Middle Tech

Everyone's waiting on new nuclear, new grid connections, even data centers in space to power AI. Abhi Sastri thinks some of the fastest capacity is already built: the roughly 5,000 data centers in North America, where every watt saved is a watt for compute.

This week's episode is from Mission Critical, our series on the industries American prosperity runs on. We recorded this one a few hours down I-75, in Knoxville.

Abhi, co-founder ...

The automated steel line S&K Industrial built for one of its customers does work that used to take eight to ten operators. Now it takes one. But ask the man who builds these systems whether AI is transforming manufacturing, and you'll get a more grounded answer than the headlines suggest.

This week's episode is from Mission Critical, our series on the industries American prosperity runs on: energy, manufacturing, defense and spa...

There are 40% fewer small businesses in America's defense industrial base than there were 20 years ago. The machining, welding, and fabrication that turn a program into an actual weapon happen three tiers down from the primes - and that's where the capital has stopped flowing. In Louisville, a veteran-owned holding company is buying those shops and keeping them.

This week's episode is from Mission Critical, our series on the industr...

There are already 700 to 800 FDA-approved AI devices on the market, yet a busy oncologist still has nowhere trustworthy to learn which ones are worth their time.

In this episode, Dr. Doug Flora joins us to share how he is closing that trust gap. He is the Executive Medical Director of Oncology at St. Elizabeth's Yung Family Cancer Center and co-founder of Tensor Black, a clinician-led education platform he calls "the GPS for oncolog...

Your car has a dealership that knows every service it's ever had. Your house - usually the largest asset you'll ever own - has nothing.

In this episode, Builder Backed co-founder and CEO Paul Koop joins us to share how his Covington, Kentucky startup is building what he calls the "Carfax for homes": a permanent, portable service record for a house, created from the day it's built.

Paul traces the idea back to buying a home built in 1...

Small businesses represent nearly half of all American jobs and 45% of all technology spend, yet less than 5% of venture capital goes to building technology for them.

In this episode, Tim Metzner joins us to share how Fireroad, his Cincinnati-based early-stage venture firm, is betting that AI is changing that math. A serial entrepreneur who co-founded Coterie Insurance ($70M+ raised) and Differential (the studio behind Cincinnati's ...

Hospital-acquired pneumonia is the number one hospital-acquired infection in the United States — and it often starts with something as simple as a missed tooth brushing. After 37 years of consultations in Eastern Kentucky ICUs and nursing homes, one dentist decided to fix it.

In this episode, Dr. Greg Baker and Dr. Brandon Wilde of Toothsure join us to share how they're building OralVac and OralVac+ — preloaded, measured...

A union electrician with zero coding experience built an AI tool that's stopping EV owners from getting upsold thousands of dollars in unnecessary panel upgrades - and then Mark Cuban reshared his post.

In this episode, ChargeRight founder Jason Walls joins us to share how 15+ years pulling wire in Kentucky led him to build an app that puts the NEC code book directly in homeowners' hands for $12.99 - replacing $300 truck rolls and $...

Kentucky has millions of acres of underutilized land, a shifting energy economy, and a generation of farmers looking for what's next. Sunflower Fuels is trying to answer all three with a single crop.

In this episode, Sunflower Fuels CEO Gabrielle Blocher joins us to share how the company is building a Kentucky-rooted biomass business around Miscanthus — a perennial, "fire and forget" crop that can yield for 30+ years, grow on ...

What is the current state of Lexington's startup ecosystem?

Garrett Fahrbach (Awesome Inc) and Ben Strevy (Awesome Fund) give us their perspective from in the arena with founders. From idea inception to providing funding, Awesome Inc is providing the resources necessary for founders to find success in Lexington, Kentucky.

Hosted by Logan Jones

Middle Tech is proudly supported by:

KY Innovation → kyinnovation.com

Awesome Inc → awesomein...

99% of companies were built before AI became commercially available in 2023. Now every one of them must transform their operations or watch post-AI competitors do the same work with a fraction of the people.

In this episode, Buddy Bockweg returns for his third Middle Tech appearance to explain why Vsimple raised $7 million and moved headquarters back to Louisville.

Buddy breaks down the divide between pre-AI and post-AI companies, wh...

The U.S. generates 8 million metric tons of e-waste annually, yet ships nearly 100% of its valuable circuit boards overseas for processing. Export bans and tariffs won't solve that—they'd just create stockpiles. The real fence we need to build is one that keeps material in.

In this episode, Matt Bedingfield joins Logan to share how Mint Innovation is building that domestic processing capacity using biometallurgy—a method...

A 21-year-old who failed all his classes freshman year just onboarded 23,000 students in a single month—and he built the company that did it.In this episode, Nate Royal joins us to share how he went from failing out of the University of Louisville and struggling with ADHD to co-founding Due Gooder, an AI-powered platform that turns syllabi into structured assignment schedules, calendar syncs, and deadline reminders. Now at 35...

A decommissioned coal plant in Clinton, Tennessee is on track to become the site of America's first commercial stellarator fusion reactor.

In this episode, Tony Williams — Executive Sponsor of the Infinity Project at the Tennessee Valley Authority — joins us to share how TVA is partnering with Type One Energy to build a proof-of-concept fusion machine inside the retired Bull Run fossil plant, with a full-scale 400-500 me...

A senior developer walks into a startup refusing to use AI coding tools. Three months later, he's compressing months of work into a single weekend—and says he'd never go back.In this episode, Middle Tech co-hosts Logan Jones and Evan Knowles sit down to unpack how artificial intelligence is reshaping entrepreneurship, from the tools founders use daily to the economic forces that will define the next decade. Logan walks throug...

Upwards of 80% of critical minerals are processed in China - even when they're mined elsewhere. If a global conflict broke out tomorrow, America likely couldn't supply its own defense industrial base.

In this episode, Ashley Zumwalt-Forbes joins Logan and Alex to share what she learned deploying $16 billion in grants and tax credits as Deputy Director for Batteries and Critical Materials at the Department of Energy - and why she's n...

Most people see parking as a necessary evil—a frustrating obstacle between you and wherever you're going. Grant Murray saw an opportunity to turn it into something cities, businesses, and consumers all benefit from.

In this episode, Grant joins us to share how he built Proximity Parking, a platform that transforms parking payments into an economic development tool by connecting drivers with nearby local businesses at the exact...

What started as some experimental episodes last season has now turned into it's own series.

In this episode, Logan Jones and Alex Mercer introduce Mission Critical, a new show exploring how artificial intelligence and the current technological revolution are reshaping the industries that our powering our future: energy, advanced manufacturing, space, and defense.

The conversation covers why we believe America is at an inflection poin...

Two weeks before his 40th birthday, Jeff Cummins contracted shingles - and it took most of the hearing in his right ear. With young daughters at home whose voices he could no longer hear, he became a hearing aid user. A decade later, that experience led him to co-found a company changing how hearing aids are sold.

In this episode, Jeff Cummins joins us to share how Immersive Hearing Technologies is using VR to let patients experienc...