I Tried Flying an Air Taxi With Archer’s CEO (Midnight … — Transcript

Archer was actually the first sponsor of Sorcery ever. At Archer, we are building the next generation of aviation. There was a change in technology where all of a sudden you could use multiple electric engines to fly airplanes. A helicopter will have one big rotor. Instead of having one rotor that takes off and lands vertically, we have multiple sets of engines, multiple sets of propellers that allow you to take off and land vertically like a helicopter, but then transition and fly forward like an airplane. Well, building airplanes is hard. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of money, but it also takes a lot of political support. We've had to have new laws written. This is the first new category in aviation in 60 years. We were selected as the exclusive air taxi provider for the LA28 Summer Olympics. And that was a huge, huge deal. And Reddit played actually a big part in our ability to not only just go public, but also to build a huge retail following. And so, what the Reddit community has done has found their own way to come together and support these companies in a really unique way. I know it's surprising, but uh, there's a giraffe. Where did this come from? 20 aircraft times 1,000 markets is 20,000 aircraft times $5 million selling price is a lot of money. Hi, it's Molly from Sorcery. We're here today at a secret HQ tour of Archer. Let's go in. You had a crazy year. Mhm. Archer's raised over 4 billion. You got the new administration to sign an executive order. What else is going on? Well, building airplanes is hard and it takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of money, but it also takes a lot of political support. And so we have had the good fortune of an administration that has been extremely supportive to us. And I know a lot of people say that, but it's actually super true in our case. We've had to have new laws written. This is the first new category in aviation in 60 years. And so having not only just the FAA on board, the Department of Transportation on board, even as high as the president who mentioned it in his campaign speech, it's really had to take a lot of people to help us get this done. And so I'll give you a specific example. We were selected as the exclusive air taxi provider for the LA28 Summer Olympics. And that was a huge, huge deal. But in order to get from where we are today in 2025 to the Olympics in 2028, there's a lot of work that has to get done. And so we went to the White House and we spoke with the Secretary of Transportation. And we spoke with a lot of the different members and we said we need some kind of plan to help really the industry, not just Archer but the industry, go from concept to flying around into our cities to ultimately scaling into the Olympics. And so we came up with this concept around what they called the EIP or EV Tall Integration Pilot Program. And that was to allow these aircraft to start flying in the cities in the US as soon as next year. And so what they're going to do is they're actually going to pick five cities and they're going to be hopefully big cities. I think actually Los Angeles within Los Angeles will be selected as one of them. Love LA. LA, of course. And um, they're going to let us start flying in the cities. But what it's going to do is really help the confidence side of the industry where it's like the first time you saw Whimos. It was a really big deal. Yeah. Probably the first time you ever took a Whimo. Have you ever taken a Whimo? Yeah. It's quite an awesome experience. But kind of the 10th time we've taken a Whimo, it's sort of like whatever. It's just a part of everyday society. So, we needed a way for the general public to see these aircraft and to just become okay with it. So, it's sort of our Whimo-like moment. And so, five cities will get announced. It'll start very conservatively, point-to-point flights, daytime flights, high reserves, and allow us to showcase the technology, show the safety, and really just kind of tamp the pressure down to the public so that they understand that this is something that is going to be normal in their cities. It's something that, um, I think people should expect to see and by the time we get to the Olympics, it'll almost be boring and so it won't be this big high-pressure moment for them to get it done. I feel like every time I go to Connecticut to visit my family, my dad's like, "I wish I just had an Archer to go to the airport with or pick you up or go to the city." Okay, so you've been building this company for many, many, many, many years. It's very, very difficult, but in the last year, this new administration has clearly unlocked something that other administrations have not unlocked for many sectors of tech. So, what is that feeling like for you? Like, do you feel like you've kind of hit this new growth trajectory? So the last administration, they created the framework for the industry. So I do think it's bipartisan in the sense that everybody agrees that America should lead in aviation. So I think that is kind of clear, but actionizing that and putting a plan together for that, the last administration was absent. I literally could not get a meeting with Secretary Pete Buttigieg. I couldn't do it. He just wouldn't take the meeting. And so I don't know if it just wasn't important to him or whatever his reasons were, but as soon as the new administration got into place, as soon as Secretary Duffy was put into place, literally within five weeks, I had a meeting with him and I've met him probably on a monthly basis ever since then that he's been there. And there's been executive orders put in place, specific business plans on how to get these aircraft to market. And so when I say that the administration has been extremely helpful to the industry, you can see the evidence. It's very clear. And so I mean, it's been I've been to the White House many times. We've been at events in Mar-a-Lago. We've been really all the major agencies have gotten together to come support the industry. And it's not even just an Archer thing. It's an industry thing because they believe in two things. One, re-industrialization of America is critical, meaning manufacturing jobs and building stuff here in the country is important. And two, America leading in these new cutting-edge technologies. And when you have both of those things at such a high-pressure, high-stakes moment in time where everything is changing, defense industry is changing, civil aviation is changing. It is critical that the government supports that and we've seen that with clear evidence. Before we get too far, and I think maybe this audience might not have as much background information as I do. I've interviewed you before at Reindustrialize. Archer was actually the first sponsor of Sorcery ever. Thank you very much. It was the biggest deal I've ever signed. But for people who don't know what Archer is and what air taxis are, could you explain that? Sure. At Archer, we are building the next generation of aviation. So there was a change in technology where all of a sudden you could use multiple electric engines to fly airplanes. And so a helicopter will have one big rotor. Instead of having one rotor that takes off and lands vertically, we have multiple sets of engines, multiple sets of propellers that allow you to take off and land vertically like a helicopter, but then transition and fly forward like an airplane. So it's a combo. It's this new kind of half helicopter, half airplane vehicle. And it can be used in and around urban environments. So, think about flying from Manhattan to JFK. A trip that might take you 60 or 90 minutes on the ground in a car that you could fly in literally five or 10 minutes. And so, there's an ability now to create an aircraft that is super safe, similar safety levels as big commercial airliners. It's super affordable because the aircraft are simple. They don't take the same amount of maintenance a helicopter does. Th

will have one big rotor. Instead of having one rotor that takes off, lands vertically. We have multiple sets of engines, multiple sets of propellers that allows you to take off and land vertically like a helicopter, but then transition and fly forward like an

airplane. Well, building airplanes is hard. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of money, but it also takes a lot of political support. We've had to have new laws written. This is the first new category in aviation in 60 years. We

were selected as the exclusive air taxi provider for the LA28 Summer Olympics. And that was a huge, huge deal. And Reddit played actually a big part in our ability to not only just go public, but also to build a huge retail following.

And so, what the Reddit community has done has found like their own way to come together and support these companies in a really unique way. I know it's surprising, but uh there's a giraffe.

Where did this come from? 20 aircrafts times 1,000 markets is 20,000 aircrafts times $5 million selling price is a lot of money.

Hi, it's Molly from Sorcery. We're here today at a secret HQ tour of Archer.

Let's go in. You had a crazy year. Mhm. Archer's raised over 4 billion. You got the new administration to sign an executive order. What else is going on?

Well, building airplanes is hard and it takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of money, but it also takes a lot of political support. And so we have had the good fortune of an administration that has been extremely supportive to

us. And I know a lot of people say that, but it's actually super true in our case.

We've had to have new laws written. This is the first new category in aviation in 60 years. And so having not only just the FA on board, the Department of Transportation on board, even as high as the president who mentioned it in his

campaign speech, it's really had to take a lot of people to help us get this done. And so I'll give you a specific example.

We were selected as the exclusive air taxi provider for the LA28 summer Olympics. And that was a huge huge deal.

But in order to get from where we are today in 2025 to the Olympics in 2028, there's a lot of work that has to get done. And so we went to the White House and we spoke with the Secretary of

Transportation. And we spoke with a lot of the different members and we said we need some kind of plan to help really the industry, not just Archer but the industry go from concept to flying around into our cities to ultimately

scaling into the Olympics. And so we came up with this concept around what they called the EIP or EV tall integration pilot program. And that was to allow these aircrafts to start flying in the cities in the US as soon as next

year. And so what they're going to do is they're actually going to pick five cities and they're going to be hopefully big cities. I think actually Los Angeles within Los Angeles will be selected as one of them.

Love LA. LA of course. And um they're going to let us start flying in the cities. But what it's going to do is really help the confident side of the industry where it's like the first time you saw Whimos.

It was a really big deal. Yeah. Probably the first time you ever took a Whimo. Have you ever taken a Whimo?

Yeah. It's quite an awesome experience. but kind of the 10th time we've taken a Whimo, it's sort of like whatever. It's just a part of everyday society. So, we needed a way for the general public to see these aircrafts and to just become

okay with it. So, it's sort of our Whimo like moment. And so, five cities will get announced. It'll start very conservatively, point-to-point flights, daytime flights, high reserves, and allow us to showcase the technology, show the safety, and really just kind of

tamp the pressure down to the public so that they understand that this is something that is going to be normal in their cities. It's something that um I think people should expect to see and by the time we get to the Olympics, it'll

almost be boring and so it won't be this big high pressure moment for them to get it done.

I feel like every time I go to Connecticut to visit my family, my dad's like, "I wish I just had an archer to go to the airport with or pick you up or go to the city." Okay, so you've been

building this company for many, many, many, many years. It's very, very difficult, but in the last year, this new administration has clearly unlocked something that like other administrations have not unlocked for many sectors of tech. So, what is that

feeling like for you? like do you feel like you've kind of hit this new growth trajectory?

So the last administration they created the framework for the industry. So I I do think it's bipartisan in the sense that everybody agrees that America should lead in aviation. So I think that is kind of clear but actionizing that

and putting a plan together for that. The last administration was absent. I I literally could not get a meeting with Secretary Pete Buddhaj. I couldn't do it. He just wouldn't take the meeting.

And so I don't know if it just wasn't important to him or whatever his reasons were, but as soon as the new administration the administration got into place, as soon as Secretary Duffy was put into place, literally within 5

weeks, I had a meeting with him and I've met him probably on a monthly basis ever since then that he's been there. And there's been executive orders put in place, specific business plans on how to get these aircrafts to market. And so

when when I say that the administration has been like extremely helpful to the industry, it's you can see the evidence.

It's very clear. And so I mean it's been I've been to the White House many times.

We've been um at events in Mara Lago. We've been uh really all the major agencies have gotten together to come support the industry. And it's not even just an archer thing. It's an industry thing because they believe in two

things. One, re-industrialization of America is critical. Meaning manufacturing jobs and building stuff here in the country is important. and two, America leading in these new cutting edge technologies. And when you have both of those things at such a high pressure, high stake

moment in time where everything is changing, defense industry is changing, civil aviation is changing.

It is critical that the government supports that and we've seen that with clear evidence.

Before we get too far, and I think maybe this audience might not have as much background information as I do. I've interviewed you before at Reindustrialize.

Archer was actually the first sponsor of Sorcery ever. Thank you very much. It was the biggest deal I've ever signed.

But uh for people who don't know what Archer is and what air taxis are, could you explain that?

Sure. At Archer, we are building the next generation of aviation. So there was a change in technology where all of a sudden you could use multiple electric engines to fly airplanes. And so a helicopter will have one big rotor.

Instead of having one rotor that takes off and lands vertically, we have multiple sets of engines, multiple sets of propellers that allows you to take off and land vertically like a helicopter, but then transition and fly forward like an airplane. So it's a

combo. It's this new kind of half helicopter, half airplane vehicle. And it can be used in and around urban environments. So, think about flying from Manhattan to JFK. A trip that might take you 60 or 90 minutes on the ground

in a car that you could fly in literally five or 10 minutes. And so, there's an ability now to create an aircraft that is super safe, similar safety levels as big commercial airliners. It's super affordable because the aircrafts are

simple. They don't take the same amount of maintenance a helicopter does. They have such a high safety standard, and they can do so many trips in a given day. Um, and they're quiet. So, it gives you the ability to really scale this.

So, you can ultimately drive that cost down. And it's done in a way that is not disruptive to the environments because the aircrafts are really really quiet.

So you have a new platform that's that's really it's like day one of that first new category at the FA in 60 years and it's an opportunity to build a whole next generation of aviation.

But it doesn't stop there. And so this gets back to really like you know why is the administration so involved in in the in the industry. Well, if you look at what's happening from a defense perspective, you have the whole world

shifting from very expensive centralized systems building these exquisite products to what they call autonomous and attritable or I think autonomy at scale. It's a totally different type of dynamic and so we are building a whole new generation of uh of aircraft where it's

designed to be built at scale. There's a lot of the analysts will tell you they think it's a multiundred billion dollar market or a several trillion dollar market. So the defense industry looked at this and said well if you are willing

to or interested in building for defense applications and we could think about scaling manufacturing from the very beginning it's an incredible opportunity to actually help re-industrialize not just the civil aviation uh you know part of the manufacturing base but also the

defense uh manufacturing base. So if you think you know that during certain surge times there's an ability to shift capacity from the civil side to the defense side and in quieter times from defense side back to the civil side. So

if you think about it from that perspective, a startover is a really incredible opportunity to design aircraft that are built to do that.

Well, in China, don't they regulate that every new ship that's built or every boat that's built has to be certified to be able to carry military vehicles on it or something like that.

Yeah. So in China they have made it mandatory that ships of a certain size have to be um strong enough and fortified enough to be able to carry military assets as well as civilian assets. So it gives them the ability to

flex back and forth. That on top of the fact that they build so much really gives them this interesting you know advantage of where we are today. So when you look at the aviation industry by designing it from the beginning this new

category they call it advanced air mobility or electric aircrafts or hybrid electric aircrafts we have an ability to actually build for scale from the very beginning with the sort of framework of both civil and defense that can be

interchanged changing parts similar supply chains all US domestic based that can allow us to scale when we need it.

So you've also had some pretty significant partnerships in the defense area. Can you share more about these?

Sure. I love these companies. So our big partner in the defense industry is Andreal.

And so Andre came to us and you know really understood that the entire defense industry is changing. It's changing from these expensive centralized exquisite systems to um much more scalable or you know think autonomous systems that are designed to

you know address the future conflicts that are pretty obvious. Meaning if you can fight an enemy with unmanned systems it's much better from the perspective of cost. You can lower the cost. You don't need the redundancy in these aircrafts,

the redundancy in these vehicles the way you would with man systems. You can risk the aircrafts um at a much greater degree because there's not a human behind that and you can have an advantage. But conversely, if the

adversary is doing that, you certainly don't want to put a manned asset up against an unmanned asset.

And so you saw this new change happen and first we started to see products happen on the um fixed wing side. So um Androl's project there um it's called Fury. It is a CCA or a collaborative combat aircraft where aircrafts are

designed to fly alongside manned aircraft. And now they're starting to explore similar concepts with roercraft.

So think, you know, the big rotocraft systems are Blackhawks and Apaches and B22s and Chinooks. And so how can they complement or even uh build um new products that can fly with or fight with those same type of roercraft that can be

designed to do the same things which are um similar capabilities or better capabilities at substantial cost to address the sort of future conflicts meaning unmanned and um scalable or what they call a tritable um aircraft. Mhm.

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That's brx.com/sourcy. So, when we announced we were going public, we were actually 50 people. And it was pretty shocking. It was actually an interesting period of time where all of a sudden hardware companies could be backed. This is back in 2021. Before

that, really, really before Tesla, before SpaceX, it was impossible to raise money as a hardware founder. It was you just couldn't do it. Everything was software. It was a SAS marketplace, whatever, you know, type of product. And so, like, the world changed and that was

like unbelievably exciting to build airplanes. It's extremely expensive. you're not even in the game without a billion dollars because it takes a huge team for many many years to really develop core technologies that could be safe, reliable, and ultimately like put

into production. So when we announced that we were going public within 6 weeks, I had the most unbelievable experience where I had three-letter agencies coming after me. I had lawsuits. I had pretty much everybody came out of the woodwork to try to take

us down. Wow. So when you have an industry that's so heavily consolidated, they don't want new entrance.

And so Boeing sued us instantly. We're now friends with them. They're good uh they're our friends. Um but they were ruthless when we started. And there's all these, you know, stories, legendary stories, you know, about Boeing and competition, all that stuff. And we it

was like my welcome to the NFL moment. It was like it was just got actually like checked like right into the chin and it was like, you know, welcome to the you know, welcome to the NFL. And so

that was like the big guys coming after us. And then along the way it's also been really brutal where you've seen the competitors also try to do things to edge you out. Um I actually have uh you know developed a friendship with Alexis

from you know Reddit you amazing guy just absolutely amazing founder and Reddit played actually a big part in our ability to not only just go public but also to build a huge retail following.

And so retail has been a big part of our story. And so we've had an amazing retail base that's been super supportive, long-term thinkers, um, not judging us on quarterto quarter, really seeing like what can be possible, really

trying to find the next Tesla, trying to find the next SpaceX. And so what the Reddit community has done has found like their own way to come together um, and support these companies um, in a really unique way. And so I really u, I get a

lot of energy from that. I think it's amazing. And so we try to do things to help the public. I think Elon did an amazing job by um I think he was the first one to say hey retail can ask

questions on the quarterly conference calls or retail can come to the you know the big launch events or you know retail can be a part of their journey so we are trying to incorporate a lot of the similar types of uh dynamics because

it's been such a big part of our story. We are a relatively small company. You know, people-wise, we're, you know, 1500 people or so. Um, but even market cap wise, but if you look at the volume traded throughout our stock, we will

often be a top 10 most heavily traded stock on the New York Stock Exchange.

That will happen all the time. That is because of the retail. And the thing that does for us is that is a form of liquidity, meaning we are able to raise a lot of capital. And so when you have a

lot of volume going through the stocks, a lot of the investors uh have the ability to play, meaning they can come in and out of your stock. If you don't have liquidity, there's no way for investors to really acquire your shares

or even get out once they do. And so it gives an ability for a company like Archer to actually have a chance to go out there because we can raise the capital and this fan base can follow us

and really um stay with us for uh for a long period of time. So, super grateful to that community, super grateful to Alexis for starting Reddit and uh helping a lot of startups like Archer get going.

I hate to be rude, but we've passed this now almost twice and I can't help but be distracted by this huge candy wall behind you. What is this?

Oh god. That was an idea from one of the archers to help uh let's call it uh I think I'm going to say satisfy his ADHD, have him stop smoking and come over here and constantly go get food. It's

dangerous. The uh I've I've successfully been able to eliminate at least half of the candy and put nuts and dried fruits um down there, almost half of it. Um as you can see, there also is a a Coca-Cola

machine here as well. Um but u this is our wall of sin. And so I think it's more of actually when you're having a bad day, you come over and you sugar load and uh you know, you you eat away

your uh your sorrows. What's your biggest advice here? Um for me, I I find uh there was a Barcel sports phrase, u fridge cigarettes, like sodas. I think it's funny and and it's done such a good job for me of like like I have one diet soda

per day. That's like my max. I won't let myself have more than one. And I call it a fridge sig because it's uh it's a way for me to not to remind myself to stop doing that, to stop drinking the stuff,

but that is my vice. Okay. Yeah. All right. I have my eyes on the chocolatecovered almonds.

Okay. Back to the retail um the retail market because I find that so fascinating. I've interviewed a handful of public company CEOs so far this year and have also interviewed their investors and so on and so forth.

whether it's CO2 or it's interviewing Keith Roy who had just joined Open Door at the time. I just interviewed Vlad Tennv. Um actually in the conversation with Vlad, he brought up the point like and we talked about this for a little

bit because I saw this with Open Door. It's like people put down going public a lot because, you know, you have to do quarterly filings, you have to do all these earnings calls, it's more work, you have to get a different team, you

have to be super tight on everything. But like, so it seems like such an operational burden. But what I'm hearing from you and what I'm hearing from other people is if you're really good at telling your story and you know how to

actually like engage the retail community, it's probably like one of the best things you can do for your company.

I was just try I was waiting to see if it was going to be a real question because you hit every name drop like I got Vlad, I got Keith, I got everybody.

I was like geez. Cuz I said like Secretary Duffy. I was like I don't know if she was I also got a Michael.

Okay, there we go. There we go. No, I think going public is uh is actually a great thing. Um I think it's great thing for the right company at the right period of time. Um for us it was really

great because um it gave us ability to to tell our story and to evangelize it and the sort of lovehate ones do really well. Like Kramer has always hated us and just bashes us at every chance he can get. Um and in a way it just brings

more almost like attention to it. Yeah. Um and so as long as you're like you sort of can blow that stuff off and it doesn't bother you, I think it's actually great because we're just telling the stories. Um, what's been

pretty amazing is, um, it's made its way because it's so popular on Reddit, it's made its way into the schools and so the kids know about it. And so for me, that's actually really exciting because, um, I think the sciences are really

important for kids to study. And so I think that's great when they start talking about airplanes, aerodynamics, um, becoming a pilot. Um, speaking of, you're going to have to fly some of the simulators today. We'll see if uh,

so I've actually wanted to become a pilot for like a really long time. I've wanted to get my pilot's license.

We're going to test you out today and see if you're any good. I think if I start, I'll start with an archer license.

Okay. I'll get my own. It'll be cool. I'll, you know, get the best version possible.

All right. Well, we'll uh gladly have you as a pilot if we'll say how you do today.

Okay. We'll see if you can fly a plane. We'll see. All right. I'm going to be so upset if I crash this.

When you when you crash this. Okay. So, left hand on this little cork handle.

Okay. Right hand on a second. Do I put my feet here? You do. And then your hand right hand there. Okay. So, when you start to pull back on that left handle, you're going to get air. You're going to start to get

airborne. What's going to happen is the aircraft is going to start to turn. You'll it'll start to bank. You bank the opposite direction to kind of stabilize it. And when the aircraft starts to spin, like if it starts to spin to the

right, step on the left pedal. If it spins right, it's dancing. You're dancing. Keep pulling it with your left hand. There you go. Now you're flying.

Wow. I'm doing so push the stick forward. Uhoh. Uhoh. No. Uhoh. Am I supposed to be going in a direction? Like you kind of want to tilt the aircraft down and you'll gain some speed.

I think I'm Guys, I'm not going to lie. I think I'm doing a great job.

Start to lower your power. The left hand push down a little bit. And I landed.

All right. Good job. Come on. Come on out. We'll help you. We'll help you try to fly back now. I'm not going to tell you. You're just going to sit and you're going to try this one out. This airplane is much uh much

easier to fly. You'll you'll understand the difference of having a fly by wire system where the computers are doing everything versus in that machine you are trying to do everything.

This is uh the midnight simulator. So, why don't you come on up and Okay.

Hop hop on in. Okay. So with your right hand, pull back the difference of the uh of the machines. Um with your left hand, um point that to the left.

Where is this? Um this is in Selenus. And you can pull back a little with your right hand too to make it go uh higher.

So you can see um as you go faster the um propellers start to tilt down um and you start to get into full uh wing uh born flight. So you can see they've almost fully closed. Um so this is what

we call a fly by wire aircraft. So the computers are doing everything. You're doing very little. So now you can really you're just flying like an airplane. So um really you know you can kind of point the point the direction of the airplane

whichever way you want. So turn it to whichever way you want and it really doesn't take you know much training at all to get going. Of course, there's a lot of things you'll have to learn how to do um operating in the airspace. Um

so you are um switched on now flying like an airplane. You can also um you know switch back and fly um you know like a helicopter.

Um so you are roughly um 1,000 ft in the air. You can see here.

How do I go faster? Um you are slowly going faster at about 114 knots now. So you can see the propellers that are spinning on the aircraft. There are multiple sets of propellers and the uh you know ability

for electric engines to be scaled really far down gives you an ability to build an aircraft with lots of redundancy and that's what those uh multiple sets of engines propellers really represent. The aircrafts are designed to take off and

land vertically so you can um you know it's convenient you can take off near and uh near points of destination and land uh you know where uh you know close to where you want to go. So instead of

driving all the way out to an airport you can of course go to like a helport or what we call a vert. Um, but they also can take off and land conventionally. Um, so like an airplane and that's more of a safety case or an

energy saving mode. Um, so it can do both airplane mode and helicopter mode. I think that's one of the unique features of this aircraft. Turing is training the next generation of AI with tasks that require real expertise and

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r y. All right. So, how was flying the simulators? Okay. I uh I don't think I'm going to ever fly a helicopter.

That was not very fun. I like being good at things, knowing how to control whatever I'm doing. And that was just chaos. And I'm never getting in a helicopter now. I'm not just saying that either. But it's like everything you do,

you feel like you're like fighting a force behind it. And it's constantly balancing like 10 things at once.

That's literally what it's doing. Every action has a reaction and you are constantly you push left, you also have to make sure you're stopping from going right.

Yeah. So, it is a very complex machine and it helps give you, I think, respect for helicopter pilots, how talented they are. Um, but also the simplicity of flying an aircraft like Midnight.

Yeah, Midnight was very fun. I think I had too much fun in that. And I don't know why, but when we were walking over, I was like kind of like easier than driving a boat it feels like. But it's

like fun because you get to see things and it gets you where you want to go pretty fast.

Yeah. So, I want to ask a more personal question. You've been the CEO of a public company for a while. You've gotten the support of the Trump administration. You've raised billions of dollars.

What has this process been like for you and how does it feel? Well, when I started Archer, I knew that, you know, if we got to a certain point, it would require an incredible amount of capital. So, one is super

lucky. I feel super lucky that there's an opportunity to even do this. Meaning, I was born at a period of time. I started the company at a certain time when energy density of batteries got good enough, the political landscape

became uh favorable for us to do this and ultimately there was enough capital in the markets that were willing to fund this kind of stuff. That's really crazy.

It's it's genuinely like the American dream, like the ability to do this. I don't think there's another country that you could do something like this in. I mean, between the capital markets being favorable, between literally the top political leaders supporting this, I

mean truly that's a gift. But it's also, you know, something that I don't want to take for granted and that we work exceptionally hard. I mean, truly, uh, it's funny like if you follow my, uh, any of my social stuff, I only post

literally, um, I would say a quarter of like the actual like places, maybe even less, maybe 10% we go. I mean, it's it's probably on an everyday basis because we are setting up global infrastructure.

And so, I do not take this for granted at all. And we're going to work unbelievably hard because it is a moment in time that we have to be successful to go do this.

Yeah. I mean, I laugh because I do follow you on socials. I follow Nikquille on socials. And every day, you're meeting a new family of royalty.

You're meeting a new leader of a country. You're constantly in the UAE. I see you at the White House all the time.

You guys are in multiple places sometimes like a day. So, how do you maintain like mental clarity and at least some sanity through all that travel?

One is um you have to sleep on the airplanes. Uh so that is a critical uh component of this. Two is you have to train your body to be able to handle any time zone. Um so you can withstand that.

And three is if the project is exciting enough and the adrenaline is going um this is like no this is like no problem.

This is a gift. Um this is that it's it's not I can't imagine doing anything else. Um it truly is a gift. And so the trips we take are not vanity. are always very carefully chosen and I won't go

unless I think there's an actual real outcome that's important for the company to go do it because time is just too valuable. The money that we've raised represents time and I think of myself as I'm in the time business and I try to

give the team more time to be able to accomplish these really hard things and so uh you know we're working you know night and day because the time is finite um to get this done and so it happens to

be a period of time where things are are good. These are the good old days right now. Um, but I don't take that for granted because the the time will run out, the money will run out, and we have

to be successful in building a real business. You've had some partnerships and relationships built in the UAE. Why is that part of the world so important for this business?

It's funny now people looking at the UAE, they're like, "Oh, well, the the heel guys are there. Why are they all there?" Back in 2021, uh, Muba became an archer investor. So, they were an investor very early in sort of our

public journey. and it was kind of kicked off a lot of the uh um action in the UAE and then when we go there kind of our competitors follow us to all these different places and so um it's

helpful that they're there too um because we we kind of both helped take these markets forward but Mubla invested and then you had the whole ecosystem really come alive. So Muba actually was an incredible partner that took us

around to all the different parts of the ecosystem, the infrastructure players, the regulators, the different capital providers, the operators, the maintenance providers and really formed this community to go build an industry there. And so when they started doing

that then you saw the rest of the region kind of also become interested. So Saudi has been very interested, Qatar is very interested, Bahrain is very interested.

So you've seen kind of that whole region of the broader kind of GCC, you know, be interested. Now, it's um very difficult climate, very sandy and very hot. Um and so it's a good training ground for us from extreme the extreme side of things.

But I would say the community in the UAE, specifically Abu Dhabi, has been unbelievably welcoming to us and willing to I would say bet early on on an industry that typically um a lot of different countries were very very

conservative with. Now it looks a little more obvious, but back then it was definitely they were taking a big risk.

Are there any other regions you're really excited about? Yeah, I mean I actually think like it's a product that is sort of viewed as a it's a very like US kind of centric kind of thing, but it's truly a global product. So there if

you get certified in the US, you have the ability to really kind of go anywhere. Um so that like really opens up the whole uh world for us. So anywhere where there's um a lot of people, a lot of traffic and um you know

uh a focus on like growing the economy is is fantastic. So if you look at even a place like India um you know incredibly booming you know economy population um unbelievable congestion like that's an incredible place to go to

go but it truly is a a global product. In fact the a lot of people look at the tall industry and they think about it as like air taxi as uh the way it's going to work is you're going to have you know

you're going to you know you're going to you're going to be in Manhattan you're going to be able to take these aircrafts like to the airport or to the Hamptons.

I think that's true over time. I actually think the way these aircrafts come to market is a little bit different than that. Um so the challenge with being um an OEM and an operator and and and and a demand aggregator, an

infrastructure player, you know, a pilot training company, a maintenance company. That's a lot of stuff to do at once.

It's very hard to actually build a real business that will ultimately be profitable and allow you to survive time. So I think it's super important that um Archer sells products. And I don't believe my competitors are going to become these like operators and put

all this stuff out there. I just think that's a nice story to tell. But I think the reality is the only way to survive and be a real business is actually to sell aircraft. And you'll start to see

them change their tune from we're never going to do that to now we're starting to do that. Started to hire sales force and that kind of stuff because it's the only way to build a real business here to make any money. I don't think the

cities are ready to take mass adoption of these products yet either. So if you went to New York City and you were like, "Hey New York City, could you take uh 20 aircraft?" They'd be like, "Sure, no problem. There's 50 helicopters today."

But if you tried to inject 200 or 500 aircraft into New York City, I don't think they would let you do that. I think you get blocked immediately. I think people would go crazy. The, you know, people be kicking these things and

spray painting them and stop the globalization. It'd be a giant meltdown across the city. Not not nothing to do against New York. Any city around the world would be like that. Change wayos. The same thing happened with Whimos.

Change is hard, right? So I think it's much more realistic to think, you know, each city will get 20 aircraft or 30 aircraft or 50 aircraft. you know, call it in the tens and then over time what you'll do is build up liquidity. So year

one might be 20, year two might be 30, year three might be 50 and so on. But the question is how deep can you do that? So you know could the 500th biggest market handle 20 or 50 aircrafts? Could the thousandth biggest

market handle 20 or 50 aircraft? So I like to use the analogy or just help people kind of uh conceptualize this.

What is the thousandth biggest market in the world? If you look at it on a population perspective, it's a market like a Tucson, Arizona. And so what are helicopters used for? VIP, tourism, hospitals, like there's use cases today

that are very like understandable for for helicopters. So if I had a structurally better product, meaning a safer and lower cost product, could I go into those markets, a thousand, the thousandth, you know, biggest market and sell 20 aircraft? I think the answer to

that is is easily you could. There's hospitals, there's tourism, there's VIP in Tucson that exists. There's probably 20 helicopters there today. So 20 aircrafts times a thousand markets is 20,000 aircrafts times $5 million selling price is a lot of money. And so

you're all of a sudden talking about a hundred billion dollar business that likely has a recurring uh revenue stream maintenance stream of 10 billion or 15 billion per year. And so without ever actually like dominating any individual city, you can build an absolutely

enormous business. And that's why I think these will be trillion dollar companies because I think it's breath not depth to begin. It's depth over time. So air taxi will happen over time.

It's not going to happen year one. It's probably not going to happen year five, but it will happen by year 10 and will certainly be scaled by year 20. So if you can step back and look at this from

a a perspective, the game shifts. It stops becoming a, you know, how do we like, you know, mobilize and get 500 air taxis into New York and it turns into how do we manufacture as many of these things as possible, deploy them as wide

as possible and survive that period of time to get the production working, the manufacturing working to where, you know, you're a viable operating business. Don't forget Tesla went through their scaling moment. They called it manufacturing hell where they

had to figure out the machine that builds the machines to be profitable. That is a hard thing to do. this industry is nowhere close to that yet.

And that is the thing that I think about. That's what I work on is how do we build that to make sure we can survive this long-term thing and ultimately build I think you know an extremely important business.

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like to ask guests is around this topic. Who is someone because I believe that relationships and who you surround yourself is like really like a core component of your motivation and wanting to do things and like uh feeling

supported. So who is someone along the way or like maybe throughout your life who has been a real impact on you or someone you admire?

Yeah, I think I kind of break it down into like two categories. Um from a uh from an operator's perspective, there's like the ultimate uh operator which is which is Elon. And you know, if you watch what he's done, it is nothing

short of like absolutely unbelievable. I mean, truly unbelievable. Um, incredibly hard engineering problems, manufacturing problems, scaling problems, regulatory problems. I mean, everything global problems, unbelievably difficult. If I think about it in like I'll call it like to me, he's more of like a mythical

figure. That's not like a real human because I I have never seen anything like that before. If I think about that more in terms of like the real world, I think about it as my father, but from a

very different perspective. um he has found happiness um in uh I'll call it in um in like calmness and so for me um you know in the end like what is all this about and so I have found like for me

growth is like what I chase like I enjoy growth um being stagnant is not interesting but actually being happy is like super hard that's like a hard thing to do and so I look at someone like my father who's found you know true

happiness in like what he does and that is a gift to be able to have because most people I know are not not only not happy, they're extremely unhappy. And so, how do you go out and actually do

something you want to do result in something that can be you're proud of but also ultimately be happy at the same time. So, when you ask me like are you how do you like travel from this place to that place? How do you do that? I

think about it from the context of what makes me happy, how do I actually enjoy my life? How do I enjoy this ride? And I try to frame my uh uh sort of mental state around that.

What's the hardest challenge you've had to overcome? hardest challenge I've had to overcome. We can box it with an archer.

I would say as an industry um nobody believed in like what we were doing and the reality was we had to convince not just investors, not even just regulators, but I mean truly like cities, federal governments, countries, uh you know that that what we were doing

was real. And for a long time this was uh you know not viewed that way. And the funny thing is the point at which I knew it was super real actually was probably one of the hardest things that happened

which was when Boeing attacked us right when we went public. That's when I actually knew it was real. And so it was like what I thought was actually the hardest thing which was trying to convince like the world that what we

were doing was real and important to actually back what we were doing. Um I knew it was real when I got attacked in a way I never thought could happen in America. And so it's funny when I look at, you know, Elon or I even

look at, you know, like President Trump and I I look at what a lot of people have been through from an attacks perspective, I understand I empathize with like what they've been through because the way we've been attacked just

over and over and over again. And so I feel like that period of time was an interesting uh you know period for me where it was like I thought that was the hardest thing we had to do but the thing

that became even harder than that was I mean the vicious attacks that that we really uh encountered um was uh was actually something that said we actually made it. So that was almost like my uh my big wake up moment

because it was like validating that you're doing what you should be doing and it put more pressure on you or if if in America I didn't think it was possible for a competitor to weaponize the government to come after you. And we

saw that it was unbelievable. It was uh you know one of my engineers was set up to look like he was a like a Chinese spy and it was totally faked. And then what was happened was in the news it was all

conflated as if like uh you know Archer had done something when Archer didn't do anything. And so all this stuff got mushed up together and then the media just love the headline. It was super juicy. And so if they just run with it

and once someone accuses you of something like really bad it's hard to ever like get that back in. So I always look at cases from the perspective of like what if that wasn't true? It's very hard to undo that once like things have

been said. So like once Archer was attacked that way, it was very hard to like clear our name and I was always so focused on clearing our name and then I actually realized the best way to clear a name was actually to just get the

product to market and like nobody actually cares and like the news cycles people just move on. And so it was uh it was just an interesting dynamic for me and so I do have lawyers around me at all times now because of that. Um I

think I I joke that I have a almost like a PhD level like JDMBA whatever you want to call it like in uh uh IP litigation um because I've been through it at such a deep level um and um it's funny when

uh when companies that have not been through it come um I always find it and especially they start poking the bear we are have a you know kind of a samurai level of sophistication when it comes to that and so I always find it uh you know

quite humorous. Damn, that's crazy. God. Okay. Well, what are you most looking forward to this year on both the uh civil and defense side?

There's huge things that are happening uh for the industry. It's it's a really cool moment on the civil side. We're going to be able to showcase these aircrafts um all across the country. Um so, the EIP program is going to be, I

think, a really big deal for our industry. Um, I think it will be sort of the the moment that people really understand that these aircrafts are here and that you can see them flying around.

Um, I think that's going to be a super big deal. So, that's the summer um of this year. Um, in on the defense side um there are um opportunities to win really big contracts and so I think there's

that will be the case in 2026 and so I'm hopeful that we'll be able to win a big contract. Those programs will ultimately get announced um and uh we can be a major player um on the defense side as

well. Godspeed. That's awesome. Okay, Adam, it was a pleasure. Thank you so much for the tour. After hours and the building is still packed. That's a good sign.

Every day, seven days a week. I tell I told employees here, look, I'm not a hard boss. I just expect them to work half days, 8 to 8.

That's really funny. I'm just going to ask a couple quick questions. Okay. What is the most surprising thing in this office you can legally show me?

Most surprising thing in this office? Um, I know it's surprising, but uh, there's a giraffe.

Where did this come from? So, we have we have a big, uh, a big Reddit following, and there's a big community of, we call them archer apes here, and they're hilarious. This is a group of people that have just become

obsessed with the brand and they started posting giraffes after everything that we would uh every time we post stuff it's became like this symbol. Um I don't have a full understanding of what it even means. Um but somebody uh one of

the arches sent me this draft. Um so uh most surprising thing someone's ever sent me.

What is its name? It doesn't Oh, doesn't have a name. But as a um sort of a shout out back to the Archer Apes, uh we did file a trademark um under we called it a Giraffa. Um and the uh people went nuts

online um because it was as if we're going to name a plane Draafa. It was really the legal. The lawyers did it because they thought it was funny. Um and so people were going crazy as if we're going to build a plane called

Giraffa. Thank God for lawyers. Thank God for them. Founders ship faster on deal. Set up payroll for any country in minutes. Hire anyone, anywhere and get visas handled fast so you stay focused on scaling.

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That's deeel.com/sur r y. Okay. Now, what's the weirdest thing that's ever happened? the weirdest thing that's ever happened. Um, one time a politician, I won't name the politician, um, it was a Dem, um, a politician sent me a box and in the box was a note that

said, "Hey, Adam, I'd like to meet you." This is a very famous politician that you would know and said, "I'd like to meet you." No, I would like to meet you. And there was a phone. And it said, "Call me." And I was

like, "Who sends a phone in the mail?" I was like, "This is definitely a trap." Obviously, like the first thing I thought. So, we literally called the FBI and said, "Hey, someone sent us this.

I'm definitely not turning on." We instantly put it into a fire safe and said, "It's either bugged, it's a bomb." It's like, "Who would do that? That's a crazy thing." So, we called the politician's office. It actually was

real. They sent a phone. And I said, "If you want to talk, we just do a Zoom." Like, that might be a better way to do it than uh than sending a phone. I even Googled the phone and it was some weird

brand. It was a Chinese brand I'd never seen before. And so it was definitely like a major red flag.

How do you like come back from the reputational damage? Like don't they say first impressions matter is amazing?

I don't know. That was Why would you send someone a Chinese phone in a box?

Oh my gosh. Wow. Okay. Any other things I should be asking you? What else you have in there?

Oh, I do have one thing for you. Um, so Archer is the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics sponsor. This is our pilot jacket that we like to give to our biggest fans. So, thank you, Molly, for all of your support. This is for you.

You successfully pass the Archer Flight School. You passed the simulators. Well, you crashed the simulators, but we'll give you the jacket anyways.

I'm learning. Okay, you're learning. Thank you. Wow. Very patriotic. This is Wow. America, the Olympics, and Archer.

Pretty good. Thank you. Thanks, Molly. Hey, it's Molly. If you enjoy our interviews, check out our newsletter, sorcery.bc, where we deliver a once a week top deals and tech headlines email, and also go deeper on our podcast interviews.

Subscribe to Sorcery today. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen. Link in description to sign up.