a16z VCs on when startups should copy SpaceX and Tesla's vertical integration playbook
a16z · x · 2026-10-30
On a16z's podcast around its annual American Dynamism 50 list (themed "Production is Deterrence"), partners Connor Love and Erin Price-Wright discuss lessons for startups from SpaceX and Tesla.
- Love argues very few modern companies have built anything at scale, and SpaceX/Tesla share one trait: extreme vertical integration.
- But he opposes integrating everything — it's only necessary for exquisite systems like missiles where you must control both precision and cost.
- Price-Wright notes both companies were first of their kind, with no US industrial base to support them, so they had to build it themselves.
- Other topics: mines-to-factories supply chains, how the internet and nuclear power were built, DJI's drone-led rise, and how defense dollars fund new factories.
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