FULL INTERVIEW: Former SpaceX CIO Ken Venner on Scaling Broadcom & SpaceX
"
@elonmusk was really good about keeping the mission as a forefront focus for what we were doing, & just energized everyone to get it done."
Now Chief Tech & Product Officer,
@Senra_Systems
Ken Venner spent 11 years at Broadcom, joining at 1,000 people and $400 million in revenue and leaving at 10,000 employees and $8.6 billion, across 52 acquisitions.
Then he became CIO of SpaceX, where Elon hired him to build the digital nervous system for a 21st century rocket company. The result was Warp Drive, the custom operating system that helped scale SpaceX from about 1 booster a year and 1,000 employees to 40 boosters and 9,000 employees.
He recently joined Senra Systems as Chief Technology and Product Officer, this is a sit-down on how he scales companies.. wish we had more time.
"Scaling up & scaling out are my core skills."
We cover the Broadcom years & why process kills growth if you add it too early, the tour of the Hawthorne factory that got him to leave, working for Elon &
@Gwynne_Shotwell, why he spent two years thinking Warp Drive was a terrible idea.. & what changed in year three.
Ken also breaks down Elon's playbook: first principles thinking, "remove before automate," and the responsible engineer model where one person owns a part from requirements through post-flight with no handoffs.
Plus: why he had 175 engineers building core platforms at SpaceX and only needs 6 at Senra, the law of threes for scaling factories, why he still works after one of the largest wealth creation events ever, and his winery in Sonoma.
𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒
00:00 Meet Ken Venner
00:17 Why Join Senra
01:26 Scaling Playbook
02:08 Broadcom Growth Lessons
03:48 Broadcom Jump to SpaceX
05:16 Building SpaceX Systems
06:39 Elon Leadership Principles
07:43 Gwynne & SpaceX Culture
09:39 Why Keep Working?
11:14 Law of Threes - Scaling
11:56 AI & Automation Changing the Game
13:35 Senra Name Story
14:07 Winery Side Project (Auteur Wines - Healdsburg, CA)
14:55 Next 12 Months Outlook