00:58:08 · Soren Monroe-Anderson
[00:58:08] S0: There have been moments where we we sort of prove... Actually, I mean, it's just like every time we've flown against a US jammer, it's basically been the case. But there's also the sort of other... The opposite side of that, which is seeing the excitement about how capable our system is and what it brings to, you know, to the people who are using it. So a good example of this was recently we did in December, we did a or the Marines conducted a live fire exercise in Okinawa with our system, and there were some of the highest ranking generals and admirals of the the Indo Pacific region watching that, and the marines and the marine corps attack drone team were there giving a brief on the capability, and something really stood out to me, which was the sort of assumed effective range of a marine or a group of marines was, you know, one kilometer when they're thinking about like this scenario in Okinawa. And then they're saying, this is incredible because we're going from one kilometer to 20 kilometers. Like strike anything with precision in a 20 kilometer radius. And on an island like Okinawa, you know, if you are set up on the high ground, you basically have coverage over like this entire critical area, and it just completely changes the way they can think about fighting in that scenario. So that was really... It was a great live fire to watch, not just because it was, you know, the first time an FPV drone had been live fired there, and and, you know, there's a lot of firsts in that, but it was it was like seeing the excitement of the marines that they had this system and capability now, which just could totally change the way they were thinking about fighting in an area like that.
01:00:09 · Ty Morse
[01:00:09] S1: I remember you mentioned when we did the Gunda shoot, roughly a third of your energy had gone towards or been depleted because you had this like kidney issue. How did that kind of impact you on a day to day basis, and then how things shifted since you got that solved?
01:00:25 · Soren Monroe-Anderson
[01:00:25] S0: Yeah. So I had a a issue with my kidney in... I mean, it started a couple years ago, but it was very infrequent that I would feel the pain from it until, like, middle of twenty twenty five. And then I would just get these, like, I I would just get this horrible pain in my side and have to basically stop what I was doing. I would just, like, completely drain my energy. And I would, like, I would get sick very frequently, and, you know, I just like I just didn't feel good. And I was going to the doctor and and explaining the issue and and got a lot of bad answers. So I got a lot of like, well, this is, you know, this one's a really hard one to pinpoint. We don't really know, like, unless you can come in when it's happening, like, was just really frustrating to deal with at the start. And and then got it pinpointed to what the actual issue was, of course, scheduling surgery for it is like two months out. But finally in May of last year, got the surgery, you know, recovery was better than I expected, but you know, took me out for for week, week and a half. After that, I just felt so much better. And and just realized like how big of a burden on my ability to function, on, you know, for the company, like, that issue was. And now, like, I almost never get sick, I have way more energy, I feel like, you know, my... Both my physical and my mental state is just so much better, and it's a good lesson in how important it is to take care of yourself because it's so easy when you're doing something like building a startup to not. It's so easy to just, you know Just put it off. Sort of put it off, stop, like, stop going to the gym, stop eating well, putting the the... You know, because you feel in the moment like you're putting the mission and the company above all else, which feels like the righteous thing to do, it's not. Because if you can't function as as a effective human or, you know, executive, you're just making bad decisions, you're not giving your best work product,
01:02:42 · Ty Morse, Soren Monroe-Anderson
[01:02:42] S1: you're like... You're asking yourself to do the sprints, but constantly. [01:02:46] S0: Yeah. And that stuff, like, you can do that for a while, but it will come back to bite you. So, it's made me realize like the the health aspect is a huge part of this, and and just taking care of yourself more generally is is really important. Like, try very, very hard to get eight hours of sleep and do these sort of smaller routine things that keep me feeling good and and sharp. And then, you know, now anytime there's been sort of like a a hint at a possible medical problem, I just like try to fix it as quickly as I can because part of the issue of like why it took so long to get the the kidney thing fixed was was on me. It was like putting it off for the company and then that ended up being, you know, detrimental to the company because it just lasted longer. [01:03:37] S1: So Is there anything else that you're doing or did do in the past where you were trying to run these sprints and then realized, I don't know, even maybe recently, that basically slowing down or changing things shorter term so that you could be more consistent on a day to day basis going forward?
01:03:37 · Ty Morse, Soren Monroe-Anderson
[01:03:37] S1: So Is there anything else that you're doing or did do in the past where you were trying to run these sprints and then realized, I don't know, even maybe recently, that basically slowing down or changing things shorter term so that you could be more consistent on a day to day basis going forward? [01:03:56] S0: One of the biggest things for me, which I still, you know, am not doing in the way that I would be ideally is just finding the time to go to the gym consistently, and work out, and and do things that, you know, before I started Neros, I was I I was doing power lifting, triathlon training, rock climbing, you know, was doing all of those things multiple times a week. I I I, you know, I basically work out twice a day, and that that was I think a good... Like, felt so good when I was doing that, that I had a ton of energy when I like went in to start the company, and then all of that sort of got put to the side to then do the company, and the the... It just sort of goes in these cycles where I'm like, I don't do the thing that I need to be doing to keep myself like sane and operating well and healthy. And then I can do it for a few months, and then I'm like, okay, I actually need to go back and like, make myself good again. And then, yeah, so there's just like these points you hit, you're like, alright, I'm not I'm not happy with the way I feel. I need to go put attention towards this. Trying to find just like a steady consistent rhythm instead of doing it in cycles of like, you know, not working out for two months [01:05:17] S1: Boom,
01:05:17 · Ty Morse, Soren Monroe-Anderson
[01:05:17] S1: Boom, [01:05:17] S0: bust. Then feeling terrible, then going and fixing it. It should just be like a [01:05:20] S1: steady state thing. You started Neros by basically flying to the Ukraine with a bunch of drones that you'd made in a garage. [01:05:27] S0: A basement. [01:05:28] S1: In a basement. Exactly. And now that you're kind of scaling up, I'd, you know, three or four years later, I know the relationship has probably sort of evolved in the way that you kind of interact and how often you fly over there, what you do when you get there, has changed. How has that shifted over time?