Saronic CEO: Pay attention to the power grid
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Dino Mavrookas, the chief executive at drone-boat maker Saronic, is "very concerned about the fragile nature of our power grid."
- "I think if we lose electricity for more than 24 hours nationwide, chaos would break out," he told Axios when asked about potential national-security threats.
- "If you're talking about more than 24 hours, you're talking about: People don't have access to money; you don't have access to groceries, basic essentials, food and water," he said.
- "Our entire life is digital."
Why he matters: Mavrookas started his career in the U.S. Navy and spent years with SEAL Team Six. He has finance and investing experience, as well.
- The Navy in December revealed a $392 million deal with his company.
Q: When you hear "future of defense," what comes to mind?
A: Autonomy. It's really manned and unmanned teaming. And it's: How do you use AI, across multiple systems, to increase the efficiency of people on the battlefield and keep people safe?
Q: When will wars be waged solely by robots?
A: I don't think ever, and here's why.
- At the end of the day, for somebody to win a conflict, you have to stand on a territory and occupy land. If China is going to invade Taiwan, whether they do that 100% with robots or not, eventually they're going to have to occupy that territory, assuming victory.
- So at some point in time, people are going to have to be involved. The question is: When are people involved?
Q: How many emails do you get a day, and how do you deal with them?
A: I probably get 300-400 emails a day. I deal with them through aggressive deletion and a wildly complex foldering process.
- I sort all of my emails, and I literally work toward zero inbox. I very rarely get there, but that's my goal.
Q: What time do you wake up? What does the morning routine look like?
A: When I'm home in Austin, I'm up every morning at 5:45 — waking my kids up, making them breakfast. Then I'll get a quick workout in. My wife actually got me a cold plunge. So I start every morning with a cold plunge. I'll do an hourlong workout, and then I'm in the office by 8, 8:30.
Q: What advice would you give your younger self?
A: Stress less, especially with big swings.
- There's a healthy amount of anxiety, and then there are unhealthy amounts of anxiety.
- It took me a long time to realize that good decisions don't always have good outcomes, and bad decisions don't always have bad outcomes. So make the right decisions, work as hard as you can — but at the end of the day, be willing to live with the outcomes.
