This week ~20 of us - already backing Natilus - walked into a hangar in southern San Diego.
Not to observe. To help accelerate.
The future of flight is being built in places you wouldnโt expect.
Step Inside at the link below
๐ ๐ก๐ฒ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ผ๐๐ฎ๐น!
Weโre excited to welcome @RisingTidePtr as an official partner of ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ผ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝ๐ผ.
Rising Tide Partners believes the best investments come from strong relationships, not just pitch decks. Their mission is to build a powerful ecosystem where successful founders return as LPs, co-investors, and advocates, creating a flywheel that helps the entire startup community grow together.
At TechCon SoCal a leading investment and innovation conference, founders, venture capitalists, investors, and tech leaders gather to discover promising startups, explore new investment opportunities, and build meaningful partnerships that drive innovation forward.
If you're looking to connect with investors, grow your network, and be part of the startup investment ecosystem, this is the place to be.
๐๏ธ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ด๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ โ https://t.co/drUEvgbEcy
๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ถ๐ป ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ฝ๐ฝ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐น ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ โ https://t.co/qK8fPBSRrg
#TechConSoCal #StartupInvestment #VentureCapital #InvestmentConference #TechConGlobal
Inside the legendary San Diego Wind Tunnel last night with defense & hardtech founders.
World-class assets already exist here.
The opportunity? Connect them. ๐
Big congrats to @seasats on their $20M Series A to scale production of small uncrewed surface vessels.
Maritime autonomy is entering its inflection point and @RisingTidePtr is proud to support the Seasats team as they scale from deployments to sustained production.
Huge moment for the @NatilusAero as they announce their $28M Series A & reveal the evolved HORIZON EVO passenger aircraft.
This team is reshaping what aviation can be - for freight, defense, and now commercial travel.
Honored to be along for the journey. Letโs fly!
Early-stage investing isnโt about perfect metrics.
Itโs about when conviction forms before the spreadsheet works.
Talking about that (honestly) at @TechCon_Global SouthWest in Austin.
Feb 13
Day Zero โ Series A.
Texas Spirit Theatre.
1:45 PM.
Letโs get into it.
โณ ๐ฎ๐ด ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข ๐๐ข | ๐๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฝ ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐ฒ๐บ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐๐๐.
Building ecosystems that scale. ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐น๐ผ๐ผ๐บ, Managing Partner at @risingtideptr, is joining the TechCon SouthWest stage! A staple in the tech community, Neal is an expert in creating the environments where startups thrive.
Community is the heartbeat of innovation. ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ผ๐๐๐ต๐ช๐ฒ๐๐ is more than just a conference; it is a year-round catalyst for the Austin tech scene, culminating in this two-day summit where we celebrate the creators and the builders of our regional ecosystem.
๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ถ๐ป, ๐ง๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ญ๐ฎโ๐ญ๐ฏ, ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฒ
๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ด๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฎ๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝ: https://t.co/drUEvgcc26
#EcosystemBuilder #StartupLife #TechConSouthWest2026 #VentureCapital #InnovationConference #TechConGlobal
Helion energy is building what will be the worldโs first commercial fusion power plant, scheduled to be finished in 3 years.
Great interview by Lex Fridman with David Kirtley (CEO of Helion).
Most power plants are heat engines. You burn fuel or run fission, boil water, spin a turbine, and get about 35% electricity while the rest leaves as waste heat. Helion flips the flow. The fusion reaction makes charged particles that push back on a magnetic field tied to a capacitor bank, so you get direct electricity instead of a steam loop. That path can reach about 85% efficiency from fusion energy to electrical output, which means less conversion gear and tighter control over power delivery.
๐งช How the machine works
A giant capacitor bank drives coils that both accelerate and squeeze plasma. Two plasmas, deuterium plus heliumโ3, are launched from opposite sides and collide in the center. By rapidly reversing the magnetic field in about 1 microsecond, the plasma self-organizes into a fieldโreversed configuration that traps itself. Then the machine compresses it hard. Fusion happens, new charged particles appear, and their pressure pushes the magnetic field so the system dumps energy back into the capacitors. It is pulsed, up to 100Hz in tests, so each shot is a clean measure of input versus recovered electricity.
๐ก๏ธ Safety and waste
There is no chain reaction. The device only holds about 1 second of fuel at any time, so stopping the drive stops fusion. Xโrays and some neutrons exist during operation, so you use shielding and standard controls, similar to particleโaccelerator facilities. When the pulse stops, the radiation source stops.
๐ฅ๏ธ Why data centers care
The output is highโvoltage DC sitting on capacitors. You can invert to AC for the grid, or route DC with fewer conversions into rectifier buses for racks. That cuts losses and simplifies backup. The company is targeting 2028 for a first grid-tied plant for a large buyer, which lines up with growing AI power needs.
๐งฉ What is still hard
Heliumโ3 is scarce on Earth, so you must produce it or source it. This fuel also likes higher temperatures, roughly 200M-300M degrees, so the pulsed magnets and power electronics must be very fast and very tough. Stability is managed by giving the plasma enough โspinโ and length so it behaves like a fast top that stays upright, plus thousands of synchronized switches that fire with microsecond timing.
If this architecture keeps showing pulse gain and highโefficiency recovery, you get a compact generator that skips steam, feeds a capacitor, and delivers clean power in the exact format modern compute wants.
We grew to $1B ARR faster than Stripe, Salesforce, and Palantir, while being 100% remote
This was a combination of a lot of luck, focus and an excellent team
Looking back, I can our team's success boils down some key principles I'm sharing in a 700-word long post:
I hope that it will help every startup as much as it helped us:
1. Everything is sales.
Recruiting is sales. Fundraising is sales. Retaining your best talent is sales. Dating is sales. And sales is sales.
A founderโs effectiveness = (technical skill ร ability to sell).
2. You need to be in the details.
The best founders can zoom all the way in and out. If someone tells you to โscale yourselfโ by pulling back too early - theyโre wrong.
Being in the details is important to understand what org structure best fits your company's goals. Every 'in the weeds' founder designs their org structure from first principles.
Jensen: 40 direct reports,
Elon: Engineers in charge of everything,
Jobs: Creative Dictatorship with Directly Responsible Individuals.
Zuck: The first growth-hacking team with @chamath
Founders not in the details forget what makes their products great and eventually recede into designing a standard org with standard departments which lead to standard results.
3. Your company's fate is 70% sealed by the first 20 hires
Ben Horowitz: "I got this advice like 27 times. They said 'Look, here's the key: Hire A players:' and I was like ok yeah, my plan was to hire a bunch of morons but now I'm going to hire A players" The hard part isnโt intent, itโs judgment.
The problem is you can't spot a top 1% engineer if you're not a top 10% engineer yourself. This applies to everything.
Your definition of great is just what you've seen. Founders have some blind spots. Technical founders usually build bad marketing orgs. Sales-focused founders sometimes build mediocre product teams. You need the right eyes to be able to spot genius. Ego aside, bring on a technical expert and have them vet talent for you. Your first hires are your culture, your standard, your work environment. They are the company. Get the first 20 hires right.
4. Live with your customers.
You canโt know whatโs working if youโre not talking to them - all the time.
Be where they are: WhatsApp, calls, DMs, in person. The closer you are to customers, the fewer mistakes you make.
"The customer is the boss. They can fire everybody by choosing to spend their money elsewhere." - Sam Walton
5. Be extremely responsive.
If I reply in 30 seconds, what usually takes a day gets done in hours.
What takes hours gets done now.
Speed compounds.
6. Your TAM is limited by your imagination, not by the market.
Constantly rethink the pod, find other big issues that need solving and are valuable, and solve them exceptionally well. We went from contracts ($100M) to Employer of Record ($300M) to Payroll ($200M).
Each 3x'd the TAM.
7. Never run out of cash.
The only way a business dies is by running out of cash.
Profitability = power. You call the shots, not investors.
You can always act in the company's long-term interest because you know you are safe.
We reached Series A after spending <10% of our seed.
We have been profitable for the last 3 years.
Cash discipline buys freedom.
8. Over-index on angels early.
Angels are your best shot at making important people care - when it matters. They might not be involved day to day, but when you really need help, theyโll show up. If you don't know how to solve a problem, you should know at least a person who knows the person who can.
Pick the right ones, and time your asks well.
9. There's always something out there that can kill your company.
Your job is to de-risk the company. Capital, talent, and products are all a small part of a larger effort to de-risk your startup and build an enduring business. Covid-induced work from home grew our payroll and EOR business. And it seemed like RTO might kill it. But we were prepared. If you worry, you won't have to worry.
10. Stay focused.
Fundraises, competitors, headlines - all noise.
Focus on your customers. Focus on your product. Keep executing.
In the long run, the most relentless team wins.
11. Trust your instinct.
If something feels off - it probably is. Dig deeper.
Courage in your convictions matters, especially as the team grows.
Donโt let โperformative democracyโ slow you down.
As long as youโre in the seat, lead decisively - and unapologetically.
@VinnyLingham@X Thanks Vinny. Real Neal Bloom here with my business account. @X let me know how to connect. I have emails in to X Support from [email protected]
Hey itโs the real Neal Bloom here since my @ NealBloom has been hacked and is shilling crypto.
But also peep that engagement! Iโm not even mad. Iโm impressed!
Vote for San Elijo Joint Powers Authority & help them receive an Orchid for Public Architecture from the @SDAFinfo for their Water Campus Improvement Project! ๐ง Vote here: https://t.co/G3f5MO5eHK.
@CASA_CleanWater@cwea@ACWAWater
Happy #FlushSmartDay! Thanks to the โDo Not Flushโ symbol, thereโs no more guess work when disposing of wipes. Always look for the symbol on wipes packaging to avoid clogs. Visit the Responsible Flushing Alliance (@FlushSmart) to learn more! https://t.co/wLfHvh3EzO
We loved helping @SFID Santa Fe Irrigation District celebrate 100 years by the designing the new logo on all their trucks. ๐ You may have seen them in your neighborhood! Check out the logo below.
Learn more about the women-owned businesses making up a growing number of companies in Carlsbad and across the country ๐ Featuring @MammaChia and @preemadonna! More in our blog for @Carlsbadbiz here: https://t.co/flzsGDTS6W #WomensHistoryMonth