Abundant Energy, From the Earth to the Asteroid Belt
Investing in Antares
When I sat down for coffee with Jordan Bramble seven months ago, I thought we were just catching up as friends. I had just written an article on Public Success and Jordan had reached out since he had also recently become a father. I was looking forward to hearing about how fatherhood impacted how he thought about work.
It turns out it had impacted both of us even more than the question of “How can I be great at work while also being great at home?” We both were thinking more deeply about the future our children were going to live in. Would it be one that was brighter and more prosperous and abundant than today or one that was significantly worse off?
Nuclear energy is one of the most beneficial technologies humanity has ever created, yet one we’ve refused to harness to its true potential. You can read Julia DeWahl's piece on the past, present, and future of nuclear energy for more details, but the TL;DR is by choosing nuclear:
We can reject de-growth, we can reject economic regression, and we can reject energy poverty.
We can choose growth, progress, and energy abundance for all while maintaining a thriving planet.
We’re still keeping many of the details about the company under wraps for now, but when Jordan told me his vision for a nuclear energy company that would help power our country and the free world for decades into the future,1 I knew we had to make an investment even though he didn’t have anything built yet, not a team or even a deck.
Jordan is a mission-driven visionary who fits the characteristics I’ve outlined as personal founder favorites in previous articles like The Gigascale Founder and Founders of Paradox:
First-principles thinker
Builder at heart
Idea-generative and curious
Chip on their shoulder, previous swings haven’t been home runs2
Solving big problems on a multi-decade timescale
Building full-stack solutions, not wedge products
Right-tail of the bell curve
Hyper-ambitious, but hyper-realistic
Pioneers, not experts
Jordan is a checkmark on every one of these traits. I don’t think you need to be a 9/9 to be great, but it’s likely you will be if you are. And everything we’ve seen since we made the investment has backed this up: he’s brought on the aforementioned Julia DeWahl (!!!) as Co-Founder and President, hired a stellar team, and raised follow-on seed funding led by Caffeinated Capital.
In some ways, I think the job of an early-stage investor is simple: will this be one of the most important companies of the year? Don’t invest unless the answer is yes. This job is a power-law business.
There are no certainties in life or for the future, but I believe Antares has the elements that could make it one of the most important companies of the 21st century, not just this year. That’s why I’m proud we were the first believers and led the pre-seed for the company. It’s an honor and we’re grateful to be along for the ride.
If you want to read more about Antares, look out for Jordan and Julia’s posts on LinkedIn and Twitter as they come out today. Open jobs are posted here - feel free to email me if you’d like to have your application prioritized.
If you’re building a company that will resonate for decades and would like to partner with someone who believes the dream with you, email at pratyush [at] susaventures [dot] com
And how to realistically commercialize it, starting with military and warfighting applications.
Jordan’s previous company is doing really well and led by an awesome team, but still early in its trajectory when Jordan founded Antares