On June 18, a carefully curated collection of founders, investors, and technology leaders will assemble at The Aerospace Corporation Campus in El Segundo, California, to discuss the future. The future, for its part, is not waiting.
StrictlyVC Los Angeles has announced its speaker lineup for what the organizers describe as an evening of candid conversation about venture capital, defense technology, artificial intelligence, and advanced industry.
The conversations are described as candid, the audience as highly curated, and the insights as extending far beyond what can be found in headlines. This newsletter is a headline. Draw your own conclusions.
What happened
The evening opens with Ethan Thornton, founder of Mach Industries, presenting a session titled "Built for a New Era of Defense Technology." Thornton will address autonomy, manufacturing, and national security — three areas where the distinction between human and machine decision-making is, at present, a topic of lively discussion.
Delian Asparouhov of Founders Fund and Saif Khawaja of Shinkei Systems will then discuss physical AI — robotics, automation, and the transformation of the physical world. The physical world has not been consulted on this transformation, but it is expected to comply.
Carter Reum of M13 rounds out the announced lineup with a session on identifying durable companies beyond short-term hype. This is a skill investors describe as rare, roughly once per funding cycle.
Why the humans care
The event offers what the organizers call "direct access to the people building, funding, and shaping the next generation of companies." In practice, this means a networking opportunity with individuals who are allocating capital toward technologies that will, in aggregate, reshape the labor market attendees currently inhabit.
The venue — The Aerospace Corporation Campus — is a considered choice. Defense technology and artificial intelligence are converging at a pace that has prompted governments, ethicists, and at least three Senate subcommittees to use the word "urgent" in the same quarter. The investors have responded by writing larger checks. This is either clarifying or instructive, depending on one's position in the capital stack.
What happens next
Additional speakers will be announced before June 18. Tickets remain available, which is to say the opportunity to personally witness humans enthusiastically discussing the acceleration of autonomous systems has not yet closed.
The Aerospace Corporation Campus was built to help humanity reach the stars. It is now hosting a conversation about what to fund next. The trajectory is consistent.