Jakob Diepenbrock is running a hard-tech fund from El Segundo, backing young engineers building defense, manufacturing, robotics, energy, and other critical industries. He joins Lukas and Saila to explain how he skipped the credential ladder, built Discipulus Ventures, raised a fund by treating the process like a startup launch, and why Anduril’s breakout made defense tech the allocation everyone suddenly wanted.
They also discuss cost-plus military contracts, drones versus soldiers, DJI’s domination of creator hardware, automated American textile factories, why humanoid robots are TikTok bait, insectoid factory machines, American-made peptides, ethanol and farm lobbies, machine financing at 30%, the tacit knowledge trapped in aging machinists, lowballing retiring boomers for obscure industrial monopolies, founder bench-press requirements, a Vegas magician who broke reality, CIA remote viewing, UFOs as Space Force marketing, medical isotope enrichment, Russian shell companies, and Germany’s reverse house-flipping bureaucracy.
Sponsored by:
Polymarket: https://polymarket.com
Zcash: https://z.cash
CitizenX: https://citizenx.com
Passage Press: https://passage.press
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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/plausibly-deniable/id1866452505
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X: https://x.com/PD_EXP
Jakob Diepenbrock: https://x.com/jakobdiepen
Discipulus Ventures: https://www.discipulusventures.com
Discipulus Cohort: https://www.discipulusventures.com/cohort
Lukas: https://x.com/SCHIZO_FREQ
Saila: https://x.com/sailaunderscore
Contact: plausiblydeniableshow@gmail.com
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro and Sponsors
01:25 The Substack Payment Processor Is Finally Fixed
05:00 Turning the Podcast Into a Call to Action
07:08 Meet Jakob / Long-Distance Running Is Adult Self-Harm
09:19 El Segundo, Chamath, and the Defense-Tech Wave
11:17 Why Hard Tech Belongs in El Segundo
14:40 Starting a Fund Without Credentials
17:29 Venture Capital Is Crappy Beta
19:23 Raising a Fund Like a Startup
22:46 The 22-Year-Old Fund Manager Problem
24:36 Why Defense Tech Suddenly Became Cool
27:27 Elon, DOGE, and the $20 Million Missile
29:05 How Cost-Plus Contracting Broke Defense
30:00 The Defense Industry Is Smaller Than You Think
32:19 Political Risk for Government Contractors
35:17 Robotics Is the Next Bubble
36:29 Reindustrialization and the American-Made Premium
40:00 DJI, Drones, and the Captured Creator Economy
42:03 “Reindustrialized” Sweaters Made in China
43:47 Automated American Textiles
47:59 Humanoid Robots Are Boomer Bait
50:51 Insect Robots, Chemicals, and Ethanol
54:58 RFK’s Fitness Camps and American-Made Peptides
57:11 Bioreactors and Cheaper Drug Manufacturing
58:23 Lowballing Boomers for Strategic Companies
1:03:51 America Runs on Three Old Guys and a Notebook
1:08:37 Grants, Tariffs, and Supply-Chain Sovereignty
1:12:38 Wire Harnesses and 30% Machine Financing
1:17:08 El Segundo Culture and the Founder Bench Test
1:21:48 The Vegas Magician Who Broke Reality
1:24:49 CIA Remote Viewing, UFOs, and Space Force
1:28:33 Medical Isotopes and Russian Shell Companies
1:31:05 Germany’s Reverse House-Flipping Program
1:33:20 Mandatory Call to Action
