About this episode
<p>Keller Cliffton joins John Collison to talk about Zipline’s journey to 115 million miles flown, the lost art of American airplanes, building 50k drones a year in California, getting to 99.9% reliability, and US vs. Chinese manufacturing. </p><p><br></p><p>Books referenced:</p><ul><li><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-right-stuff-tom-wolfe/bf1ca617f9dab8ad?ean=9781429961325&next=t&next=t">The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe</a></li><li><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/skunk-works-a-personal-memoir-of-my-years-of-lockheed-ben-r-rich/67057eb959b36a08?ean=9780316743006&next=t">Skunk Works by Ben Rich</a></li><li><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/apple-in-china-the-capture-of-the-world-s-greatest-company-patrick-mcgee/496b96d06a984e01?ean=9781668053379&next=t">Apple in China by Patrick McGee</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p>Timestamps</p><p>(00:00) Intro</p><p>(00:45) 115 million miles flown</p><p>(04:10) Why drone delivery took so long</p><p>(07:38) Getting started in Rwanda</p><p>(13:31) 51% reduction in maternal mortality</p><p>(15:33) Access vs. waste</p><p>(21:45) Scaling globally</p><p>(24:05) Zipline’s Platform 1 </p><p>(25:50) The Right Stuff</p><p>(27:22) Drone design and safety</p><p>(30:12) Getting to 99.9% reliability</p><p>(34:39) Multimodal logistics</p><p>(38:15) Zipline’s Platform 2</p><p>(44:03) US drone regs and the FAA</p><p>(48:02) Progress and stagnation in US aviation</p><p>(51:30) If Keller ran the FAA</p><p>(54:24) 30% WoW growth in Texas</p><p>(58:25) Why Texas and not California?</p><p>(01:00:28) Building 50k drones in California</p><p>(01:06:18) US vs. Chinese manufacturing</p><p>(01:11:30) Advice for hardtech founders</p>