The Defense Tech Startup YC Kicked Out of a Meeting is Now Arming America | E2280

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Today's show:

The US military is running low on missiles, but now, Firehawk Aerospace is using 3D-printed solid rocket propellant to cut production costs in half and 5x U.S. output.
Plus: PhD researcher Maruchi Kim just built camera-equipped earbuds that perform on par with Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and could be the next wearable AI platform hiding in plain sight.
Guests
Will Edwards: x.com/williewockets
Firehawk Aerospace: firehawkdefense.com
Maruchi Kim: x.com/maruchikim
VueBuds project: vuebuds.cs.washington.edu
Related Links
This Week in AI: thisweekinai.ai
"Ghost Murmur: The Heartbeat-Tracking Tech That Has Experts Questioning the Laws of Physics": military.com/feature/2026/04/18/ghost-murmur-h…
Neurometric: neurometric.ai
Meta Ray-Bans: meta.com/ai-glasses
Hanwha Defense USA: hanwhadefenseusa.com
Raytheon: rtx.com
Pilatus PC-24 corporate jet: pilatus-aircraft.com/en/pc-24
PlaneSense: planesense.com
Slopes app: slopesapp.com
Speechify: speechify.com
Electronic Frontier Foundation: eff.org
Timestamps:
0:00 Are all these layoffs really AI's fault?
8:51 Why laid off people should start their own companies
9:27 Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at northwestregisteredagent.com/twist
13:18 Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!
15:25 Will Edwards of Firehawk joins the show
15:46 What are Solid Rocket Motors (SRMs)?
20:06 Render: Find out why 5 million developers are already using the all-in-one cloud platform, Render. Go to render.com/twist and apply for the Render Startup Program to get $500-$100,000 in free credits, depending on your stage and backers.
23:10 Who are Firehawk's customers?
24:25 Reimagining and reinventing the US military
28:35 How do missiles fit into the military's operations?
29:34 Agree - Stop chasing invoices at agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!
31:01 What's next on the roadmap for Firehawk?
31:49 How to make propellant (with easy to find ingredients)
33:13 A cheaper way to fly private
38:03 Ro.co: Ro's insurance checker will let you know if your coverage includes GLP-1s for FREE. Go to Ro.co/Twist for your free insurance check.
40:48 Maruchi Kim of Vuebuds joins the show!
44:35 Why are VueBuds better than meta glasses?
46:23 The biggest VueBud use cases
48:09 Jason wants to use VueBuds on the slopes
55:38 Jason's advice for angel investors: never underestimate anyone!
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