Let’s build a billion green rocketships

In the summer of 2013, I was an editor in The Washington Post’s sports department. But I’d come home at night and read about technology. Incredible things were happening in Silicon Valley, and I was missing out.

So I wrote a memo at The Post explaining why I should edit a blog about innovation. I envisioned the blog as “a catalog of everything new and amazing on the blue planet.”

I got the job, and I loved it.

I spent the first year identifying the hottest areas for innovation and settled on AI and robotics, especially self-driving cars and drones.

I remember feeling relieved once I’d zeroed in on what mattered.

About 12 years later, it’s clear I guessed right. AI and robotics are central to most of our economic growth. Companies are sure to share their AI strategies rather than risk their stock prices cratering. Robot cars are competing with Uber and Lyft. Amazon has nearly a million robots. Drones are delivering food, and fighting wars. There’s serious talk about AGI. It’s hard to imagine the next trillion-dollar company not having a mastery of AI or robotics.

I haven’t written or talked publicly about tech since I left the mainstream news media in early 2023.

I’m glad I’m out, but I do miss talking about the frontier of innovation, and how it’s impacting our lives.

So I’m back to write about topics I love. I’ll be cheering for humanity to build big, sustainable companies. We need more of these “rocketships,” high-growth companies that turn heads. Our quality of life depends on economic growth. Change won’t be stopped, so let’s make the most of it.

I hope my writing helps us all understand and live in harmony with technology, our planet, and each other.

Reach me anytime, matt at greenrocketship dot com.