Chicago has long deserved a serious startup hub. Introducing Density Collective.

Vertically integrate unless there is a specific advantage for some piece of the puzzle.

I was just having this conversation. But it’s not an SF thing. Any time you have a city with a mono-industry you get this. Every outing is actually networking.

Every exceptional founder I’ve met passes one test: After 10 minutes chatting, I am convinced about either them or the problem. That transfer of belief is a superpower.

This is why I will lend some time to any founder. It’s so isolating and there’s no playbook. Good vibes to the founders.

Man I gotta get my hands on some metal

It’s weird how often this happens. Like why book the meeting in the first place?

Counter point You can just keep launching over and over until it works

the vest screams "hasnt touched metal"

Most “bad” startup ideas weren’t wrong. They were just too early. The skill is knowing which blocker just disappeared. For my last startup, the problem was that most companies didn't know about gen AI yet. The second that changed everyone wanted a piece.

Being a hard tech VC is just a cheat code to wealth creation right now.

Ive seen very few hard tech companies die from tech risk. Ive seen a lot die from scale-up risk. Supply chains, certification, and manufacturing that weren’t ready.

Many founders think you should build what investors want. But at the end of the day, investors want to invest in things that users want.

The biggest opportunities in deep tech are usually invisible. You find them by asking "if this works, which industry collapses?"