Massive Signals

Massive VC
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Massive Signals From lab to market, deep tech is a long game, and the inflection points are everything. Massive Signals is a biweekly video podcast that dives into the pivotal moments shaping breakthrough ventures in AI, quantum, energy, defense, biotech, and beyond. Hosted by David Mandell and Ari Newman, each episode spotlights founders, investors, and researchers navigating the complex path from idea to impact. We explore the highs, the hard problems, and the unfiltered lessons.  Expect real stories, practical insights, and behind-the-scenes perspectives on commercialization, funding strategies, and building the partnerships that make, or break, deep tech ventures. Who it’s for: Deep tech founders, Series A/B investors, university labs, national research institutions, policymakers, and ecosystem champions who want to accelerate innovation in Colorado and across the country.

  1. 5d ago

    Sassie Duggleby: Building a Little, Testing a Little, Learning a Lot with Venus Aerospace

    Sassie Duggleby, Co-Founder and CEO of Venus Aerospace, joins Massive Signals to discuss building the world's first high-thrust rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) — and the journey from a jet-lagged conversation in Japan to a $90 million Series B. She shares how Venus cracked a propulsion concept that had eluded the industry for over 40 years, why a single test flight in May 2025 flipped the company from an "academic experiment" into one fielding inbound demand from defense primes, and how that shift is now forcing Venus to reinvent itself from an R&D shop into a scale manufacturer. Sassie also discusses co-founding and running the company with her husband and CTO, Andrew, and why she's built Venus around a culture of getting people "home for dinner." In this episode:  From a Balcony in Japan to a Category-Defining Engine: How a conversation about missing a grandmother's birthday became the founding thesis for Venus, and why "home for dinner" still drives its long-term vision for high-speed travel. Cracking a 40-Year-Old Problem: How 650+ engine tests and a "build a little, test a little, learn a lot" philosophy let Venus become the first to fly a high-thrust RDRE, unlocking up to 15% better combustion efficiency and triple-to-quadruple payload gains. From Hacking to Scaling: How a single test flight flipped customer demand overnight, turned Lockheed Martin from investor into development partner, and pushed Venus to scale from R&D shop to manufacturer after a $90 million Series B.   Connect more with Sassie Duggleby | Venus Aerospace Website: https://www.venusaero.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sduggleby/ Connect more with Massive Signals Website: https://massive.vc/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arinewman LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgmandell

  2. Sep 17

    Chris Gladwin: Building Ocient Ahead of the AI Data Curve

    In this episode, we sit down with Chris Gladwin, founder and former CEO of Ocient, the company behind the software powering the world's largest data-analyzing systems. A serial deep tech founder who built Cleversafe into a $1.4 billion IBM acquisition, Chris spent over a decade building for the petabyte-scale data generators - telecom, intelligence, adtech - until AI made data volume explode across the enterprise market. We get into why enterprise adoption only happens at 10x better, not 50% better, why he thinks ARR is the most overrated number because it’s bad for customers, and why he handed the CEO seat to John Morris for a second time.   In this episode:   The 10x Rule: Why a database that's 50% better than the competition gets zero customers — and what it actually takes to displace Google, Amazon, and Snowflake.  Sold It Zero Times: How Ocient's machine-learning capability sat unsold for years until AI got better than human analysts and enterprise demand flipped overnight.  Revenue Is a Lagging Indicator: Why Chris calls ARR the most overrated number in a pitch deck — and the enterprise resentment it can mask.  The $189 Billion Comp: How Databricks' pre-money valuation rewrote the old "$100M in, sell for $1-3B" playbook Chris ran at Cleversafe.  Doing It Three Times: The internal metric — every hard thing proven at least three times — that told Chris it was time to hand the CEO seat to John Morris again.   Connect more with Chris Gladwin | Ocient Website: https://ocient.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-gladwin-7ba42b/    Connect more with Massive Signals Website: https://massive.vc/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arinewman  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgmandell

  3. Sep 3

    Zeb King: Opening Global Doors for Colorado Founders with Endeavor

    In this episode, we sit down with Zeb King, Managing Director of Endeavor Colorado — the local chapter of a 45-market global network that backs growth-stage founders through mentorship and a rules-based co-investment fund. Zeb makes the case for Colorado as a genuine global leader in quantum, space, and genomics, not a scaled-down Silicon Valley. We get into why founder-market fit beats revenue as a signal in deep tech, why Colorado's real gap is late-stage capital, and what it's like to sit in front of a global selection panel.   In this episode: The SaaS-pocalypse: Why AI has hollowed out software's moat while deep tech's manufacturing and IP moats have never been more defensible.  Giving Away Half the Upside, Still Beating the Market: Endeavor's 50-50 profit-sharing fund splits carry with LPs and still nets a top-quartile return.  The Unanimous Vote: Inside the three-day Athens selection panel, where a founder needs a 6-0 vote to join the network.  Revenue Is a Lagging Indicator: Endeavor weighs customer concentration and government-funding runway over raw ARR growth.  Planting the Flag: How Zeb repositioned Endeavor Colorado around quantum and space — and why international companies are now opening Boulder and Denver offices instead of the reverse.   Connect more with Zeb King | Endeavor Colorado Website: https://www.endeavorcolorado.org/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zebking    Connect more with Massive Signals Website: https://massive.vc/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arinewman  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgmandell

  4. Aug 20

    Dr. Liz Dennett: Building Endolith During Mining’s Inflection Point

    In this episode, we sit down with Liz Dennett, CEO and Founder of Endolith, a mining technology company using microbes to pull more copper out of the low-grade ore already sitting inside existing mines. Liz makes the case for why mining moves slower than any industry she's touched, why revenue is easy to chase for the wrong reasons in deep tech, and why the world needs more copper by 2050 than humanity has produced in all of history. We also get into her seed-to-Series-A arc, the rule that shaped her cap table, and the discipline of learning what to say no to.   In this episode:   The "Disprove This" Moment: How Liz stress-tested Endolith's first big validation data — replotting it in Python, asking ChatGPT to poke holes in her own results — before it became the industry's watershed proof point.  Earning the Right to Operate: Mining companies are risk-averse by design; winning them over takes repeated, boring, safe proof — not one flashy pilot.  The Copper Cliff: The world needs more copper by 2050 than in all of human history — turning a commodity into a national security issue.  The Charisma Saving Throw: How a seed round built on vibes and early validation became a WSJ-covered Series A, 18 months later.  Revenue Is a Lagging Indicator: Why chasing quick five- and six-figure contracts can quietly derail a deep tech company — and why saying no is the discipline. Connect more with Liz Dennett | Endolith Website: https://www.endolithmining.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/microbes    Connect more with Massive Signals Website: https://massive.vc/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arinewman  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgmandell

  5. Aug 6

    Leo Polovets: A Different Kind of VC Bet

    In this episode, we sit down with Leo Polovets, co-founder of Humba Ventures, a fund built around the physical, hard-tech problems most investors avoid. Leo makes the case for why deep tech finally became investable around 2020, why revenue is the wrong milestone to underwrite in hardware, and why non-dilutive funding is a tool founders too often misuse. We also get into what separates real moat-building from just chasing government pilots, and why Humba’s five-year track record is starting to prove the category out.   In this episode:   Why 2020 Changed the Math: How falling hardware costs and a wave of engineers spinning out of SpaceX and Tesla convinced Leo it was finally the right time to leave software behind. No Pivoting From Reactors to Satellites: Why a great deep tech founder can’t switch technologies the way a software founder pivots from a dating app to a video app. Grants Aren’t Revenue: How founders can rack up pilots and government contracts and still miss the one thing that actually proves a business — real, converting demand. The Numbers Don’t Lie: Why Humba’s fund one is tracking at 2X with 60% of seed companies reaching Series A, versus an industry average closer to 20%. Single Customer Risk, Rewritten: Why a government contract that would spook a software investor is often the strongest signal of product-market fit in deep tech.   Connect more with Leo Polovets | Humba Ventures Website: https://humbaventures.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lpolovets     Connect more with Massive Signals Website: https://massive.vc/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arinewman  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgmandell

  6. Jul 23

    Jon Bronson: How J2 Ventures Invests at the Intersection of Deep Tech and National Security

    In this episode, we sit down with Jon Bronson, co-founder of J2 Ventures, the firm investing at the intersection of deep tech and national security. Jon shares how a PhD chemist and a military intelligence officer became co-founders, why “dual use” gets misapplied as a euphemism for failed commercial ventures, and how non-dilutive government funding can extend a startup’s runway without ever counting as real revenue. We cover the founding myths LPs used to believe about defense investing, the SPV grind before launching a fund, and why quantum computing is where J2 is placing its long-term bets. In this episode:   An Unlikely Partnership: How a PhD chemist and a military intelligence officer became co-founders — and why their fights are the point. Dual Use, Properly Defined: Why most “dual use” pitches are failed commercial plays in disguise. Money That Isn’t Revenue: Why J2 doesn’t count government grants as revenue, and how to spot real validation versus an outsourced lab. The Pivot That Worked: How a wearable already making $1 million a year got shelved entirely — and why the founder was right to do it. Budgets That Never Go Down: Why non-weapons defense spending survives every administration change, regardless of politics.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Connect more with Jon Bronson | J2 Ventures   Website: https://www.j2vp.com  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanbronson   Connect more with Massive Signals   Website: https://massive.vc/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arinewman  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgmandell

  7. Jul 15

    Scott Davis: Selling Shovels in the Quantum Gold Rush

    In this episode, we sit down with Scott Davis, CEO and co-founder of Vescent Technologies, a quantum infrastructure company selling into nearly every corner of the quantum ecosystem. Scott makes the case for why three of the four quantum computing modalities run on Vescent's photonics, how close we actually are to a "Q-Day" that could break modern encryption, and why GPS may be the more urgent vulnerability. We also get into what it actually took to move Vescent from a garage project into full-scale production, and why Colorado quietly became the country's only place-based quantum tech hub.   In this episode:   Picks, Shovels, and Photons: How a photonics side hustle became the tech most quantum computers now run on — and why Vescent bets across all four modalities.  Is Q-Day Real?: Why commercial viability likely hits years before quantum computers can crack RSA encryption.  The Vulnerability Nobody Talks About: How a 50-watt signal from thousands of miles up quietly runs our grid, phones, and financial trades.  Foundations Before Rooftop Decks: Why the hardest part of deep tech isn't the invention — it's the grind to production.  Colorado's Quantum Advantage: How the state became the only place-based quantum tech hub, and what that means for the industry's next decade.   Connect more with Scott Davis | Vescent Website: https://vescent.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-davis-89494a7    Connect more with Massive Signals Website: https://massive.vc/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arinewman  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgmandell

  8. Jun 18

    Vrajesh Bhavsar: Securing the Agentic Stack

    In this episode, we sit down with Vrajesh Bhavsar, founder and CEO of Operant AI, a platform built to protect AI agents, cloud workloads, and MCP ecosystems at runtime. Vrajesh traces his path from Apple’s Secure Enclave to Arm’s ML business unit to the founding bet that security couldn’t scale on dashboards and human intervention alone. We cover how early design partners forced Operant’s focus, what it cost to break into cyber as an outsider, and how a Kubernetes-native foundation became the right architecture for a world that didn’t exist yet. We also get into the pricing model they figured out before the SaaS world caught up, what it meant when seven people showed up to the first enterprise demo call, and why agentic identity is the most overhyped category in AI security right now. In this episode:   The Early Vision Problem: Operant started broad — it took real customer feedback to force the security focus that made everything else possible. The Outsider Tax: Breaking into cyber without a Palo Alto or Zscaler pedigree was hard, and Vrajesh doesn’t pretend otherwise. The Kubernetes Bet: Most enterprises weren’t sure Kubernetes would matter. Operant built their entire foundation on it anyway. The Pricing Call: They built utility-based pricing before seat-based SaaS came under pressure — and the market caught up to them. Seven People on the First Call: When enterprises started showing up to demos with full teams and no foot-dragging, the inflection point had arrived. Connect more with Vrajesh Bhavsar | Operant AI   Website: https://www.operant.ai  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vrajeshio  Connect more with Massive Signals   Website: https://massive.vc/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arinewman  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgmandell

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About

Massive Signals From lab to market, deep tech is a long game, and the inflection points are everything. Massive Signals is a biweekly video podcast that dives into the pivotal moments shaping breakthrough ventures in AI, quantum, energy, defense, biotech, and beyond. Hosted by David Mandell and Ari Newman, each episode spotlights founders, investors, and researchers navigating the complex path from idea to impact. We explore the highs, the hard problems, and the unfiltered lessons.  Expect real stories, practical insights, and behind-the-scenes perspectives on commercialization, funding strategies, and building the partnerships that make, or break, deep tech ventures. Who it’s for: Deep tech founders, Series A/B investors, university labs, national research institutions, policymakers, and ecosystem champions who want to accelerate innovation in Colorado and across the country.

Information

  • Creator
    Massive VC
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    13
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Massive Signals

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