How I Invest with David Weisburd · Oct 7, 2026 · 57m · 42m saved
With Ethan Thornton, Founder and CEO of Mach Industries
Mach Industries started 2026 valued at $470 million and is now at $3.7 billion, its founder said. Ethan Thornton started the company at 18 after leaving MIT.
Defense contractors have spent decades paid on cost-plus contracts, which cover their costs plus a margin. Thornton said that design rewards spending, and that the US can no longer outmanufacture China, so it has to build cheaper weapons that let it "punch above our weight class".
"Cost plus contracting is another form of socialism, And that's as clear as I can put it." — Ethan Thornton
Ethan Thornton, Founder and CEO of Mach Industries, on How I Invest with David Weisburd, had patented many of his designs before he arrived at MIT. Mach sells jet engines and solid rocket motors and builds drones and missiles.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 57 minutes of audio, 15 minutes of reading.
Here are the 14 calls that matter.
Key Takeaways
The deep strike is now the most important part of the Russia-Ukraine war, Thornton said, more than the front line
A drone costing $20,000 can shut down a refinery for a year
Cost-plus contracting rewards defense companies for spending more, and Thornton called it "another form of socialism"
Mach prototyped about 20 different products before it narrowed its focus, because it did not know what the Pentagon would buy
The Pentagon has gotten faster, more objective and more collaborative, and now asks companies what they want to build
If China invades Taiwan, Thornton expects TSMC to be destroyed, cutting both the US and China off from advanced chips
The best path to deterrence is arming allies with drones so they can defend themselves, Thornton said
Mach's valuation went from $470 million to $3.7 billion this year
Thornton does not treat Anduril as a rival, because the government will never allow a defense monopoly
A CEO's job is to set the direction and pick trusted people, not to make every decision, and Thornton owns about 1/450th of the company's output
1. Lessons From Ukraine
The host asked what the Ukraine war teaches about modern warfare. Thornton gave two answers: people fighting for their rights can hold out for years against a larger power, and the war proves how much military technology can tilt a fight.
Asymmetry is wherever technology is moving fastest
"The thing about asymmetric warfare is that it's always changing around power law technologies." — Ethan Thornton
Early in the war, Ukraine's edge was adopting Western Stinger and Javelin missiles well. Thornton said Ukraine does not have better engineering or more industrial capacity. It out-innovates.
"And because of that, they're able to punch significantly above their weight class." — Ethan Thornton
He pointed to Mach's own product line. The stratosphere is "incredibly asymmetric", he said, and hypersonic weapons will be at scale. Right now the edge is deep strike: Ukraine hitting Russian infrastructure far behind the front.
"Now the Russians are doing it right back. And so that's really the scary stage of the fight." — Ethan Thornton
