Humanoid Military Robots and other crazy billion dollar ideas
November 11, 2024
AI Summary
5 min readHumanoid Military Robots and Other Crazy Billion Dollar Ideas
John Coogan came on the podcast with ideas that sit at the edge of plausible — the kind where you either build a billion-dollar business or light a billion dollars of other people's money on fire. The conversation covered four distinct concepts, each at a different stage of feasibility, but all sharing a willingness to think past the usual startup playbook.
Cybersecurity for AI Companies
The first idea flips the typical AI-in-cybersecurity script. Most people are thinking about how to use AI to improve security products — automating incident response, blocking brute force attacks without waking up a developer at 2 AM. Coogan's angle is the reverse: build a cybersecurity firm specifically designed to protect AI companies themselves.
The core insight is that large language model weights are becoming the most valuable digital assets in the world, rivaled only by Bitcoin. OpenAI reportedly spent around $500 million training GPT-4. Those weights — essentially numbers in a file — can be stolen and run anywhere. Unlike stealing Facebook's codebase, which is useless without the user network, stolen model weights let you run the AI yourself without paying OpenAI or Anthropic.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:25) **Cybersecurity for AI Companies** - John pitches a firm that secures the weights of large language models, the most valuable digital assets after crypto.
- 2 (11:42) **The Moon Shot: Colonizing the Moon** - John argues the moon is a more practical first step than Mars for space colonization.
- 3 (21:40) **The Kids' Phone: A Counterpositioned Gadget** - A deliberately limited, fun device for children that avoids the dopamine-fueled apps of a smartphone.
- 4 (36:02) **Humanoid Military Robots** - John predicts a startup will soon demo a humanoid robot armed with a rifle, going massively viral and raising huge capital.
- 5 Standout Quotes
- 6 (00:11) "These moon shot companies, like it's either gonna be like a billion dollar business or you're gonna have literally lit a billion dollars of other people's money on fire."
- 7 (08:20) "You get paid today for something that might not happen tomorrow. That's great." - Greg, quoting Warren Buffett on the insurance business.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Join us for an engaging conversation with John Coogan, Entrepreneur in Residence at Founders Fund, as we explore a wide range of moonshot ideas from Cybersecurity to moon Colonization to humanoid military robots
Episode Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:57 Startup Idea 1: Cybersecurity for AI companies
11:37 Startup Idea 2: Moon-focused space startup
21:33 Startup Idea 3: Kid-friendly smartphone alternative
36:02 Startup Idea 4: Humanoid military robots
1) Cybersecurity for AI companies
• AI models = new high-value digital assets
• Estimated $500M to train GPT-4
• Potential for theft/espionage
• Opportunity: Build Fort Knox-level security for AI weights
• Think Chainalysis, but for AI
2) Moon-focused space startup
• SpaceX focused on Mars, opportunity on the Moon
• Easier access, always visible from Earth
• Ideas: Moon tourism, mining, asset placement
• Leverage SpaceX's falling launch costs
• Be the "Varda" or "Planet Labs" of the Moon
3) Kid-friendly smartphone alternative
• Parents want device control, kids need connectivity
• Opportunity: Build ruggedized, fun, limited-feature phone
• No addictive apps, basic communication + learning tools
• Counter-position against Apple's sleek designs
• Target millennial parents via Instagram ads\
4) Humanoid military robots
• Combine trends: AI, robotics, defense tech
• Controversial but attention-grabbing
• Potential uses: Tele-operated missions, security
• Ethical concerns, but tech seems inevitable
• Opportunity to lead in emerging field
Want more free ideas? I collect the best ideas from the pod and give them to you for free in a database. Most of them cost $0 to start (my fav)
Get access: https://www.gregisenberg.com/30startupideas
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Startup Empire - a membership for builders who want to build cash-flowing businesses https://www.startupempire.co/
Stop Building Websites That Look Good But Don’t Sell: https://www.designscientist.com/design-store?b=https://www.designscientist.com/
FIND ME ON SOCIAL
X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg
Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/
FIND JOHN ON SOCIAL
John’s Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/2L6WMqY3GUPCGBD0dX6p00?si=7TdH3TuJQWmsTt53e9s7Rg&nd=1&dlsi=ab2bcd252c4847cc
X/Twitter: https://x.com/johncoogan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacoogan/
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