Stanford Seminar - Silicon Valley & The U.S. Government: Saronic Technologies’ Dino Mavrookas

11 Jul 2024 (4 months ago)

Sanic Company

Sanic, an autonomous surface vessel company, was co-founded by Doo, a former Navy SEAL and Wharton graduate.
Doo left his job at Vista Equity Partners to start Sanic, driven by a sense of duty and a desire to build products that enhance America's security.
Sanic secured $70 million in funding within two years due to its product-market fit and urgent demand for its solutions.
The company formed two Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) with the Navy within 90 days of its inception, demonstrating the critical nature of the problems it addresses.
Sanic's partnership with the Navy has resulted in successful live demonstrations and test and evaluation events, showcasing its cutting-edge technology.
Doo emphasizes the significance of scale in solving the problem and building the Navy of the future.
Sanic focuses on early recruiting and attracts top talent by leveraging the expertise of its founding team and its compelling mission.
Doo highlights the need for early lobbying and government relations efforts in the defense sector.

Sanic's initial design was based on an electric surfboard with a quadcopter, but it later realized that it couldn't carry enough weight for military purposes.
The company's focus is on scaling manufacturing to produce hundreds of small, attritable systems, including surface vessels, aerial drones, and subsea drones.
Sanic aims to become a large defense prime within the next 5-10 years, focusing on the Navy and exploring adjacent products like advanced manufacturing for munitions and spinning off technologies.
The former Navy SEAL founder is encouraged by the speed at which the Navy and the military have moved to acquire new technologies in the past 12-18 months.
To improve procurement, the DoD should continue leaning into new companies with advanced software and hardware that offer the best capabilities.
The US industrial base should receive more investment, similar to the levels seen during World War II, to bolster shipbuilding, munitions manufacturing, and other critical areas.
The hardest challenge for the founder has been keeping up with the rapid growth and staying ahead by thinking six to twelve months in advance.

Follow your calling, be prepared to dive into the details while also taking a broader perspective, and don't be afraid to take risks.
Pull on threads, understand the big impacts you want to have, and then ask questions.
Be willing to listen to feedback and put yourself out there to receive it.
Don't expect every company to succeed, as 95% of venture capital-backed companies fail, and this should not be different in the defense space.

There is a demand for active engagement in the kill chain to provide deterrence at scale, with USVs offering benefits over aerial drones and submarines.
Challenges exist in the supply chain, particularly with access to raw rare earth materials, which require government and policy influence.
China is the primary concern for the Navy, with the Taiwan defense scenario being the most pressing problem to solve.
The company focuses on defense and believes that military-grade solutions have directly applicable use cases in the commercial market.
The company prioritizes scale and end-to-end capability in autonomous platforms, including hardware design, software development, sensor integration, and manufacturing.
The founder and CEO remains actively involved in recruiting, lobbying, and supporting the team, while also taking a distributed leadership approach.
The company acknowledges the challenges of the military acquisition process and suggests the involvement of private sector advisors with domain expertise.
The company utilizes AI to distribute decision-making to the edge, enabling platforms to operate independently and adapt to contested environments.
The company anticipates a shift in federal funding from traditional platforms to autonomous and more economical platforms that can be produced at scale.