealous talent & investors
>Turning big announcements into mainstream credibility

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

🚨 LIVE from DAY THREE of the @discipulusvent Cohort in Gundo.

How VCs Should Support Their Founders During Times of Conflict: @shaunmmaguire, Partner at @sequoia

We cover:

>Why VCs should always have their founders' backs
>Verifying the facts before going to war
>Integrity as the line that earns full support

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

🚨 LIVE from DAY ONE of the @discipulusvent Cohort in Gundo.

The Most Important Finance Advice for Hardware Founders: Andrew Kreitz, CFO & Co-Founder of @Castelion

We cover:

> Thinking in runway & milestones
> Orienting your raise around major unlocks
> Why "raise at 6 months left" is the wrong rule

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

🚨 LIVE from DAY TWO of the @DiscipulusVent Cohort in Gundo.

How do you sell tech to legacy industries?

We asked @tfeldmann, CEO & Founder of @DurinMining.

His answer:

Show your work. Your first prototype won't be perfect. What matters is showing customers the progress, data, and trajectory.

“Slope is everything.”

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

🚨 LIVE from DAY TWO of the @DiscipulusVent Cohort in Gundo.

@jimbelosic, Founder & CEO of @sendcutsend, on the importance of early stage hardtech founders getting hardware into the real world.

A thesis is great. A plan is great. But nothing beats having something you can hold in your hands.

���Make it exist, then make it good.”

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

First Fall Gundo bonfire is TOMORROW

Sign up below...

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

.@DiscipulusVent Fall Cohort Starts Today in El Segundo

Build for America 🇺🇸

More coming soon...

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

If you're in LA for LA Tech Week in a few weeks (specifically Oct 14, 8pm), @zanemountcastle (@Picogrid) and I (@DiscipulusVent) invite you to join us for a Gundo bonfire.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Gundo from the inside, so don't miss out.

Register on Partiful below 👇

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

🇺🇸 HIRING YOUNG INDUSTRIALISTS:
- 1 Fall Remote Ops Intern (Aug–Oct)
- 3 Cohort Ops Leads In Person (Sept 29–Oct 8).

Help us support our Cohort founders solving America's hardest problems in El Segundo.

If you're mission-driven and organized, apply below.

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

Excited to announce a $30M oversubscribed fund. 🇺🇸

El Segundo is the world's best place to build hardtech and we're the pipeline for founders from across the world coming here to do it.

Joining @tbpn later today to share more.

If you're at the earliest stages of building hardtech for critical industries reach out now!

Link to Axios article in thread.

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

Going to be huge, don't miss out! Register below:

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

Join us in the Gundo 🇺🇸

Founding investor applications open now. Apply below.

[Discipulus Ventures @DiscipulusVent]

Join us!

[Jakob Diepenbrock @jakobdiepen]

🇺🇸 We're hiring our first full-time team member in the Gundo at @DiscipulusVent

Founding Investor: work directly with me on sourcing, picking companies, running Cohorts, and pitching LPs.

Front row seat to building the best hardtech program in the world.

If you care about American reindustrialization, apply today (link + JD in thread).

El Segundo, CA. In person.