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Hard Things March 2026

July 15, 2026
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Last Thursday, the same week Nvidia disclosed a $1 trillion order book and Uber committed to robotaxis in 28 cities, we gathered a room of founders, investors, and builders in Palo Alto for the first-ever Hard Things — an invite-only series hosted by Mavka Capital.

Our guest, Veena Radhakrishna of Cartesian Kinetics, brought 20 years of operational experience in one of the most technically demanding and capital-intensive domains in technology. She didn't give a pitch. She gave the room a framework — one that had founders across hardware, software, robotics, and finance nodding in recognition:

Design for retrofit. Choose the intelligence layer over the hardware layer wherever you can. Stay flexible long enough to be around when the market clarifies.

The takeaway was clear: Physical AI is no longer a thesis. It's a platform shift. And the teams that get their architecture right — from tech stack to cap table — will define the next decade.

A special thank you to Louis Lehot, Tiaan De Nysschen, and Sahar Mor at Foley Lardner for sponsoring and hosting the event.

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