Dino Mavrookas: America Needs to Build Ships Again

About this episode

Dino Mavrookas, Co-Founder & CEO of Saronic, is building one of the fastest-growing defense companies in America. Saronic is now valued at over $9B, has raised $2.6B, and is making a multi-billion-dollar bet on rebuilding America’s maritime industrial base. In Part II of our three-part series inside Saronic, Dino and I sit down to go deeper into the business, the market, and why America’s shipbuilding gap has become a national security problem. China now outbuilds the U.S. 230 to 1. The U.S. Navy has roughly 290 ships despite Congress setting a 355-ship minimum in 2018, while the Navy now estimates it needs 381 manned ships alone. Dino explains why Saronic believes autonomy, private capital, commercial shipbuilding, and a new generation of defense primes can change that equation. Dino Mavrookas: https://x.com/mavrookasd Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea Sourcery: ⁠ https://x.com/sourceryy 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 YouTube: https://youtu.be/7bDA_oKBGbk 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒 • Brex —The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery • Applied Aerospace —As global competition intensifies, strategic leadership demands space and defense technologies that deliver enduring national capabilities. At Applied Aerospace & Defense, we unleash the power of advanced manufacturing with unmatched scale and agility. Visit: http://applied-ad.com • Zone —develops next-generation data center campuses, partnering with AI companies, site developers and technology leaders to bring compute online faster and at scale. Visit: https://zonefrontier.com • Turing —Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery • VCX —VCX is the public ticker for private tech, allowing investors of all sizes to invest in venture capital. View The Portfolio at http://GetVCX.com • Deel —Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery • Public –Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets , which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery Follow Sourcery for the latest updates! https://www.sourcery.vc Disclosure Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time. 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Dino Mavrookas, Co-Founder & CEO at Saronic Technologies (01:10) America's shipbuilding crisis (03:33) Why Defense contracts move so slow (06:43) Scaling one win at a time (08:24) Why Defense needs the Private sector now (09:38) The next wave of defense giants (10:50) Building for both Military and Commercial (14:28) Serving the Navy, Army, and beyond (16:12) How China wins on price, not quality (18:15) The Hypersonic missile deal (20:58) From Private equity to founding Saronic (25:02) The real story behind the name "Saronic" (26:49) The next decade of American shipbuilding (27:58) Where is the Maritime Industry headed? (28:30) It's the people, not the capital