NEW INC. MAGAZINE ARTICLE FROM HOWARD TULLMAN

 

Can an American Startup Help End Starvation in Gaza?

The U.S. plan to build a temporary pier to deliver food to Palestinians is a case of fighting the last war. We need to employ new thinking and new technologies to reduce human suffering.

 

EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS @HOWARDTULLMAN1

MAR 26, 2024

 

Watching and reading about the very modest U.S. airdrops of MRE food bundles into destroyed parts of Gaza which will, of course, largely be stolen at gunpoint by Hamas terrorists, I was really struck by how these performative airborne gestures are so trivial and inconsequential even if the food eventually were to reach the right people. Sadly, in the category of "no good deed goes unpunished," the Israeli Defense Force has had the impossible task of trying to protect the truck deliveries from both Hamas and the starving, desperate population, which storms every shipment as soon as it appears.

Apparently, our own military has decided that flyovers are less risky even if they don't remotely address the volumes of food and other material that are actually required. (Sixty-six MRE bundles contain roughly 38,000 meals, which is so insignificant that it's almost worse than doing nothing, especially when we could readily do so much more.) The present estimate is that around six million meals a day are required. While logistics are always going to be challenging in debacles like this, the real problem - as is almost always the case with the military - is that the planners are stuck in the past. They're fighting the last war.

They need to look ahead-- there are startups that might be in a position to help.

The lessons of the Berlin airlift of 1948 aren't going to teach us anything about how to solve today's or tomorrow's crises. And, as historic and massive as our successful efforts were in Kabul, where more than 120,000 people were evacuated in roughly two weeks, we're looking at a population of more than 20 times that size which has no desire to leave. Nor do the dozen neighboring Arab nations have the slightest interest in receiving any more Palestinian evacuees, even if they were interested in leaving Gaza.

The latest brainstorm - a temporary pier in the Mediterranean Sea off the Gaza coast for deliveries-- is vaguely reminiscent of the World War II Seabees and may actually be a slower delivery system than the trucks. It will take at least two months to be installed and activated after adequate security provisions are made. And even the Orange Monster recognizes that the new pier won't address the fact that the Hamas murderers will steal inbound food from civilians.

Every credible report from Gaza suggests that hundreds of truckloads of foodstuffs are required daily to address even the most basic requirements of the civilian population. It's nice to see that the Biden administration and the Democrats in Congress are trying to do something to provide further aid and help stave off starvation, but it's embarrassing and insulting to any rational person's intelligence to think that these cosmetic demonstrations are going to do any real good. Never mind that the repugnant MAGA Republicans continue to refuse to support any legislation that would provide such assistance.

There's a lot of frustration watching our government and military using ancient approaches and solutions in an age when the tools and technology exist to act at scale in far more effective and impactful ways. Sending huge, heavy bags of raw preparation materials may look effective, but given the lack of the other essential resources, it's like tossing an anvil to a drowning man. There's a cleaner, quicker and much more efficient solution.

To stem malnutrition and starvation in Gaza there needs to be large-scale and easily distributable solutions that supply the necessary proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and other nutrients to the target population. The form of the food (the delivery vehicle) doesn't drive the results; it's the functional nutritional content that the food delivers. Given the food processing technologies that we now have, we can pack far more immediate benefit, carbs, and calories into a tiny one-inch square gummy cube than you'll find in a T-bone steak or a slice of salmon.

In a word, for today's most pressing issues, MealCubes, and not MREs, are one available and compelling alternative answer. MealCubes are the product of Meepo, a venture backed startup that is producing of miniature, candy-like, jells that can be customized to individual nutritional requirements. Each cube packet provides the nutritional and dietary equivalents of a real meal.  Each cube provides 420 calories, 25 grams of protein, 28 grams of healthy fat, 23 grams of complex carbs, and 35 vitamins and minerals.

Even more importantly, MealCubes are 1/10^th the weight of MREs and take up 1/16^th of the storage space. MealCubes can be consumed immediately, anywhere, while MREs require 15-to-30 minutes to set up, heat and eat. Needless to say, in the stressful and dangerous context of providing meals in Gaza, all of these considerations take on particular importance in terms of volume, speed, effectiveness and cost.

Interestingly enough, SpaceX is one of Meepo's larger initial customers and various military groups are actively evaluating the products as well. I think of this as a further step in the Tang beverage evolution, which began in the 1960s when the U.S. space program provided powdered orange juice for the Gemini astronauts.  NASA needed a space-age approach to nutrition and in 1962 Tang went into Earth orbit with John Glenn. Tang was basically a sugary base to which water was added to make "orange" juice that was about as attractive and healthy looking as Trump's spray on complexion. It was all about speed, ease, and space - certainly not taste.

Tang is still around -- sadly, much like the Orange Monster.  And, amazingly, it's one of the most popular drinks during Ramadan, according to Mondelez International, the food corporation that now owns the brand.  

With so many lives on the line, you'd hope and even imagine that the government is actively seeking the best available solutions, but it appears that the only response to date has been to do it the way that these things have always been done. Innovative solutions and technologies can save lives, but only if they are applied by interested and knowledgeable entrepreneurs rather than ignored or blocked by bloated bureaucrats and lazy procurement personnel.

Are You Planning a Trip to Mars? Why It's Important to Dream Big

Are You Planning a Trip to Mars? Why It's Important to Dream Big

Elon Musk may be having some very down-to-earth problems at Tesla, but his SpaceX venture shows the value of reaching beyond the ordinary and the proven. To hell with small gains.

By Howard Tullman

If you just want to get what you’ve always gotten, keep doing what you’ve always done. If you want to change the old rules and get better, you’ve got to start aiming higher and thinking bigger. There’s always a best seat in the house, the best row at the show, and something desperately worth shooting for which we all know that you may not always get. But shame on you if you don’t at least go for it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always “No.” 

And today, I think there’s no better example of reaching for the stars for companies and entrepreneurs of every size than SpaceX and its semi-combustible founder Elon Musk.

Notwithstanding Elon’s current angst at his automobile firm, Tesla -; which is about nuts-and-bolts production, not vision -; the SpaceX engine that he built (almost as an afterthought) continues to fire on all cylinders. SpaceX is making the impossible seem commonplace and raising the bar for big dreams being backed up by awesome deliverables. Dockless bikes, slick little scooters, and new offerings of gluten-free whatever all seem depressingly trivial compared with Elon’s grand ambitions.

Things in the space biz may take a little longer than expected, but some of the beneficial by-products may even turn out to be better than initially expected. The scale and the scope of what SpaceX has already achieved since it was founded in 2002 is unlike anything that has come before or after. Keep in mind that NASA was formed in 1958, more than 60 years ago, and these days it’s getting help from SpaceX in Hawthorne and taking Dream Chaser directions from the Sierra Nevada orbital vehicle builders in Louisville, Colorado. Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin) has been in the “space” business since 2000 and he’s got bupkes to show for it. Richard Branson is another big talker with Virgin Galactic, which he founded in 2004, but it seems that he’s perpetually “just six months away” from being in space. Don’t hold your breath.

And, as you might expect, seeing in this case just makes believing that much easier. You can't visit the SpaceX factory without coming away with the overwhelming impression that there's a palpable sense of possibility and the belief that virtually anything is achievable with enough time, effort, and perseverance. This isn't some cheap Silicon Valley talk or “pie in the sky” (no pun intended) prediction. It's an outgrowth and extension of an attitude that is as compelling as it is contagious. And that attitude is backed in facts and in demonstrable results. These people are hard-core professionals -; engineers and scientists -; who spend their days head down making things happen. Elon does the dreaming, scheming and sweating, but these are the hundreds of people who get the job done every day.

They might technically be manufacturing machines and missiles, but what they really make here are “believers.” People who believe that the world is leaning in their direction and that success (albeit over time) is far more probable (not just possible) than any other outcome. I wish you could bottle this attitude because it's such a special combination of pride and practicality as well as concrete grounding and vast visioning that I think we should add it to the drinking water at every school and startup in the country.

So, what’s the main message from SpaceX for the rest of us? We need to look further and wider if we’re going to up the ante, make major changes, and leapfrog the competition.  Using the best available data and basing our plans, programs and designs on real metrics and milestones (rather than make-believe) is an essential methodology. But, if it’s the only view you have of the future, you’ll find that your focus is far narrower than it should be and that your energies end up being directed mainly to short, sure wins instead of big jumps and new horizons.

This conservative approach leads to designs and choices that tend to be marginal improvements and incremental gains rather than game-changing moves. Successive approximation and consistent iteration are great tools (“getting a little better every day”), but the key word is “little” and what we need more and more of are bigger leaps and longer look-aheads.

Simply trying to keep getting closer and closer to a known goal is not enough, because that approach and that perspective can often keep us from looking further down the road and really thinking about going for the gold.