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Proto-Town Is The New Hard-Tech Mecca
Watch your head // Illustration by Kate Walker
A campus in Texas called Proto-Town is becoming the go-to mecca for startups seeking the freedom, flexibility, and space to test cutting-edge (and potentially dangerous) inventions.
The Big Picture: While California’s Bay Area is where software reigns supreme, a growing number of tech companies in aerospace, energy, robotics, and other “hard tech” sectors are heading to Texas, where there are fewer regulations. Proto-Town could become ground zero for a sequel to Silicon Valley.
Between The Camps: Founded by 20-somethings Josh Farahzad and Merle Nye — along with Texas politician John Cyrier — Proto-Town is attracting startups from across the country.
Situated outside of Austin, The WSJ describes Proto-Town as a 1,200-acre campus made up of “a ranch-style house surrounded by trailer parks, a robotics facility, and a drone-building site.”
Entrepreneurs and employees live in the trailer parks (dubbed “man camps”), share meals as a group, and work on projects throughout the day. Larger companies pay a lease to use the land, while early-stage founders only have to cover room and board.
About a dozen companies are based on the grounds, including nuclear startup Oklo (which plans to build a test reactor there) and Bedrock Robotics (which is building autonomous construction machinery).
The town itself has a valuation of $100 million, with backing from blue-chip investors like Thrive Capital founder Josh Kushner and Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam.
Final Plans: The WSJ says that getting the opportunity to join Proto-Town is “a bit like rushing a fraternity.” Startups go through a trial period before the town’s leadership decides if they’re a good fit for the community… which involves embracing the mentality of building what they call the “American Shenzhen.” (Shenzhen is a city in China known for its manufacturing might.)
Seems like VC Marc Andreessen’s 2020 screed, “It’s Time to Build,” may be Proto-Town’s constitution.
The Future: In a best-case scenario, Proto-Town could be this generation’s answer to Bell Labs — a hotbed of R&D that laid the foundation for much of the technology we use today.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.