Educator, innovator, super-connector, and conference champion Kwaku Aning and I have coffee and discuss a few things that stuck us at SXSW, including: Why we’re in a “pre-mainframe” moment in quantum computing — and why you should prepare for what comes nextBioengineering: are we headed for a Westworld-style mix of human musculature and AI?Robot choreography, e.g. how to train a self-driving car to drive non-aggressively (but also should they be allowed to speed?) Mind control via inaudible noises and Severance-style brain implantsWhether or not I had enough breakfast tacos in Austin…Where to find Kwaku: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kwaku-aning/Clickpoint podcast: https://clickpoint.transistor.fm/Where to find Dan and get more CRAFTED.: Sign up for the CRAFTED. newsletter: https://www.crafted.fm LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dblums/ Learn how Dan and Modern Product Minds can help you discover, build, and test new products: https://www.modernproductminds.com 

How do you build a system for turning wild ideas into world-changing innovations? Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots at X, The Moonshot Factory, has spent over 15 years leading Google’s audacious innovation lab—the birthplace of Waymo, Google Brain, and other breakthrough projects. In this special episode, recorded live in Austin at SXSW, Astro shares the playbook to create a moonshot factory.  You’ll Learn:🐵 The “Train the Monkey First” approach to innovation🚀 Why audacity, humility, and intellectual honesty are key to moonshots 💡 How your org can get more 10x (not +10%) outcomes — and how to avoid the “innovator’s dilemma”  🔴 Why you should “greenlight everything” and then redlight most projects quickly, following kill criteria you’ve agreed to in advance 🌍 Where X is placing bets today, including climate-tech, modernizing the electric grid and bioengineering (00:00) - Introduction (02:12) - "Greenlight everything!" (03:22) - Redlighting is the real work: how to do so quickly and effectively (06:21) - "Train the monkey" — start with the hardest problem (11:00) - Diverse teams are more creative (13:45) - The "factory" — and why that metaphor matters (15:17) - I try to hire Astro to build a moonshot factory for my 200yr old company (19:25) - Avoiding the innovator's dilemma (22:00) - Where X is investing today: bioengineering, modernizing the electric grid, and more (24:00) - Why biology and engineering are merging (27:00) - "AI will be in everything, but it's not the solution to everything" (28:00) - Solving the climate crisis: Astro's optimistic take Links: X, The Moonshot Factory: https://x.company/ The Moonshot Podcast: https://x.company/moonshotpodcast/ Support CRAFTED. Sign up for the CRAFTED. newsletter: https://www.crafted.fm Learn how Dan and Modern Product Minds can help you discover, build, and test 10x products: https://www.modernproductminds.com 

What if we could deliver supplies anywhere, no roads or runways needed? Elroy Air has built a really big drone. One that can carry 300 pounds of stuff 300 miles or more. And it takes off like a helicopter, but flies like a plane, meaning it can get in and out of all sorts of hard to reach places.  In this episode, we sit down with David Merrill, co-founder, executive chairman, and former CEO of Elroy Air, to explore how these hybrid-electric, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft are set to transform express delivery, humanitarian aid, and military logistics. David shares the lean prototyping and rapid iteration strategies that helped bring Elroy Air’s vision to life, the biggest technical challenges they’ve tackled, and what the future of autonomous aerial logistics could look like.  Plus, we dive into the Jetsons-inspired origins of Elroy Air and whether flying taxis are still on the horizon. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: 🚀 How Elroy Air’s Chaparral drone could redefine logistics 🔋 Why hybrid-electric propulsion is key to making cargo drones viable 🛠️ The power of physical prototypes and rapid iteration in hardware development 🌍 How autonomous air delivery could impact e-commerce, disaster relief, and defense 💡 What it takes to push the envelope—literally—in aviation innovation Episode Highlights: 00:00 – Introduction 01:25 – The game-changing potential of autonomous cargo drones 04:30 – How David went from building digital games to big drones 07:30 – From concept to takeoff: Prototyping Elroy Air’s Chaparral 13:40 – Why hybrid-electric systems beat battery-powered drones for long-haul delivery 15:30 – Rapid prototyping of sub-systems 19:30 – Why David loves the intersection of hardware and software 20:44 – Flying cars, when!? 📩 Subscribe to the CRAFTED. newsletter! crafted.fm If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share with a friend who loves innovation! 🚁✨