Hard Tech and Physical AI Take Center Stage at StrictlyVC Los Angeles
Table of Contents
The Shift Toward ‘Hard Tech’
For years, the venture capital playbook in Silicon Valley and Los Angeles has been dominated by the scalability of software-as-a-service (SaaS) and digital platforms. However, a visible pivot is occurring. On June 18, the StrictlyVC Los Angeles event will convene at The Aerospace Corporation Campus in El Segundo—a location that is itself a signal of the event’s focus on the intersection of national security and advanced engineering.
The gathering comes at a time when ‘hard tech’—companies building tangible, physical products to solve complex problems—is seeing a resurgence in investor interest. Unlike the lean, rapid-iteration cycles of app development, hard tech requires significant upfront capital and a tolerance for longer development timelines, particularly when dealing with the regulatory and procurement hurdles of the defense sector.
Defense Innovation and Autonomy
Leading the conversation on this shift is Ethan Thornton, founder of Mach Industries. Thornton is expected to dive into the mechanics of scaling a hard tech company within the current defense landscape. The core of his session, “Built for a New Era of Defense Technology,” will likely address how autonomy and additive manufacturing are disrupting traditional defense contracting, which has historically been dominated by a few massive prime contractors.
The goal for founders like Thornton is to move faster than the typical government procurement cycle. By integrating AI-driven autonomy into physical hardware, new defense startups are attempting to provide the U.S. military with asymmetric capabilities that can be deployed in weeks rather than decades.
Moving AI Beyond the Screen
While generative AI has captured the public imagination through chatbots and image generators, a separate, more industrial movement known as ‘Physical AI’ is gaining momentum. This is the primary focus of the session featuring Delian Asparouhov of Founders Fund and Saif Khawaja of Shinkei Systems.
The discussion will center on the transition of AI from a digital assistant to a physical operator. This involves the complex orchestration of robotics and automation—essentially giving AI ‘bodies’ to interact with the material world. For venture firms like Founders Fund, which has a long history of backing contrarian and ambitious moonshots, the opportunity lies in how these technologies can automate labor-intensive industries, from warehousing to precision manufacturing.
The New Venture Filter
As the initial hype surrounding LLMs (Large Language Models) begins to stabilize, venture capitalists are refining their criteria for what constitutes a sustainable business. Carter Reum, co-founder and partner at M13, will address this evolution in his session, “Finding the Next Big Thing.”
The prevailing sentiment among top-tier investors is a move away from ‘wrapper’ companies—startups that merely provide a thin interface over existing AI models—toward companies with durable moats and proprietary data. Reum’s analysis will likely focus on identifying the ‘durability’ of AI-integrated companies: those that use artificial intelligence to solve a fundamental industrial or business inefficiency rather than those simply riding a trend.
The choice of El Segundo as the venue underscores the growing influence of the ‘Aerospace Corridor’ in Southern California, where the proximity to Space Force, SpaceX, and various defense agencies creates a unique ecosystem for the types of high-stakes innovation being discussed at StrictlyVC.
