Nic Radford is the Co-Founder & CEO of Persona AI (Houston, TX) and former Founder/CEO of Nauticus Robotics (NASDAQ: KITT) & Lead of NASA’s Robonaut 2 and Valkyrie humanoid programs.
With nearly 30 years of experience building humanoid robotics (from human-rated space manipulation at NASA Johnson Space Center to subsea autonomous robots) Nic brings a veteran, unfiltered perspective to the commercial humanoid market.
Together with Co-Founders Dr. Jerry Pratt (CTO, ex-IHMC & Figure AI) and Jide Akinyode (COO, ex-NASA & Nauticus), Persona AI is building modular industrial humanoids for heavy, labor-constrained industries. Rather than chasing general-purpose home helpers or $15/hr warehouse sorting, Persona targets skilled industrial trades—starting with autonomous welding humanoids for shipbuilding in partnership with HD Hyundai and POSCO.
Persona AI: https://persona.ai/
Nic on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolaus-radford/
Ilir on X: https://x.com/IlirAliu_
Ilir on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilir-aliu/
Timestamps:
0:00 Why the commercial humanoid robotics market has it completely wrong
3:17 Growing up in rural Indiana & fixing mechanics out of necessity
5:31 Decathlon, severe arthritis & learning "tenacity squared" as a founder
8:16 CB radios, 286/386 PCs, and entering the early Internet at Purdue
12:35 The 2000 Wired cover that sparked a 30-year humanoid obsession
15:23 Getting lost at NASA JSC and stumbling upon Robonaut 1
23:18 Camping in the Texas desert: Building amateur rockets during the early SpaceX era
25:25 Why networking is the lifeblood of deep tech partnerships
28:00 Storytelling for VCs: Why presentation skills are learned, not innate
30:50 From 15 years at NASA (Robonaut 2 & Valkyrie) to becoming an entrepreneur
35:47 Taking space tech underwater: Building Aquanaut & taking Nauticus public on NASDAQ
36:41 Partnering with Jerry Pratt to start Persona AI
37:36 Why general-purpose "Me-Too" robots face an ROI dead end
38:37 Targeting skilled trades: Why shipbuilding and heavy industry need humanoid welders
41:46 GM assembly lines & the brutal reality of automotive cycle times
44:42 The home humanoid myth: "Can we all just stop this? There is zero ROI."
48:34 First-time founders vs. Veteran founders: Tech obsession vs. Cash flow & GTM
49:50 Raising a $42M pre-seed & closing a $100M+ seed round
51:20 Delivering humanoid welders to HD Hyundai in 24 months
52:35 "Look what we built in 90 days": Calling out fake startup timelines
