How do you think the Air Force inspects nuclear missile silos? A cool green laser, or maybe some infrared goggles?
Well, until recently, they did it like this:
“…Joe on a rope with a hammer, he was listening to the sound that the silos made when he hit it.”
That’s Jake Loosararian, Founder & CEO of Gecko Robotics. At the All-In Summit, Jake tells the story of how Gecko Robotics went from his dorm room to managing over 500,000 pieces of infrastructure around the world.
Founding Gecko Robotics
Jake started building robots in his dorm room. In 2016, he founded Gecko Robotics.
For 3 years, he bootstrapped the company. He spent every penny he had and slept on his friend’s floor to save on rent.
Not many founders care this much about what they’re doing. When you meet one that does, you want to give him money and get out of his way!
That’s exactly what Y Combinator did. Today, Gecko is valued at $600 million.
Investors worried that hardware would be difficult to scale and capital intensive. But as the robots came together, they provided a moat against competition. No one else had the data those robots could provide.
Fixing the Built World
Gecko’s robots specialize in inspecting infrastructure. Jake’s robots crawl over oil tanks and fly under bridges, looking for defects.
Jake’s robots can walk, climb, fly or swim anywhere. Wherever they go, they gather data.
Then, Gecko’s software crunches those numbers to determine what maintenance is needed and when.
Sending humans to inspect infrastructure is dangerous. This is a job best left to the bots.
Defending America
Some of the most exciting applications for Gecko are in defense. The military has untold billions of dollars worth of assets, many of them aging and desperately in need of maintenance.
The procedures before Gecko were laughable.
Men laying on skateboards inspected ships for corrosion. A man with a hammer checked our nuclear missile silos.
How did we ever allow things to get so messed up?
Today, Jake’s robots are inspecting these silos and ships. There will be countless more defense applications, from tanks to aircraft.
In order to defend ourselves, our equipment has to be in ship shape. Jake’s robots are making sure we’re ready at all times.
What Else Can These Robots Do?
The port strike seems to be resolved — for now. But we’re vulnerable to another strike at any time. And our ports remain way behind the rest of the world, totally reliant on human labor.
I’d love to see these robots unleashed on the ports. They could inspect infrastructure to make sure it’s working properly. Perhaps they could even move cargo.
Jake confirms that Gecko’s robots could be used in ports, and I’m excited to see it happen!
Wrap-Up
As an investor, Jake is exactly the kind of founder I want to back. He cares so much about what he’s doing that he was willing to live on next to nothing for years to make it happen.
I hope to see Gecko’s robots everywhere in the future, making sure our towns are safe and our military is ready for anything.
What did you think of Jake’s talk?
Have a great weekend, everybody!
More on tech:
How to End the Port Strike
From $50 Million to $50 Billion: Thomas Laffont at the All-In Summit
Talking Investment Red Flags on the Mr. Bray Labs Podcast
Save Money on Stuff I Use:
This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 with great returns.
More on Fundrise in this post.
If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get $100 in free bonus shares!
I’ve used Misfits for years, and it never disappoints! Every fruit and vegetable is organic, super fresh, and packed with flavor!
I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.
Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $15 on your first order. 
Tremendous 
Leave a comment