10 Founders. 1 House. 1 Chef. This Is How Hard Tech Gets Built | Global Alts Miami 2026

Описание: Phil Hellmuth Jr., the winningest poker player of all time, interviews 22-year-old Jakob Diepenbrock, GP of Discipulus Ventures, a hard tech fund that's already 4x on its first fund.

Based in El Segundo (the most concentrated hard tech hub in the world), Discipulus runs a unique model: 10 founders per cohort, living together in a house with a chef, building companies in aerospace, defense, mining, and manufacturing.

From Durin Mining (autonomous drill rigs) to Anew Technology (long-range defense lasers, up 40x from entry), this conversation covers how a 22-year-old is beating billion-dollar funds to the best deals — and why El Segundo is the new Silicon Valley for atoms, not bits.

Key topics:
• 22 years old, second fund, first fund already 4x
• The cohort model: 10 founders living together
• El Segundo: highest density of machine shops in the US
• "SpaceX pays 1/3 of Blue Origin. Gets the best engineers."
• Portfolio highlight: Anew Technology — in at $2.5M, now raised $30M round
• Durin Mining: autonomous drill rigs, up ~20x
• The "valley of death" for defense startups
• Why young engineers want to build for the country, not chatbots

Speakers:
• Jakob Diepenbrock, GP, Discipulus Ventures
• Phil Hellmuth Jr., The Winningest Poker Player of All Time; Investor

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction — El Segundo and hard tech
1:05 "Jakob's only 22. This is his second fund. First fund is 4x."
2:39 Phil investing $500K in Discipulus
2:59 Why El Segundo? WWII manufacturing hub, SpaceX, Anduril
4:31 The cohort model explained
5:16 "We can set our own price — this is our unique product"
7:18 "Founders are lonely. They need support."
8:08 Phil's founder summit idea
9:57 "SpaceX pays 1/3 of Blue Origin. Gets the best engineers."
12:13 Fund II structure: $30M, 5 cohorts, 50 companies
13:49 Durin Mining: autonomous drill rigs, up ~20x
17:10 Anew Technology: defense lasers, in at $2.5M, up 40x
18:02 The hardware investor "cabal" — demo days
22:29 Valley of death for defense startups
25:18 Why selling to primes beats selling to DoD directly
27:46 Future focus: autonomous textile & shoe manufacturing
29:00 "I feel very confident for the future of America"

Recorded at Global Alts Miami 2026 | Presented by iConnections

#hardtech #venturecapital #elsegundo #defense #aerospace #manufacturing #spacex #anduril #startups #founders #discipulus #philhellmuth #iconnections #globalaltsmiamai--
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