“Your job is chief storyteller.” — Jamie GullJamie Gull is the founder of Wave Function, an early-stage hardware fund investing in aerospace, defense, energy, robotics, and industrials.An aerospace engineer turned founder and investor, Jamie brings firsthand experience building technology, leading teams, and navigating the realities of starting companies. In this episode of Tech Scenes Los Angeles, Jamie joins Jeff Martin to explore how those experiences shape the founders he backs—and why compelling technology is only part of building a successful business.Jamie shares lessons from his years at SpaceX, where removing barriers, resolving problems directly, and taking responsibility for outcomes were central to how teams worked. He and Jeff discuss the relationship between ownership and authority, why fast communication matters, and the challenge of creating that culture inside a startup.The conversation follows Jamie’s transition from engineer to CEO, including why storytelling becomes a founder’s core responsibility when recruiting employees, raising capital, and winning customers. Jamie also reflects on his development as an investor and the risk of falling in love with technology while overlooking concerns about the founding team.Looking ahead, Jamie explains why he sees opportunity in overlooked industrial processes, energy infrastructure, domestic manufacturing, and the evolving space economy. His ambition includes technologies that make everyday life more reliable—often without people ever noticing the infrastructure behind them.This is a candid conversation about hardware investing, founder leadership, accountability, organizational execution, and what it takes to build companies that deliver.CHAPTERS00:00 Episode preview01:13 Welcome to Tech Scenes Los Angeles01:17 Wave Function and why now is the time for hardware03:25 The story behind the Wave Function name04:00 Airplanes, childhood experiments, and becoming a builder05:57 From aircraft prototyping to SpaceX09:19 Cross-functional decisions and engineering tradeoffs10:37 Ownership, accountability, and the responsible engineer12:00 Leaving SpaceX to become a founder13:18 Building Tendeg and Talyn14:36 From engineer to CEO—and chief storyteller16:13 Communication loops, learning speed, and execution17:44 Why high-performance cultures are difficult to replicate18:30 Empowering teams while maintaining accountability21:19 Attracting high-performing talent with limited capital23:57 Family, flexibility, and founder leadership24:42 Evaluating founders and their ability to execute26:57 The risk of falling in love with the technology28:29 Overlooked opportunities in industrial innovation29:14 Supply chains, energy, and rethinking production32:26 Why energy interconnection matters32:55 SpaceX’s evolution and opportunities for entrepreneurs35:18 The future Jamie hopes his founders will build36:53 Jamie’s desert-island albumLEARN MORE ABOUT JAMIE GULL

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Jeff James Martin is the Founder and CEO of Collective Genius, creator of the Peak Operating System™, author of Peak Teams, and host of Tech Scenes. He helps founders and leadership teams improve alignment, accountability, and execution.

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