The Hermeus Podcast: Recent Episodes
Hermeus
Get to know Hermeus and the future of hypersonic aircraft travel. Hermeus is a startup developing hypersonic aircraft to connect the world faster than ever before. At Mach 5, more than twice the speed of the supersonic Concorde, passengers will be able to cross the Atlantic in 90 minutes.
Test pilot Art "Turbo" Tomassetti was one of only a handful of pilots to fly the X-35 – which was of course, the precursor to the F-35. Famously, he flew "Mission X" which consisted of a short takeoff, level supersonic flight, and a vertical landing, which had not been accomplished before in a single flight. Turbo shares this story and more with members of the Hermeus Flight Test team.00:00 – Introductions02:47 – Difference between test pilots and pilots08:17 – The allure of X-planes and first flights14:49 – The F-35 "Hat Trick" and "Mission X" flights 22:36 – Preparation for a flight test mission30:00 – The X-35 vs the X-3234:37 – The challenges Hermeus is tackling39:04 – Autonomous flight and pilots 43:58 – What is an aircraft you wished you has flown?48:43 – Turbo, what are you up to today?
The Hermeus Flight Test team hops on the podcast to judge, drool over, and poke fun at famous aircraft. We've got an Air Force test pilot, a Navy test pilot, and a flight test engineer from the Royal Air Force – their knowledge runs deep and their opinions are strong!PODCAST GUESTSAJ Piplica – Founder, CEODon "Krash" Kaderbek – VP of TestPat "Vanna" Svatek – Director of Propulsion TestMick "Ramjet" Mansfield – Director of Flight TestThe Flight Test team is hiring! https://www.hermeus.com/careers
Real Engineering is probably our favorite channel on YouTube. They unpack some of the world's most epic engineering challenges with clarity and depth. It was a pleasure to have the channel's creator Brian McManus and his colleague Graham Haerther on the podcast to chat about the art of science communication and the future of YouTube and digital media. And yes, there just might be a forthcoming Real Engineering video about hypersonic flight...
From Skunk Works, Blue Origin, and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency – our board of advisors create a dream team of aerospace wisdom. In this episode we're joined by members of our Board of Advisors to chat about the Hermeus early days and the progress we've made.
Rob Meyerson, Rob Weiss, and Keith Masback were some of Hermeus earliest supporters. They bring together a wealth of knowledge from the aerospace world and we are privileged to have them as our advisors.
Thrilled to host special guest John Coogan on the podcast. John's working on a video about us and took an hour to hop on the pod to chat about running startups, starting a YouTube Channel, and of course, fast airplanes!
00:04 – President for a day? Bring back the SR-71 01:47 – Technical recruiting in the early days of a startup 02:50 – John's background: Soylent and Lucy 06:40 – Lessons learned from building two companies 10:18 – Defense Tech and Founders Fund 15:15 – Is there a key indicator for startup success? 17:44 – Authenticity, communications, brand, and social media 28:02 – Different types of "risks" in venture-backed startups 36:55 – Skunk Works – what made them so special? 41:54 – John's impressions of Hermeus
Lieutenant General Clint Hinote's 35-year career in the Air Force has taken him from inside the cockpit of an F-117 to inside the Pentagon. He has most recently been focused on how to best leverage innovative technology to fortify national security. Freshly retired, we were honored to have him join us for a chat about how startups and the Department of Defense can better work together.
00:51 – Lt. Gen. Clint “Q” Hinote introduction 09:14 – The Future Force 17:11 – What startups wanting to work with the DoD should know 27:23 – Relationship with Venture Capital, entrepreneurs, and the DoD 29:27 – How can the DoD signal to Venture Capital what they need? 38:25 – aligning timelines between the startup, the VCs, and the customer 41:27 – Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution 44:33 – The Defense Department is not a market, it’s a customer 47:37 – Building relationships and trust while working with the government 50:12 – Learning, iterating, risk-taking 54:55 – NASA getting contracting right with COTS program 01:07:18 – Balancing what we’re asking the military to do now and what we’re asking them to do in the future 01:11:07 – “Purple thinking”: branches of the military working together
Oh do we have a treat for you! We're joined by a couple hypersonic "influencers", Dr. Chris Combs of the University of Texas at San Antonio and Alex Hollings, the Editor in Chief of Sandboxx News, for a thrilling, engaging, and occasionally controversial conversation about the state of hypersonics in the world today. 00:00 - Intros03:06 - What is hypersonics? What is hype and what is reality?08:58 - Hypersonic planes vs hypersonic weapons13:07 - What are the most interesting problems in hypersonics?18:50 - Airplanes are objectively cool 22:00 - Airplane development timelines24:57 - Testing and developing complex air and spacecraft37:43 - NASA vs SpaceX development approach55:27 - Assessing risk and how failure breeds success58:02 - Perceptions vs reality01:00:15 - Scramjet, boost-glide, and ramjet hypersonic flight01:01:42 - Highly coupled systems01:03:43 - The hardest thing about hypersonics: people01:10:02 - Alex Hollings on Hermeus and Defense reporting01:14:41 - Wrap up and where to find Chris and Alex
In this episode of the podcast we bring on a couple all-stars from our Amazon Web Services team to discuss how we approach software development, high performance compute, data storage, and security. Naturally, the conversation gets into some AI and ML speculation and sci-fi movie talk.
PODCAST GUESTS:
Nandu Shah: VP of Information, Hermeus
Jay Naves: Sr. Solutions Architect, AWS
Scott Dieckhaus: Aerospace World Wide Solutions Leader, AWS
Scott McCutchen: Senior DevOps Engineer, Hermeus
Hypersonics, space, nuclear, carbon capture... Complex hardware is making a comeback and creating an exciting future! Hermeus Founder and COO Skyler Shuford is joined by Darby Dunn of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Casey Handmer of Terraform Industries, and space industry expert Lauren Lyons to discuss how hardware companies will change the world by 2050.
We call ourselves a "hard tech" company. Not only because we're so hardware focused but also because of the magnitude of the challenge we're facing in building hypersonic aircraft. In this episode we talk about what makes a company a hard tech company and why we're all drawn to jobs making hardware. In this podcast:
Marty Berman: Director of Content & Marketing
Skyler Shuford: Founder and COO
Nandu Shah: VP of Information
Glenn Case: Founder and CTO
If you're at SXSW this year, see Skyler on stage for the Atoms vs Bits panel! He'll be chatting with Darby Dunn, Lauren Lyons, and Casey Handmer about all things "hard tech". More information here: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2023/events/PP128759
If it isn't obvious how excited we are about additive manufacturing – just listen to 10 minutes of this episode. 3D printing allows us to iterate quickly, minimize waste, and have more control over our supply chain. In this episode we talk about all these things and speculate about the promising future of additive.
PODCAST GUESTS
Glenn Case – Founder, CTO
Sam Kelly – Additive Manufacturing Engineer
Mark Karesh – Technical Business Development Manager, Velo3D
Jordan Fisher – Senior Propulsion Engineer
This year at Hermeus is all about building Quarterhorse and getting to first flight! In this episode we chat about what it's going to take to build and test such a unique airplane.
Our first Live AMA brings founders Skyler, Mike, and Glenn together to answer burning questions from our online followers. Tune in to hear them reflect on the year, give a sneak peek on what's to come, and field questions from our Live YouTube audience.
This episode is for the builders. Those who manipulate metal, contort composites, and revel in riveting. Hear from the manufacturing team at Hermeus about how we get stuff built.
Venture-backed startups have never been more important to our national security. In this defense-focused episode we dive into what it’s like working with the Department of Defense (DoD) and how to accelerate public-private partnerships in such a complicated field.
PODCAST GUESTS
Dan Kliman – Director for National Security Strategy
Sarah Mineiro – Principal, The Potomac Advocates
AJ Piplica – Founder, CEO
Zach Shore – VP, Growth
In this episode we’re thrilled to host Ana Kraft, CEO of Xena Workwear! Ana joins three leaders at Hermeus to discuss career advice, role models, entrepreneurship, and navigating a career in a male-dominated field.
It takes a hunger and a framework for risk to bet big on the revolution of air travel. In this episode of The Hermeus Podcast, we talk with Hermeus investors about growth, strategy, and resilience in the world of venture capital.
PODCAST GUESTS
AJ Piplica – Founder, CEO
Sven Strohband – Managing Director, Khosla Ventures
Skyler Shuford - Founder, COO
Richard Boyle – General Partner, Canaan
The SR-71 “Blackbird” is a legendary aircraft. It remains the world’s fastest airplane – a title it has held since the 60s. In this special episode of The Hermeus Podcast we chat with two former pilots of the SR-71 and get into some rather thrilling stories.
PODCAST GUESTS
Skyler Shuford – Founder, COO
Tom Veltri – Retired USAF Lt. Col.
Robert Behler – Retired USAF Maj. Gen.
Michelle Tyrlik – Sr. Flight Test Engineer
The Flight Sciences Team knows the aircraft inside and out. Aerodynamics, mass properties, performance, stability and control, loads – flight sciences analyzes it all and works with each team to make sure our aircraft performs.
PODCAST GUESTS
Skyler Shuford – Founder, COO
James Shields – Aerodynamics Engineer
Tatum Hardy – Aerospace Engineer
Wes Vinson – Head of Darkhorse Engineering
The interns have taken over the podcast! Listen in and hear directly from them about what an internship at Hermeus is like.
Atlanta is the place to be! In this special episode of the podcast we bring on the former Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantan Lauren Finney Harden and celebrated Atlanta chef Zeb Stevenson to talk about why the "City in the Forest" is so awesome.
PODCAST GUESTS
Natalie Brown – People Operations Lead, Hermeus
Lauren Finney Harden – Content Creator, former Editor-in-Chief, The Atlantan
Zeb Stevenson – Chef/Partner, Redbird
Imani Beckles – Growth Manager, Hermeus
Fun fact: "avionics" is a combination of the words "aviation" and "electronics". Which sums up exactly what avionics is. In this episode listen to members of the avionics team nerd out about this fact and much more.
PODCAST GUESTS
Antony Samuel – Lead Avionics Engineer
Matt Bigelow – Principal GNC Engineer
Natalie Rakoski – Flight Software Engineer
Deandre Capati – Flight Software Engineer
We raised a $100 million Series B! In this episode we discuss the fundraising process, what we'll do with this money, and review the initial logo ideas for Halcyon.
Time for some engine talk. Lots of aerospace jargon in this one, so either sorry, or you’re welcome!
PODCAST GUESTS
Glenn Case – Founder, CTO
Alex Miller – Sr. Propulsion Engineer
Noah Brunk – Lead Propulsion Engineer
Erik Dambach – Lead Propulsion Engineer
In this episode we dive into Hermeus culture, joining a startup at the ground floor, and why airplanes are better than rockets.
PODCAST GUESTS
Natalie Brown – People Operations Lead
Antony Samuel – Lead Avionics Engineer
Danielle Mitrak – Lead Structures Engineer
Wes Vinson – Lead Flight Sciences Engineer
It's the first episode of The Hermeus Podcast! Get to know the founders of the company and hear stories from the "early days".
PODCAST GUESTS
Skyler Shuford – Founder, COO
AJ Piplica – Founder, CEO
Glenn Case – Founder, CTO
Mike Smayda – Founder, CPO
TOPICS
00:48 – Company growth
04:16 – Hypersonic travel
12:08 – Hermeus origin story
24:51 – Mental health day
29:01 – Seed funding, investors, pattern matching, Skyler’s launch company, DoD
37:18 – “That’s the way it’s always been done”
40:37 – The pathway to commercial hypersonic travel
42:46 – Queen’s Gambit, Game of Thrones, Men in Black, drive-thru strip club
45:34 – Engine and aircraft design
51:04 – What’s next for the podcast