How I Invest with David Weisburd
E160: How a SpaceX Rocket Engineer Became a Top Deep Tech VC
Fri, 02 May 2025
Jamie Gull is the GP/Founder of Wave Function Ventures, a deep tech seed fund, and an engineer turned investor who previously worked at SpaceX during its early, intense years of scaling. In this episode, Jamie and I discuss the high-responsibility culture at SpaceX, how it shaped Jamie’s approach to company building and investing, and what makes a deep tech founder stand out. We also explore why fast iteration matters more than perfect planning, how techno-economics drive investment decisions, and why deep tech’s reputation for being overly capital-intensive is becoming outdated. Jamie shares firsthand stories from his time working under Elon Musk, his angel investments in companies like Boom Supersonic and K2 Space, and the founding principles behind Wave Function Ventures. If you're interested in the future of deep tech investing, how to identify category-defining founders, or how hardware startups can scale efficiently, this is a must-listen.
Chapter 1: What was it like working at SpaceX in its early years?
And then I was a two-time deep tech founder myself. I started a space deployables company and then an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft company. Went through Y Accommodator, raised money. I got eight government contracts with the Air Force. And then we got acquired by a company in LA called Amp Air in 2023.
So I've been through that ringer on the founder side, been through that ringer on the engineer side. So I can bring a pretty unique lens to the investing landscape, both through assessing companies, but then also once I make an investment, actually helping them.
You have a pretty strong view on business founders solving technical problems or MBA going after technical problems. Why is it such an issue for an MBA to go after a technical problem, assuming that they could partner with the right chief technical officer?
I don't love seeing an MBA run a deep tech company without a very high bar and some other things being in place, not just a technical co-founder. And one of the reasons there is in deep tech, if you look at software, you're like, okay, I'm solving this problem for a customer that I can understand really well, and somebody can build that software. I know they can do it.
It's just a matter of how fast, how efficiently, and how good will the software be. In deep tech, there's a bigger question of can it be built? Can it work? And can you do it with the right economic impact for your customers? And not understanding that deeply from a technical perspective makes it much harder to navigate the business side, the pitching side of a company as a CEO.
So you've really got to have that understanding because especially in the early days, you're changing things on the fly. You're talking to customers. If you don't understand that from a deep technical perspective, how can you talk to a customer and say, here's what I can actually deliver for you
Now that I've heard what your pain points and needs are, if you're an MBA, you've got to go back to your CTO and say, here's what they need. Then they have to do a bunch of research and then you've got to go back and forth. So it just rapidly slows you down as you go through the IDMAs and you're finding product market fit. So it's a tough sell for me to have a non-technical.
You can't disintermediate the selling from the technical consultation. It becomes something that one person needs to be handling and one person leading the company.
At later stages, I think it's totally reasonable to decouple that. But at early stages, it's a huge hindrance. It can be done, but it's going to slow you down. It's going to cost more. And early stage startups, it's all about speed of execution. And so you're basically handicapping yourself.
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Chapter 2: What is a responsible engineer?
So you go up to your two higher ups, they can't decide. So it's a stalemate. So it goes up to another two people. Essentially the top people are only focused on decisions that are non-obvious, non-consensus.
The question is like, if you're on a stalemate, it's always like, why haven't you escalated it yet? And you can just write up. And I've tried to talk to friends who would be like, at other companies, who are like, I'm having this big problem. Have you escalated yet? You can't do that here.
We're both investors in a company, Varda, started by Delian from Founders Fund. Tell me about Varda. What was your thesis when you invested? And tell me about the company today.
Varda is an interesting one for me. I met Brewie, the CEO, when the company was an idea. I helped him with his first pitch deck. Um, and then wasn't really deploying. Uh, so I didn't, didn't invest. I didn't ask to invest, but I've stayed in touch. And then, you know, a round or two later, I was like, I know I'm a small check, but can I get in now?
Because like, I love what you guys, like how fast you're moving, executing, um, and the capability that you're bringing online. Uh, so it's definitely exciting. I mean, that's an excellent team. and there's a lot of former SpaceXers there. It's the same culture. It's hard charging, high responsibility.
Function Ventures. What would you like the audience to know about you, about Wave Function Ventures, or anything else you'd like to share?
My favorite time to get involved is before the pitch deck is even polished, before the idea is polished, because I've been through that process. I've helped other founders through that process. It lets me help the founder shape the story and kind of dig into the company process is a potential investor in a different way rather than just seeing what is then a polished pitch deck.
So I'd love to talk to founders when it's just an idea. and help them through that. And then I can decide from there if it's an investment or not.
And they may love what you're building. Thanks for jumping on the podcast. Look forward to sitting down soon.
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