Dino Mavrookas

Co-founder and CEO of Saronic Technologies, a defense technology company building autonomous maritime platforms and next-generation shipbuilding capacity. A former U.S. Navy SEAL with later finance and investing experience, he leads Saronic’s work on autonomous surface vessels, the Franklin, Louisiana shipyard expansion, and its planned Port Alpha autonomous shipyard.

Production Capacity Is the Binding Constraint on Defense Growth

At a16z’s American Dynamism Summit, Erin Price-Wright’s conversation with Michael Duffey and Dino Mavrookas recasts the “trillion-dollar” defense question as a production problem. Mavrookas argues that autonomy and software-first design can make new maritime platforms cheaper, simpler, and faster to build, while Duffey says the Pentagon must change acquisition incentives so industry invests in capacity rather than waiting for government-funded expansion. Their shared case is that defense cannot scale without a broader industrial base built around producibility, commercial demand, private capital, and faster procurement.

a16zMay 19, 20267 min read