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An Overwhelming Advantage: Resonant Sciences and a New Era of American Defense | Joby Recon Ep. 05 — Transcript

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0:02Hey everybody, welcome to episode 5 of
0:04Joby Recon. I'm Ryan Bodenheimer, better
0:06known as Max Afterburner on YouTube. I'm
0:07incredibly honored to be a part of this
0:09historic day for Joby and the next era
0:12of American aviation. This morning, Joby
0:15announced plans to acquire Resonant
0:17Sciences, a major step forward in Joby's
0:19defense story. I spent about 12 years
0:22flying fighter jets and I can tell you
0:23the systems that this team is working on
0:25from radars, apertures, electronic
0:28warfare, these could be the difference
0:30between coming home or not or achieving
0:32the mission or not. So, very important
0:35systems here and I'm here today with
0:37Resonant Sciences CEO, Micah North, to
0:39get into three big questions. First of
0:42all, where did this company come from?
0:43What do they actually build? And why
0:46join Joby? So, with that, I want to
0:48introduce everybody to Micah North, CEO
0:51of Resonant Sciences. Micah, how's it
0:53going today?
0:54>> Hey, great, Ryan. Hey, thanks a lot for
0:56having me on. I really appreciate it and
0:57I'm really truly honored to be here for
1:00this opportunity and to have this
1:02opportunity to partner with Joby.
1:04>> It's exciting. I love military tech,
1:07advancements in military tech because I
1:09know it helps our warfighters achieve
1:11the mission and come home. So, seeing
1:13what Resonant Sciences has been doing is
1:15awesome and I'm so excited to share this
1:17with the world. So, if you were going to
1:19tell me what Resonant does, how would
1:21you explain Resonant and the connection
1:24with Joby?
1:25>> We're a survivability company, right?
1:27Our goal is always to provide an
1:29overwhelming advantage to the
1:30warfighter. And that comes down to
1:33everything from how do I not be
1:35detected, how do I have systems that are
1:37more resilient, how do I have systems
1:39that are unjammable, and how do I have
1:42capabilities that that the war that the
1:45adversary doesn't have? Um, and and
1:47that's essentially the core of what
1:49Resonant does. Now, how that manifests
1:52itself as we go further down into the
1:54company,
1:55um, is really where I think some of the
1:57exciting things live and that we'll
1:59partner up with Joby.
2:01>> Yeah, absolutely. So, well, where did
2:04Resonant Sciences come from? And how was
2:06your idea to start it? How did that
2:09begin?
2:10>> Yeah, so,
2:11like I said, I I worked at the big guys
2:13and really really enjoyed working there
2:16and have a lot of a lot of fantastic
2:18folks at the big companies. But, really
2:20felt like we could do something
2:21different and and something different
2:23from everybody else. And And what I mean
2:25is, you know, how do we go faster and go
2:28harder and push more capabilities out,
2:31you know, faster than everybody else
2:33could do.
2:34And And that's what we set out to do
2:36with Resonant was to be able to be
2:39completely agile and responsive to the
2:41war fighters' needs. So, that was really
2:45how we got started. We started with six
2:47of us. It was It was never about growing
2:49a company. It was never about growing a
2:51company.
2:53It was always about
2:56doing the right thing for the war
2:57fighter. And it turns out that if you do
3:00that and you,
3:03you know, have that focus in mind and
3:05you keep mission focused, that it's a
3:07pretty attractive model for for high-end
3:10A players and they want to be around it.
3:12And
3:12I always say A players attract more A
3:14players, B players attract C players.
3:17So, we we always try to keep A players
3:19around us. And I'm sure you have the
3:21same experience from your time
3:23as a pilot. You know, you you want to be
3:25around A players. You want to be around
3:27the best.
3:28>> 100%. Yeah, and it just makes a lot of
3:31sense to me with you talking about your
3:33reasons for starting this company to
3:35team up with Joby, Joby's origin story.
3:38You know, you guys both both CEOs
3:40bootstrapped the company, right? So, you
3:43bootstrapped yours, Joby and
3:44bootstrapped Joby. Like, so that was for
3:47the love of the game is what I see from
3:49both companies.
3:50>> Yeah, Joby I mean, Joby and I I've met
3:52Joe Ben years ago and
3:54he and I have been friends for a long
3:56time and I'll always have been impressed
3:59with his
4:00you know, grit, his determination and
4:02his creativity and and and he's a
4:05patriot. I mean, he he loves he loves
4:07our country.
4:08He I think he does many great things
4:10that even people don't know about that
4:12he does. And
4:15you know, I I saw a kindred spirit in
4:17him
4:18as what we have bottled up at Radiant.
4:21That's one of the reasons I'm so excited
4:23about this. You know, we we couldn't
4:24have done this with with with other
4:26groups, you know, the magic that that is
4:29Radiant couldn't exist with a with a lot
4:32of different people and I think that the
4:34culture that Joe Ben brings matches
4:37really well with our culture which I I I
4:40I guess I say this a lot too, which is
4:42you know, culture's the most important
4:43thing we have. Most important thing and
4:47there's no amount of contracts or money
4:48that fixes a broken culture.
4:50>> Yeah, well said. I want to get to that
4:52in a second, but when you were talking
4:53earlier about electronic warfare
4:56survivability, just for the people out
4:58there. So, myself having flown in
4:59fighter jets, those words to me are
5:02those are like the words I want to hear
5:04when it comes to the systems I'm going
5:05to be in, right? Or that my wingman's
5:07going to be in. So, the fact that you're
5:09focused on survivability, electronic
5:12warfare, I mean, this has never been
5:13more applicable than now. And for
5:16everybody watching, you know, fighter
5:17jets, that's kind of one of the things
5:19you really think about is how are the
5:21systems going to work? The jets look
5:22really cool, right? Like I love having
5:24these jets up here on the shelf, but
5:26without the guts and the systems that
5:27are inside of them to help you as the
5:30aviator survive, your wingman survive,
5:32and then get the mission done, you
5:34really just have a basically a fancy air
5:36show. And that's great, but you've got
5:39to make these things survivable. So, can
5:41you talk to that a little bit?
5:42>> Yeah, I mean, so so let me back up and
5:45talk a little bit about the structures,
5:46you know, and and cuz we do the
5:48structures as well. So, if you look at
5:50the nose of the radar of the aircraft,
5:52we would call that the radome. And uh
5:54that's covers the radar, and it would uh
5:56and generically speaking, we call any uh
6:00section that covers an antenna a radome.
6:01Yep, so right there.
6:03>> Pull that up. So, this part This is the
6:04radome right here, right?
6:06>> Yep. Yes, sir.
6:08And uh that's actually one of the most
6:10highly
6:11>> right. If I got that one wrong, that
6:12would be really bad.
6:13>> Yeah, they'd take your pilot's license
6:15away for that. Uh the uh
6:17Yeah, the the radome is actually one of
6:19the most uh highly engineered sections
6:22on the aircraft.
6:24Uh we can we can think a lot about how
6:27uh I I can explain this in a very simple
6:29way, but how if you took a glass of
6:31water and you put a pencil inside of it,
6:33and you see how the uh the pencil looks
6:36broken from the water in it, right?
6:38That's uh that's a beam deflection. And
6:41the same thing happens when we have RF
6:42energy uh a radar uh sitting behind the
6:45radome, and it and it shifts, and it
6:47changes as it goes through there, right?
6:49And so, what we want to do is design
6:52that uh radome in a manner that uh
6:55optimizes the radar's performance. And
6:58uh that's a very unique skill. Uh we we
7:01have some of the most experienced guys
7:03in the country uh in this and are
7:05heavily involved in, you know, a lot of
7:07legacy platforms as well as next
7:09generation platforms uh on that side for
7:12for the antennas and the radomes
7:14themselves. As you go and you look at
7:16these platforms and these aircraft, um
7:20the aircraft have evolved so much today
7:22from back from where the you know, the
7:24Wright brothers started it originally uh
7:27to to where we are now, the the the
7:29aircraft are essentially large antenna
7:32beds. I mean, they're massive antenna
7:34farms, and there's tons of collection
7:36capability, there's tons of electronic
7:38warfare capability. And those antennas
7:40are just used for a small portion of
7:42actually flying the jet. It's mission
7:44functionality and whether that be
7:46deploying electronic effects or
7:49deploying kinetic effects, that's all
7:52driven by your apertures and your
7:54electronic systems that are that are
7:56empowered on the aircraft.
7:59>> It's fantastic. Yeah, just for context
8:01for folks out there, you know, as
8:02fighter pilots, a major part of our
8:04brief was the threats, right? Like what
8:06threats are we going to face? And a lot
8:08of that was, you know, how do our
8:09systems interact with enemy systems and
8:12things like that? And you got to know
8:13that. That's one of the most important
8:14things. So, you're kind of, you know,
8:17the things you're saying to me, I'm
8:18like, "Wow,
8:19these are the types of teams that
8:22allowed us to achieve the mission in
8:23combat." I mean, it's it's really
8:25inspiring to hear and I and I I always
8:27knew, you know, there's a so many things
8:29going on behind the scenes, but I never
8:32had the direct interaction with a
8:34company like Resonance. So, to be able
8:36to share this with you and hear this
8:37from you is really special. And I I love
8:39what you guys are doing
8:41for the American military.
8:43>> It's it's there's there's nothing
8:44greater than talking to a pilot who's
8:46flown a mission
8:48with tech that we've had or
8:50you know, been able to successfully
8:52engage a target
8:54or or do something and we get we hear
8:56those stories quite often and it's it's
8:58just the greatest feeling in the world
9:00to know that, you know, again, we're
9:02providing an overwhelming advantage
9:04against our enemies and our adversaries.
9:06That's that's that's what we do. That's
9:08what we all live for every day is to to
9:11to make that fight unfair.
9:13>> So cool. And I've, you know, I've taken
9:15part in dozens of different large force
9:17exercises, you know, around the world
9:20actually, but
9:21Resonance does a lot with training as
9:23well, right? In those environments?
9:25>> Yes, we do. We we support everything
9:28from early development to training to
9:31operational
9:32to operations.
9:34We've we support
9:35and the point that, we, know, we'll have
9:37guys that will go CONUS and uh, support
9:40missions and support um, integration of
9:43bespoke technologies on the aircraft or
9:46bespoke capabilities. Um, but yeah, we
9:49we support everything from the uh,
9:51development to the validation of the
9:53performance. That's one of the our
9:54products is the uh,
9:56Radar Man 2 and the RAZOR system for um,
9:59measuring the performance of the
10:00aircraft. And what I mean by that is
10:03what you what you might call
10:05um, in the in the outside world is
10:08stealth technology. We would call in the
10:11industry is low observables and low
10:13observable technology. And so what we
10:16want to do is we want to see how
10:18vulnerable is your aircraft to an enemy
10:20threat. So kind of when you go back to
10:22talking about threat briefings and what
10:24the threat systems are, we want to give
10:26you an accurate picture with our radar
10:28and with our systems of what do you look
10:31like to the threat radar and what do you
10:33look like to the threat system. And
10:35that's one of the services and
10:36capabilities that we provide out to
10:39platforms as well.
10:41>> Man, that's awesome.
10:42So you kind of hit on a few of these,
10:44but I just for everybody watching, I was
10:45hoping you could give just like a
10:4630-second or so synopsis. So advanced
10:49apertures, signature systems, and
10:52diagnostics, and mission systems. Those
10:54three things.
10:56>> Yeah.
10:56>> Yeah, so
10:57um, in our advanced apertures business,
10:59we have probably the most experienced
11:01radome team in the country from a design
11:03standpoint.
11:04Um, and uh, also for apertures, we've
11:07also done a lot of not only on the
11:09defense side, but also on the commercial
11:10side with in-flight entertainment
11:12systems. So what you might see on your
11:13commercial airlines for connecting to
11:16Wi-Fi and things like that. We've done
11:18the design on the on the radomes on
11:21those as well.
11:22In our signature systems and diagnostics
11:24business unit, that's where we have our
11:27the Radar Man 2 system. That's the most
11:30widely used instrumentation radar in the
11:32country. It's at all the major ranges
11:35around the United States and
11:38out in the world as well.
11:40We take that and put it into a robotic
11:42system called the razor for doing radar
11:44cross-section measurements of
11:46mobile measurements of aircraft and we
11:49support multiple aircraft there. Also in
11:51that business unit, we do a lot of
11:53predictions and design. So customers
11:55will come to us with an aircraft shape
11:58and they'll say, "Hey, here's what my
11:59plane looks like." And they'll say, "How
12:01do I make that LO or how do I survive
12:03this mission or how do I do that?" And
12:05then we'll actually go in and work with
12:07the arrow designers and say, "Well,
12:09let's change the radius on this leading
12:10edge. Let's peel this leading edge back.
12:13Let's adjust the plan form here." And
12:16we'll change the shape of the aircraft
12:18for the mission to be able to enhance
12:21the survivability. So it's it's always a
12:23trade
12:24between the arrow performance and the
12:27the survivability of the aircraft.
12:30>> Right.
12:30>> From a detection standpoint. And then to
12:33finally in that area, we'll look at
12:36the materials that go on that cuz
12:38there's very unique materials on some of
12:40these platforms and those materials
12:42contribute to the performance of the
12:44system.
12:45And so we spend a lot of time
12:47characterizing and developing next
12:49generation materials that go on aircraft
12:52as well.
12:53Finally in our mission systems group,
12:56we do a lot of
12:58very
12:59bespoke electronic warfare and
13:01electronic protection techniques. And
13:03what I mean by that is how do we protect
13:06your sensors from being jammed? How do
13:08we
13:09prevent you from having interference
13:12issues? How do we enable you to operate
13:14one transmitter without taking out your
13:17receiver on another part of the
13:19aircraft? And then direction finding.
13:23How do I know where that threat is? So
13:25when I get illuminated by an adversary
13:27or by a threat system, how do I know,
13:30man, it's right there? That's what we
13:32want to be able to do is provide that
13:33functionality and that we would call
13:35that direction finding capability on
13:38there. And then beyond that, there's
13:39just all sorts of
13:41fun things, spooky things behind closed
13:43doors that are a lot harder to talk
13:46about and in all three of these areas,
13:48but but specifically in the mission
13:50systems as well.
13:52>> So, we know that, you know, Joby the
13:54iPhone moment
13:56is happening for pilots, right? Where
13:58there's something completely different
14:00that's really exciting. Like how does
14:01that apply to Resonant? What's your
14:03version of that?
14:05>> Yeah, so
14:07definitely we've had capabilities where
14:10I think of the world in two different
14:11buckets of tech push and tech pull. And
14:14tech tech pull is where you give me a
14:17requirement and you say, "Hey Micah,
14:19we've got this problem. We don't know
14:21how to do this, this, or this, right?"
14:23And then we sit down and come up with a
14:24solution and we go, "Hey, we think this
14:28or this structure or this box is going
14:32to meet your requirement and it's going
14:33to do this, this, and this, right?" Tech
14:37tech push is where I come up with
14:39something that you've never even thought
14:41of. And the best example I always use is
14:42the iPhone, right? And it could because
14:45before an iPhone, you didn't go, "Wow, I
14:47need a
14:48I need a device that does my email,
14:50texts, and allows me to play Pokémon Go
14:53while
14:54>> [laughter]
14:54>> I'm talking on the phone."
14:56But now now you can't imagine living
14:59without it, right? That's really what I
15:00mean when I talk about tech push, right?
15:03And so we're pushing capabilities out to
15:06the war fighter and out to the operators
15:09that they never thought were possible.
15:11And and it's changing their CONOPS, it's
15:13changing how they fly the mission, it's
15:15changing how they operate. You know,
15:18when you when you tell an an
15:20"Hey, now you can do this." And they
15:22said, "Well, I thought those physics
15:25physics didn't allow that. And and if
15:27but if I can do that, I can completely
15:29change the way I operate."
15:31Uh that's the type of stuff that we're
15:33doing. And those are the types of
15:36technologies that we're flowing out
15:37there. Fast forward as to where we are
15:40with Joby. Joby's doing that on the
15:42platform level, right? We're doing it on
15:44the sensor level, we're doing it on the
15:45payload level. Uh couple that with what
15:48what Joby is doing on the airframe
15:51level. Um I there's something just
15:53really really special there. And I think
15:55once we have all these pieces, you know,
15:57fully integrated together and working,
15:59uh we're going to be able to deliver
16:00capability that people never thought was
16:02possible before.
16:04>> It seems like there's been this push for
16:07military tech and innovation over these
16:08last couple years. And so, do you feel
16:11like you're just kind of like hitting
16:12the sweet spot where your preparation
16:14met that opportunity?
16:16>> Yeah, I think that uh certainly we're in
16:18a time right now where there is a lot of
16:20push to bring big other players into the
16:22field. And uh that's not to disparage
16:25like Lockheed, Northrop, and Boeing. I
16:27mean, they've been uh lot of full of
16:28great Americans and they do a lot of
16:30great things for our country. Um but but
16:32we do need more players in the game. And
16:35I think right now we're looking at a
16:37situation where the leadership of the
16:39country is recognizing, "Hey, if we're
16:41going to win the future fight, we we
16:43can't just do it with the big three
16:44guys. We've got to have more people at
16:46the table and we've got to have more
16:47technology and we've got to have more
16:49ideas. We've got to go hard. And um and
16:53I welcome the competition and other
16:55people are pushing hard as well. I think
16:57we're going to beat them. I think we're
16:58going to do uh um you know, good things.
17:00And I mean, that's friendly competition
17:02within the United States. But um there
17:04certainly is an environment right now
17:06within the DOD and within uh
17:09the the technology area in the country
17:12where where everybody's pushing hard.
17:14And I I I that's only goodness for our
17:16country and I think it's only goodness
17:17for, you know, where we need to go.
17:20>> Great uh prelude into culture. So, uh
17:23you've said there's no amount of money
17:24or contracts that can fix a broken
17:26culture. So, where does that conviction
17:28come from, and what does that culture
17:30look like today at Resonant?
17:32>> Look, I I came from a place where uh I I
17:34went to Virginia Military Institute, and
17:37uh very, very tight um
17:39uh group of of people, you know, that
17:41that that always have one another's
17:43backs. And and I'm sure you've seen it
17:44as being a pilot. I see the same ethos
17:47in the special operations community, you
17:50know, where it's a uh just work hard and
17:53uh um party hard, uh but but above all,
17:56take care of one another, right? And and
17:58you got to love one another, and you got
18:00to take care of one another. And uh you
18:02can you can fight, and you can scrap,
18:04and you can argue, and and but at the
18:06end of the day, you always have one
18:07another's backs, right? And that's a
18:09real That's That's built on trust. Um
18:12it's built on a closeness that you don't
18:14get just in a 9:00 to 5:00 job. That's
18:17what allows us to get down into the next
18:20level of of uh grit and and to be able
18:24to dig in on programs and go hard and go
18:27fast. Um culture is what drives you to
18:31never saying die, never quitting, never
18:34going, "Ah, this problem's too hard."
18:37You know, I've got guys in the company
18:38that I know will always deliver. It may
18:42be really, really hard, and they may
18:44grind and grind and grind, and we may
18:46think it's impossible, but they're
18:48always going to deliver, and they're
18:50always going to come up with a solution.
18:52>> That's fantastic. Kind of as you were
18:54talking, it was reminding me a little
18:55bit of just a fighter pilot mindset. You
18:57know, in the fighter pilot the fighter
18:58squadrons that you're in, you know, a
19:00lot of times you have to leave rank at
19:01the door, and it's all about learning.
19:03Absolutely. How does How does this
19:05mission get done? Yeah.
19:07So,
19:07>> I mean, I'm sure you've had uh plenty of
19:09debriefs uh fighter pilot debriefs.
19:11Those can be uh uh pretty uh
19:14pretty lot leave your ego at the door
19:16and prepare to get chewed on a little
19:18bit.
19:19I don't I don't think that we're quite
19:21uh chew on people, but we don't we don't
19:23vomit we don't hide, you know,
19:25when we screw up when we we we you know,
19:27and we mess up. We go really really hard
19:30and we go really really fast and and you
19:33know, as long as you know everybody's
19:34operating with positive intent operating
19:37everything that they think is doing the
19:39right thing. Um you know, you you can go
19:41forward.
19:42In order to for people to do that, they
19:44have to trust you. And they have to
19:46trust one another and that's where the
19:48culture piece comes back in and if you
19:50don't have that, if you don't have that,
19:53you can't do it. If you have a culture
19:55where everybody's worried about who gets
19:57credit, who gets ahead, who's going to
19:59be blamed, you know, this this and that.
20:02If you have a culture that's based
20:03around org charts and not capability,
20:07that's how you get that. You know, I
20:09don't I'm a I'm a flat org chart guy.
20:12Obviously, we have to have them.
20:14But I'm a I'm I I don't care whether you
20:17have a
20:18PhD or you have no degree at all.
20:22I care about what can you do for the war
20:25fighter, what can you do for the
20:27country, what can you do for your
20:29teammates, what can you deliver, what's
20:31your tenacity, what's your drive, where
20:35do you get back up again when you get
20:37kicked in the teeth? That's the type of
20:40people I care about.
20:41>> Well, I love it. You know, and the and
20:42the margin for error in aviation,
20:44military, it can be slim. So, holding
20:47people to that high standard, you know,
20:49I saw that at Joby too. Speaking of the
20:50fighter pilot mindset, they're going
20:53hard obviously. I got to go tour the
20:55different facilities in California and
20:56it was just it was so cool to see that
20:58they were all going everybody was
21:01enlivened with purpose and they were all
21:03doing everything they could.
21:05But the thing that really stood out to
21:07me was how I got the feeling that they
21:09had each other's back.
21:11Because they all knew that that culture
21:12of safety, where you feel like someone's
21:15got your back, it multiplies efforts.
21:18>> I mean, what was the Jack Welch quote?
21:20It was about how the the passionate will
21:22inherit the earth, right? You got to
21:25have passionate people. You got to have
21:26people that are driven, and you got to
21:28have people that and they police their
21:30own. People you I mean, it's it's
21:31amazing.
21:32Um it's amazing how people will be
21:35aggressive and uh
21:37and work with one another. And if
21:38somebody's not stepping up, they'll they
21:40have no problem. Hey, man, get your
21:42stuff in gear. We're we're going.
21:45>> [laughter]
21:46>> Well, it's kind of a great segue into
21:48your conversations or your first
21:49conversation with Joe Ben and your first
21:51impression of Joe B in general. Can you
21:53take me back to that?
21:55>> Yeah, so I you know, I I met Joe Ben
21:57when they were looking at Ohio and
21:59looking at moving a a facility here. And
22:02um I I was actually asked to go meet
22:04with him uh
22:06by uh some folks from uh JobsOhio. And
22:10uh I I just remember sitting there you
22:12know, talking to him and going, "Wow,
22:14this is a guy who's who's willing to
22:16take a risk and and is passionate and
22:19driven and and going to go hard at at
22:22stuff that he believes in." And you
22:24know, at the time and I think it's
22:26become more
22:27uh more in vogue than it was then, but
22:30an electric airplane?
22:32I mean, never uh
22:34I I remember even I thinking, "Wow,
22:36that's really cool. Wonder if he can do
22:38it, you know?" And wonder if it's going
22:40to go. And um you know, after meeting
22:43him, there was no question. I was like,
22:45"This is the guy who's going to drive
22:46drive drive drive drive, and he's going
22:49to make it happen." And uh and those are
22:51the type of people I love to be around.
22:53I I mean, I I'm I'm one of those folks
22:56who's uh just
22:58drawn to being around people who want to
23:01build things and want to build business
23:03and want to build capability where there
23:06was nothing. And I think Joby to me is a
23:09really interesting person because here's
23:12someone who
23:13not only is a good business person and
23:16you know, focus on building a company
23:18and and building a business, but he's
23:20not just a finance guy. He's not just
23:23you know, a banker who
23:25lashed up with a couple of engineers,
23:27you know, he's he's a real no-joke
23:29engineer, right? I mean, he's a he's a
23:32he's a real he's a real creator and he's
23:34a you know, he's got a technical mind on
23:37him and that's kind of rare to find
23:39somebody who is
23:41a good business person, wants to grow a
23:43business and is a
23:46a technical expert. That's really
23:48unique. I mean, how many of those guys
23:50are there in the country is I can think
23:52of like three or four and that's about
23:53it. So,
23:55um
23:55anytime you get an opportunity to hang
23:57out with somebody like that and who's
23:59smarter than you,
24:01then you take it.
24:03>> 100%.
24:04>> of those plenty of people smarter than
24:05me. So,
24:07I try to hang and learn from everybody I
24:09can.
24:10>> Well, you're doing it right. What
24:11there's a quote out there, right? That's
24:12like never be the smartest person in the
24:13room. If you are, find a new room. So,
24:15you keep growing.
24:16>> [laughter]
24:18[clears throat]
24:18>> And along those lines, something I
24:20noticed about the culture at Joby was,
24:23you know, there's there's this thing
24:24where oh, engineers might not have the
24:25people skills and that didn't seem to
24:28apply at Joby. I don't know what there's
24:30something going on in the culture.
24:31There's some secret sauce where not only
24:34technically proficient, but humble,
24:36credible, approachable is kind of how I
24:38thought of the folks I met and the
24:40leadership to me I was thinking to
24:42myself as a fighter pilot, I was like,
24:44oh, I could talk to this engineer. We
24:45could get something done together. And
24:47that was a cost aboard. Uh which would
24:49be really cool.
24:50>> I you know, look, this is this is the
24:53way I've seen it and and and I'm sure
24:54you've seen it as well as
24:57most of the time you run into an A
24:58player, they're humble.
25:00Cuz they know what they know and they
25:01know what they don't know more
25:03importantly, right? B players are
25:04usually arrogant and cocky, right?
25:06>> Yeah.
25:07>> Um A A players are usually pretty solid.
25:09I I worked with a guy on my committee
25:12that was a Nobel Prize winner, uh won
25:14the Nobel Prize for buckyballs in 1996,
25:17Sir Harry Kroto. And uh um uh
25:21Sir Harry was one of the most humble
25:24uh people in the world and and they
25:25would tell you the story about how they
25:27won the Nobel Prize and and he'd go,
25:29"Ah, I just kind of got lucky, you know,
25:31I just happened to be there and see it."
25:33And I'd go, "Well, come on, you know,
25:34Harry, you're you're brilliant, you
25:35know." Um but uh you know, and then you
25:38get down the rung and you know, I I was
25:40chemist by the way, is what my PhD was
25:43in chemistry. Chemists are notoriously
25:45arrogant. Um yeah,
25:47>> [laughter]
25:48>> but you know, you find some of the B
25:49players and they're very cocky, you
25:51know. Um I I think the same with the
25:53Joby folks. You've got a team of
25:55brilliant, great engineers and you know,
25:57they don't have to act cocky, they don't
25:59have to
26:00um because they they they know who they
26:02are and uh they they wear it well.
26:05>> From where you sit, Mike, uh what does
26:07Resonant bring to Joby and where do your
26:09capabilities fit into Joby's autonomy
26:12and the defense story?
26:14>> Number one, it's a seat at the table,
26:16right? There's a lot of things going on
26:18in the country right now, particularly
26:20in the Department of War, and a lot of
26:23new platforms, a lot of new capabilities
26:26uh uh
26:27that are coming out there. I look at
26:30what Joby is bringing from the autonomy
26:32side and with the Super Pilot system and
26:35and there's a definite role to be played
26:37there. There's some gaps that I'm
26:38looking at. I probably can't get into
26:40them right now, um but some gaps where I
26:43see the uh Joby autonomy solutions are
26:46are are exactly what the government
26:49customers need.
26:50Uh and so I'm super excited about
26:52folding that in and bringing that in. I
26:55I think also
26:57we see advantages uh, from a conops
27:00standpoint uh, of utilizing the aircraft
27:04that um, I you know, I don't know the
27:06lots of
27:08brilliant brilliant folks at Joby uh,
27:11may not have seen the same things that
27:12we've seen, right? And uh, yourself
27:15included um, that we go, "Wow, if I had
27:19that airplane I know what I would do
27:20with this. I would do this, this, and
27:22this." And so I've had some of the
27:23conversations with folks and it's really
27:26great because I've been able to uh,
27:29uh, for number one, they are humble and
27:31they listen. And uh, so uh, you know,
27:35and and I'm able to say, "Hey, what if
27:36we tweaked this or changed this and and
27:39could we still, you know, do that?" And
27:41they go, "Oh, yeah, yeah, we we can do
27:43that." And so I I think there's some
27:45some real capability that we're going to
27:47bring I won't get into the details, but
27:49I I've I've talked to some of our
27:51customers and told them some of the
27:52things that Joby could do and they said,
27:54"I didn't think that was possible."
27:56>> Wow.
27:56>> And Joby's been so focused on the
27:58commercial side and the areas and doing,
28:00you know, incredible stuff. And there's
28:02certain pockets within the DOW that when
28:05I've told them that yes, this is
28:07possible and not only is it possible,
28:09it's flown.
28:10>> Yeah.
28:11>> They their their mind is blown. And so
28:14some of it's just going to be exposure
28:15and bringing all the worlds together um,
28:18and and coupled with the sensors and the
28:20payloads that we're able to bring uh,
28:23putting that on to platforms that are
28:25uh, specifically designed on those
28:27designed around that, that's going to be
28:29very exciting.
28:30>> Uh, so it's an exciting time. So in in
28:3210 years from now,
28:34when people look back on this
28:36partnership, what do you hope they say
28:38made it possible?
28:39>> Uh,
28:40well, first off I I hope they go back
28:42and they go, "Wow, they changed the
28:43country." And they changed the
28:45trajectory of what we were doing and uh,
28:48um,
28:49uh, you know I I I think that it's I
28:51think people hopefully will look back
28:53and go wow there's
28:55two creative groups of people that are
28:58focused on delivering for our country
29:01that came together and you know did a
29:03one plus one equals four or one plus one
29:06equals five not just a
29:08just a two or a three
29:11and I think that that's what people are
29:12going to see
29:14this is not going to be additive this is
29:17going to be multiplicative for sure
29:19what we've got this is you know really
29:22the uh
29:23two great groups of people coming
29:26together focused on a mission and
29:28focused on
29:30doing great things for our country and
29:34both in the commercial world and in the
29:36you know
29:37and in the defense world I I talked a
29:39lot about defense but you know what what
29:42Joby is doing on the commercial world
29:44>> [snorts]
29:45>> has massive effects on our economy and
29:47massive effects on our capabilities
29:50within the country and having a strong
29:53country is not just as contrary to what
29:55you and I might
29:57might believe some days having a strong
29:58country is not just having a
30:01super effective military that's a
30:03component that's a big portion of it but
30:05there's got to be a economic engine
30:07behind it and I think what Joby is
30:10bringing to the table on the commercial
30:12side helps feed that economic engine of
30:14the country so you know I see nothing
30:16but Patriots around me and that makes me
30:19really happy.
30:20>> Okay everybody well that's Radiant
30:21Sciences a team that builds things that
30:23people said couldn't be built that to
30:25join a company now that flies things
30:27that people said couldn't fly so perfect
30:30combination big congrats to Mike and the
30:32entire Radiant Sciences team and to all
30:34the aerospace and defense fanboys and
30:36fangirls out there who will be following
30:38this every step of the way I know I will
30:41be if you're new here, though, Joby
30:43Recon is where we go deep on the people
30:45and the technology behind Joby Aviation.
30:48So, do the thing, subscribe so you don't
30:49miss the next one, and like the video.
30:51Thanks so much, everybody. We'll see you
30:53in the next video.

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