Design Ops for Robots, Unlock 25% Productivity Gains
We saw this at Amazon too. There are three phases… in the first, you drop robots into brownfields that didn’t anticipate robotic automation. The wins are real, but harder to come by. The second, you put robots into spaces that anticipated automation, easier with bigger results. The third phase, you design the operation to maximally exploit the robotic automation. Amazon’s Gen12 building in Shreveport is an example of the third phase. Amazon claimed a 25% productivity improvement and 25% speed improvement over the next best building. The advantages always compound as you learn to even better leverage new technology. We talked about this 30 year cycle in my recent podcast with David Mindell.
Missing Contract Vehicle Guarantees Government Sales Failure
The rubric for selling to the government: 1. Operators want it 2. Mission mandate exists 3. Contract vehicle available Miss one = grinding forever. @fubini has evaluated hundreds of defense companies with this lens. Most fail on #3. Deployed EP4 is live. https://t.co/2ZNgSWAG9j
OpenAI Might Follow Netscape’s Decline Without AI ‘Homepage’
"Does OpenAI go to zero the way Netscape did?" @fubini asked me this. We both interviewed at Netscape the same day in '95. His answer: "The “homepage” for AI hasn't shown up yet." Deployed EP4 is live. Link in comments. https://t.co/NzofcUJFwa
Deep‑tech Success Demands Market Focus, Not Just Science
@bznotes sees this pattern constantly: Founders who solve the science and assume the business follows. It doesn't. Product → customer → revenue → margin. Most deep tech pitches break somewhere in that chain. The founders who make it are the...
VCs Miss Dual‑Risk Founders; $700M Bet Yields
There's a type of founder most VCs don't know how to evaluate. They carry technical risk and commercial risk simultaneously for years, Even before they know if the market is real. @bznotes spent $700M on those founders. His best seed...
Deep‑tech Founders Shift to Physical World for Lasting Impact
The venture industry spent a decade perfecting SaaS. Meanwhile, the physical world: automotive, manufacturing, construction, logistics, just sat there. Trillions of dollars. Barely touched by software, just waiting. @Bznotes didn't wait. In Episode 3 of Deployed, he breaks down why the...
Automation Frees Us to Pursue New Callings
Two centuries ago, 80% of us worked on a farm. Today, 2%. We didn't become obsolete- we found other callings. @Alfred_Lin brings that long view to Physical AI in Episode 2 of Deployed. The question isn't whether automation replaces tasks. It's...
Zappos Beat Amazon with Kiva Robots Before Acquisition
Zappos was beating Amazon on cost per order. Amazon couldn't figure out how. Turns out @Alfred_Lin's team was running Kiva robots before Amazon even believed they'd work. Amazon later bought Kiva for $775M. Alfred went from operating automation at Zappos to funding...
Autonomous Cars Already Delivered the ChatGPT Moment.
Everyone's waiting for the "ChatGPT moment" in robotics. @Alfred_Lin thinks it already happened. It's the autonomous car. And most of the industry is looking in the wrong direction. Deployed EP2 with Alfred Lin drops tomorrow. https://t.co/H8O6RnzkG6
Amazon's Drone Initiative Launched Secretly, Surprised Bezos
Amazon's drone program started in a garage. Without permission. An engineer pitched Jeff Wilke. He didn't ask Bezos. Didn't ask the CFO. Just funded it. Months later Bezos brought up drones and learned a team was already flying. Full...
1‑Bit Model Cuts Size 14×, Matches Top LLMs
This is a very exciting result, but it’s not evidence we’re overbuilding. The hyperscalers know that software and model improvements are driving a lower cost per token. But we’re also very early in the demand curve for tokens.
Jeff Wilke Reveals Amazon’s Trillion‑dollar Scaling and Physical AI
Deployed Episode 1 is live. @jeffawilke scaled Amazon’s operations from a billion to a trillion dollars. We got into things he's rarely talked about publicly -- drones, lights-out factories, the future of Physical AI. Link below. https://t.co/BLWpc9TdvS
Launching Deployed: Inside Jeff Wilke’s 22‑Year Automation Mastery
Everyone has a Physical AI take now. Most of these folks have never deployed a robot in production. Tomorrow I'm launching Deployed. First guest: @jeffawilke, who spent 22 years building arguably the most sophisticated automation operation on earth. We talk...
Robots Must Solve New Physical Problems to Be Useful
Yes, precisely. Stochastic puppets can puppet very sophisticated things. But robots need to be able solve novel physical problems de novo in order to be generally useful in production.
Weak Robots Still Pose Harm—Missing Stop Button
Is there no stop button for these robots? I get they’re fairly weak, but they can still hurt you.