Ashlee Vance: Worthwhile Hardware Breakthroughs Require 10 to 12 Years
Ashlee Vance · Quantum’s SpaceX Moment? Ashlee Vance on PsiQuantum’s Moonshot · Sourcery with Molly O'Shea · Sep 11, 2025 · at 22:55
Tech journalist Ashlee Vance explains the typical development timeline for deep tech and hardware companies compared to software startups.
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“It seems like all the really good, the biggest things I've ever covered, they all take 10 to 12 years. I think Silicon Valley, sometimes you have this overnight sensation kind of thing where you see Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg turn up when they're 26 and they're worth a billion dollars, and I don't know, it all looks so easy sometimes, and especially in software, I think sometimes you could get some, Something closer to like overnight success, even though, even that usually takes longer, but on the hardware side, I think everything worthwhile, even, you know, like SpaceX.”
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