In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast, host Neal Bloom sits down with Aleksey Matyushev, co-founder and CEO of Natilus, the San Diego-based aerospace company reinventing air freight and passenger travel with next-gen aircraft. With over $39 billion in orders and a growing footprint in South County, Natilus is bringing cutting-edge manufacturing back to San Diego.

Aleksey shares his journey from growing up near a Soviet airfield to becoming an aerodynamicist at Piper and Kratos. He walks us through the founding story of Natilus, early pivots from seaplanes to blended wing bodies, and how customer feedback (and cold emails) helped shape the company’s strategy. Plus, we dive into capital efficiency, certification pathways, and how Natilus is carving out space in a market long dominated by Boeing and Airbus.

• The legacy of aerospace in San Diego and why Natilus is doubling down here

• Aleksey’s path from Piper Aircraft to Kratos to Natilus

• Lessons learned from military-grade drones and commercial aviation

• The first MVP: a 30-foot autonomous seaplane built in 14 months

• Why cargo came first - and how airlines asked for passenger planes next

• The Kona and Horizon: aircraft designed for freight and people, optimized for fuel, volume, and cost

• Navigating testing, tooling, and certification with just $15M in capital raised

• Why wind tunnels, FAA approvals, and Brown Field are key San Diego assets

• How India became a fast-moving market for commercial orders

• The future of aviation as seen from South County, San Diego

• Natilus

• Learn more about Rising Tide Partners

• Connect with Aleksey on LinkedIn

• Connect with Neal Bloom on LinkedIn

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.

Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News!

I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast.

My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A through his newsletter.

Before we dive in, we wanted to thank and ask our listeners to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community!

9/19

Broader Defense Tech:

Harpoon x Firestorm Mixer Debrief

El Segundo Defense Tech Mixer Debrief

Firestorms Labs opens 60,000 SFT Facility in Mira Mesa

Biotech:

Treeline Biosciences emerges from stealth with $200M backed by ARCH Venture.

Arnatar Therapeutics focused on precision RNA therapies emerges from stealth.

Debut Bio raises and expands to Asia

Yatiri - acquired another startup

Luna Diabetes raises a Series A

Curated Events List – For full list – check The Social Coyote

Sept 26 - Defense Tech Gathering

Oct 3-5 Startup Weekend

Oct 6-10 SD Startup Week

This week on Tacos & Tech, Neal sits down with Rose Bowlus - lawyer, founder, and angel investor - whose journey from trading floors to startup boardrooms brings a rare blend of Wall Street experience and founder empathy.

Rose shares how her legal career evolved from the capital markets and energy sectors to launching her own firm, Rose Bowlus Law, where she now advises early-stage startups and funds. They talk legal tech, Web3, fintech moats, and what founders often overlook when raising capital. Plus, Rose unpacks her growing role as an investor, how she’s empowering other lawyers through her Angels in the Law network, and what she looks for in the next generation of legal innovation.

• Rose’s career path from Berkeley to in-house counsel to founding her own law firm

• Legal insights for fintech, Web3, and capital markets

• How regulation shapes - and lags - innovation in financial services

• Trends in legal tech adoption and where traditional firms are falling behind

• Her philosophy of “give first” investing and building a founder-friendly syndicate

• The origin story of Angels in the Law and the rise of lawyer-investors

• Why clarity is everything when supporting (or funding) founders

• Rose’s controversial taco take: Islands, North County edition

• Rose Bowlus Law

• Rising Tide Partners

• Women’s Venture Summit

• Connect with Rose on LinkedIn

• Connect with Neal on LinkedIn

In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast, host Neal Bloom sits down with Eric Birkemeier, founder of ShredLights and now part of Meepo Electric Skateboards. Eric’s story is a wild ride - from 3D-printing in the SDSU ZIP Launchpad and selling Jordans out of thrift stores, to building a niche hardware company and ultimately exiting to a global electric skateboard brand.

They unpack how Eric turned an early failed Kickstarter into a business with over $1M+ in revenue (with zero ad spend!), the importance of discovering product-market fit through real customer feedback, and the emotional rollercoaster of running and eventually selling a hardware startup during a downturn. From bootstrapping to navigating COVID, tariffs, and copycats - Eric shares what it really takes to get to the finish line (and how the finish line is just another beginning).

• From basement builds to business: Eric’s early love for inventing and entrepreneurship

• The SDSU ZIP Launchpad, finding community, and the startup that wasn't a fit

• Why the wrong customers helped him discover the right market

• Pivoting from skate culture to the growing micro-mobility movement

• Scaling from 3D printers to overseas supply chains - and the lessons from doing it the hard way

• How Kyle and Eric’s founder relationship helped them navigate burnout, illness, and transition

• Building trust with manufacturers and how one trip to China changed everything

• Financial forecasting, staying lean, and prepping for an acquisition

• The gritty, real story behind selling a business - and what Eric’s learned about what comes next

• ShredLights

• Meepo Electric Skateboards

• Physics Girl on YouTube

• Connect with Eric Birkemeier

• Connect with Neal Bloom

This week on Tacos & Tech, Neal sits down with Drew Wilson, longtime North County founder, designer, engineer, and community builder. From launching products solo to landing a GoDaddy acquisition, Drew’s track record speaks for itself. Now he’s back with a new company, Opacity, and relaunching his beloved creative conference, ValioCon, right in the heart of Oceanside.

In this episode, Drew shares his journey from early design days and Flash websites to building Plasso, navigating acquisition, and diving headfirst into GenAI-powered product development. He also gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what’s coming with Opacity, why he’s bullish on version control for designers, and how tools like Midjourney and Claude are shaping his build stack.

Key Points

• Building Plasso as a solo founder and selling to GoDaddy

• Going through YC while still working at GoDaddy

• Launching (and shutting down) a modern digital bank

• The origins of ValioCon and why it’s back after 9 years

• The inspiration behind Opacity and the future of visual coding

• Building products in the GenAI era — what’s actually different

• His go-to North County burrito and tales from Cave Week

Links & Resources Learn more about Opacity Grab your ticket to ValioCon

Connect with Drew & Neal Follow Drew on Linkedin & X Follow Neal: LinkedIn & X

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.

Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News!

I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners, building and investing in community.

My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A through his newsletter.

Before we dive in, we wanted to thank and ask our listeners to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community!

Aug 22

Defense Tech Founders Event Recap of autonomous tech and military end-users

New org leaders: Connect - James Z.

Naturally San Diego - Renee Solares

Techstars - Misti Cain

BuyBack Ventures launches

Funding

Srt Therapeutics - $47M

Ceresti $11M

Ilundent - $4M Seed Round

M&A

GroGuru acquired by Goanna Ag

Gatsby acquired Klayvio

Curated Events List – For full list – check The Social Coyote

Defense Tech Build Day - Aug 28

Gaming Gathering Build Day - Sept 2

SD Defense at SoCal Deep Tech - Sept 16

In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast, Neal Bloom sits down with Larsen Jensen, former Olympian, Navy SEAL, and now Managing Partner of Harpoon Ventures, an early-stage venture firm backing founders building in the national interest.

Larsen shares the journey from serving Team USA to launching a venture fund focused on what he calls the Freedom Stack - critical technologies like AI, autonomy, cybersecurity, and advanced manufacturing that shape not just industry, but national security and global stability.

They explore how Harpoon was early to the intersection of tech and geopolitics, why San Diego is uniquely positioned to lead in hardtech and defense innovation, and how founders can better navigate the path to working with the U.S. government through Harpoon’s new initiative: Black Flag Incubator.

• Larsen’s Olympic and Navy SEAL background, and how it shaped his service-driven mission in venture

• The original thesis behind Harpoon Ventures - and how the market caught up

• Defining the "Freedom Stack": AI, cyber, energy, compute, defense, and more

• The rise of government demand for critical technologies

• Black Flag Incubator: helping founders navigate government engagement

• Why San Diego is poised for hardtech and national security innovation

• Advice for early-stage founders working in dual-use or deep tech

• The importance of founder communities, ecosystem building, and paying it forward

• Larsen’s go-to taco spot (hint: it’s inside Petco Park)

• Harpoon Ventures

• Black Flag

• Larsen Jensen on LinkedIn

• Neal Bloom on LinkedIn

• Follow @NealBloom on X

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.

Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News!

I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast.

My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A through his newsletter.

Before we dive in, we wanted to thank and ask our listeners to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community!

Aug 15

SDEE event debrief

Biotech layoffs: Thermo, Poseida Therapeutics

Equillium raise

Scale Bio acquired by 10X Genomics

Plantible opens a 100-acre manufacturing module in Texas

BAE Shipyard Gains Defense Build Contracts

Prebys Foundation Donates $1M to support grant medical research

Curated Events List – For full list – check The Social Coyote

Defense Tech Build Day - Aug 28

Gaming Gathering Build Day - Sept 2

SD Defense at SoCal Deep Tech Week - Sept 16

In this episode of the Tacos & Tech Podcast, Neal Bloom sits down with Madeline Fraser, the dynamic founder and CEO of Gemist, a B2B SaaS and AI company revolutionizing the jewelry industry.

Madeline shares how a frustrating search for a custom engagement ring sparked the idea for Gemist, which now powers customization, stone sourcing, and hyper-realistic rendering for jewelry brands and retailers. With deep product insight and two previous startups under her belt - including an appearance on Shark Tank and an exit into the gaming space - Madeline unpacks how her creative background and startup experience led her to build scalable tech that’s reshaping a centuries-old industry.

They talk about her time on The Pitch (where she met Neal and landed Gemist’s first investment round), her vision for modernizing the jewelry shopping experience, and why customization is no longer optional for today’s customers.

• How Madeline turned a personal pain point into Gemist’s founding story

• Her Shark Tank experience - and why the deal didn’t go through

• What it’s really like to bootstrap vs. fundraise

• Why user testing came before writing a single line of code

• The tech stack behind Gemist’s jewelry customization engine

• Scaling B2B SaaS in a traditional industry

• The future of Gemist: watches, new verticals, and profitability

• Startup lessons from interior design to jewelry tech

• Why every founder needs grit, agility, and a chip on their shoulder

• Gemist

• Madeline on LinkedIn

• Neal Bloom on LinkedIn

• @NealBloom on Twitter

Listen & subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and other platforms.

Welcome everyone to the weekly San Diego Tech News!

I’m Neal Bloom from Rising Tide Partners and the Tacos and Tech Podcast.

My co-host in this episode is Fred Grier, journalist and author of The Business of San Diego substack. He covers the ins-and-outs of the startup world including breaking news, IPOs, fundraising rounds, and M&A through his newsletter.

Before we dive in, we wanted to thank and ask our listeners to help us grow the show, leave a review and share with one other person who should be more plugged in with the SD Tech Scene. Thank you for the support and for helping us build the San Diego Startup Community!

August 8

Debrief Startup SD 1st Mondays event at KILN Rancho Bernardo

New Connect CEO

AI products:

• Seismic AI

• Metro MOIC

Fundings:

• Equip Health $47M

• Trovata $9M Extension Series B

Saronic moves into SD

AgX Food Hub moves forward

Curated Events List – For full list – check The Social Coyote

SD Defense Build Day - Aug 28

Gaming Build Day - Sept 2

SD Defense at SoCal Deep Tech - Sept 16