T-25-008 : Justin McAfee - Mechanical Engineer to Hardware as a Service CEO

In this episode of TRADEOFFS, we sit down with Justin McAfee, mechanical engineer turned hardware entrepreneur who's fostering a manufacturing renaissance in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Justin shares his unconventional journey from getting burned on a grenade launcher for firefighters at age 23 to developing advanced electric propulsion systems at Wright One Inc. He discusses how tariffs are forcing his company to onshore manufacturing from China, the surprising challenges of disrupting the "boring" CPU cooling fan industry for cryptocurrency miners, and his ambitious vision for affordable flying cars powered by ducted electric turbines. Justin also opens up about the realities of hardware fundraising, building community through Wednesday dinner parties and monthly hardware meetups, and why he believes Bridgeport can become "the Silicon Valley" of manufacturing.Learn more about Wright One at: https://wrightfan.comCheck out the Bridgeport Hardware Meetup if you're in the area: Link