The Drone Company Everyone Thought Was Illegal (now Worth $4b+) | E2265

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Today’s show:


Zipline founder Keller Cliffton started his company with a simple premise: build automated logistics that serve everyone equally. The only problem? It was literally illegal in the US.

In this live recording from LaunchFest in San Francisco, Keller shares how Zipline went from a 20-person team working on a cow farm in Rwanda to operating the largest commercial autonomous system on Earth.

They now complete 130 million autonomous miles with zero accidents, while reducing maternal mortality by 51% in the regions they serve.

PLUS we’ve got Rahul Vohra from Superhuman taking us through his entire founder journey, and discussing with Jason why “difficult” founders are often the smartest investments.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

0:29 Keller Cliffton starts off the show

2:18 Starting Zipline in Africa

7:53 The magic of sky maps

10:04 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

13:08 Building the drone was just the beginning

14:24 Making a huge difference in maternal mortality

20:15 Circle - The easiest way to build a home for your community, events, and courses — all under your own brand. TWiST listeners get $1,000 off the Circle Plus Plan by going to https://circle.so/twist.

23:01 The threats of Little Evil Jimmy and dogs

28:50 The shift from Rwanda to Dallas

30:29 Netsuite - Get the free business guide Demystifying AI at https://www.netsuite.com/twist

31:41 The moral clarity of the mission

40:30 The challenge of staying focused

45:56 Rahul Vohra of Superhuman joins Jason

48:53 Building Rapportive in Cambridge

51:01 Scaling to millions of users via APIs

1:10:59 How getting acquired made Rahul fearless

1:11:44 The boldness of taking on Gmail

1:21:25 Making everyone pay for the product

1:30:37 Inside the Grammarly-Superhuman deal

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