This weekend is Super Bowl Sunday in the U.S., and it got me thinking about the parallels between football and startup life.

In both, quarterbacks and founders get most of the credit. And in both, that misses the point. Without the full team, there is zero chance of success. In football, you need linemen to have time to throw, receivers to get open and catch the ball, and a defense that keeps the other team off the board. You can even win when everyone else does all the work (see: Manning, Eli).

Startups work the same way. Engineering, R&D, sales, finance — if there’s a gap in any one of them, the whole thing breaks down.

The attitude matters too. Tom Brady has talked about treating every practice like it was the Super Bowl, so when game day came, it felt like just another day. Startup life is similar. When you start, you aren’t at flashy stadiums. We are talking coffee shops and office/warehouses whose best attribute is the price. Travel is discount flights at weird hours instead of business class or PJs. While we aren’t Apple or Google… yet… we need to act like we are. We need to behave like we are going to walk in and present to Tim Cook, or that any customer we are going to call is going to pick up the phone. The early days are like spring practices… quiet… alone.

John Wooden said, “How you practice is how you play.” I’ve always liked that quote, but what resonates more over time is the idea behind it: character is built when nobody is watching. The real measure of a team — or a person — isn’t what happens under the lights. It’s the quiet work. The repetition. Try something… fail… try again… fail… try again… it’s good not great… keep going… millions more reps to go. The days that feel small and invisible but add up to something real.

That’s very much where we are at Launchpad. We’re in the grind. Late nights. Trying things, many of which don’t work the first time. Learning as we go. There’s nothing glamorous about that phase, but it’s the phase where identity gets built. Every setback forces you to get a little sharper. Every small win builds trust. We’re building the character we’ll need later, even if most of that work is happening far away from any spotlight.

And while football sparked the thought, it’s a big sports weekend all around. Six Nations rugby kicks off — go Scotland — and the Olympics are starting (O Canada!). Whatever you’re going to watch, remember that behind every second you see is what it took to get there.

PXN Ventures forms part of PXN Group, which has £700m AUM across over 120 portfolio companies after launching in November 2025 following the merger of Par Equity and Praetura Ventures. The VC champions high growth businesses based in the North of the UK that are actively transforming their sectors. 

Launchpad’s investment syndicate includes a mix of specialist VC funds like Lavrock Ventures and Squadra Ventures as well as strategic investors such as Ericsson Ventures, CX2 and Lockheed Martin Ventures.  The company also has financial backing and ongoing support from major Scottish organizations: the Scottish National Investment Bank and Scottish Enterprise.

Automation is mission-critical for manufacturers that wish to be globally competitive. It is also a prerequisite to reindustrialize and reshore.  Current geopolitical uncertainties are increasing supply chain risk, adding extra imperative to increase domestic production.  Launchpad’s technology tackles these issues head on, pushing the boundaries of autonomous manufacturing systems to make factories faster, safer and more flexible than ever.

Claire Cramm, Investment Manager at PXN Ventures, said: “We’ve admired the Launchpad team and their work ever since they set up in Edinburgh in 2024.  The company’s vision of how AI will reimagine the manufacturing industry is compelling, and we’re excited to be a part of the story.”

Jon Quick, CEO of Launchpad, said, “PXN Ventures understands where industrial automation is actually heading: not just the technology, but the operational reality companies face on the factory floor. Their support strengthens our ability to help customers deploy robotics in a way that works for people, scales economically, and delivers real outcomes. We’re excited to welcome them to the Launchpad family and look forward to working closely together.”

About Launchpad

Launchpad, founded in 2020, was created to reimagine manufacturing and revitalize local economies.  The company addresses labour shortages and improves competitiveness by combining proprietary AI-first technology with advanced robotics to help firms manage the optimal integration of humans and robots.  It estimates its systems halve the time and cost of delivering automation solutions.  With offices in Los Angeles, CA, and Edinburgh, UK, Launchpad’s technology is already deployed in factories across the US and Europe.

About PXN Ventures

PXN Ventures is the venture capital arm of PXN Group, formed as a result of two of the North’s best fund managers (Praetura Ventures and Par Equity) coming together to create an investor that the region deserves. With offices in Manchester, Edinburgh, Leeds and London, it delivers world-class investment programmes at scale to help build the Northern economy, supporting founders across a diverse range of sectors, including deep tech, life sciences and software. PXN Ventures is committed to backing early-stage founders across the North of the UK, with a long and growing list of northern success stories in our portfolio that have received early backing from PXN, including Modern Milkman, Phlo, AccessPay, Street Group and Advanced Electric Machines. As well as its EIS, VCT and institutional funds, including the GMC Life Sciences Fund By PXN Ventures, PXN is also the North West of England fund manager for the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II, which is managed on behalf of the British Business Bank.

For more information, please contact:
Dan Bradley, Communications Director, Launchpad
dbradley@launchpad.build +44 (0)7816 829166

Dearest Reader,

The new season of Bridgerton came out today, and in its honor, please allow me to share a brief tale from the modern industrial age.

Every startup talks about culture. Most of the time, that conversation centers on excellence or hard work. Far fewer talk openly about failure.

Ironically, among elite athletes, there’s a saying: failure doesn’t break culture – it reveals it.

Tying this back to Bridgerton, I think the same is true in relationships. It’s easy to be happy and romantic at luxurious balls or while sauntering down the promenade. Let’s see how it holds up eight years and three kids later – at 2am – when one of them is projectile vomiting. (I love you, Jenn.)

This week, I sent feedback on some website copy asking for carriage returns.

For those Gen Z or younger, a quick explainer: before keyboards and screens, we used typewriters. Pressing “enter” physically returned the carriage – the metal assembly holding the letters – to the start of the page and advanced the paper to the next line.

Our VP of Marketing immediately sprang into action: questioning my sanity and attempting to organize horse and buggies for 50 people moving between two event sites.

And no, she is not Gen Z or a Millennial. She is my age…which is to say, outside both cutoffs.

Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, we laughed.

She laughed hardest.

And honestly? I loved the response.

Not the misunderstanding – but the instinct behind it. Immediate action. No defensiveness. No hesitation. And the confidence to own it, fix it, and move on. That combination says more about culture and character than any values slide ever could.

The instinct to act first, take responsibility, and keep going is hard to teach – and incredibly valuable.

The reality is this: great companies aren’t perfect. They’re not defined by getting it right on the first pass. They’re defined by how fast they recover.

Coca-Cola is a world-class company. Coke II was a world-class disaster.

Meta built one of the most consequential platforms in history. Its first major VR push burned billions before the strategy was reset.

Success isn’t about avoiding mistakes. It’s about recognizing them quickly, adapting fast, and making sure you don’t repeat them.

Startups are a grind. The days are long, the stakes are real, and sometimes the only sane response to the chaos is to laugh – briefly – then get back to work.

Mistakes happen.

Own them.

Fix them.

Learn.

Move on.

Forward motion beats perfection. Every time.

I remain, as ever,

Your most humble servant,

— Jon

I’m going to start with a joke.

A retired engineer gets a call from his old manager: “That machine you always looked after has broken down. Can you come back and fix it?”

The engineer says, “Sure – but it’ll cost you $6,000.”

The manager agrees. The engineer goes down to the factory, looks at the machine, picks up a hammer, and gives one nut a light tap. The machine starts working immediately. He asks for his $6,000.

The manager isn’t thrilled. “That took 15 seconds. I want an itemized bill.”

So the engineer writes:

• 15 seconds of labor: $20.
• Knowing exactly where and how to hit the machine: $5,980.

This joke comes to mind when I think about the wave of AI projects launched over the past year and the way the industry is shaping up heading into 2026.

It’s been a breakout period for AI, not just in the number of companies being formed, but in how seriously the industry is now being taken.

We’ve seen new ventures launched by some of the most established names in technology (Bezos), sustained investment from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds (treating AI as long-term infrastructure rather than a speculative bet), and major venture firms like A16Z raising large, dedicated funds ($7B+) to back the next generation of AI-driven companies.

A lot of this AI energy is focused on innovation in the manufacturing industry. I’ve spoken publicly about the need for the U.S. and other Western economies to reindustrialize, so I’m pleased to see broader agreement on the what. Where I start to get concerned is the how.

Too many companies talk about “innovation” as though they can walk straight into a factory and do things better. It’s like thinking you can walk off the street for the Super Bowl and say, “Don’t worry Drake Maye, I’ve got it from here.”

They can’t — because manufacturing is hard.

This industry is about making complicated, physical objects at scale. The people who do this work are exceptionally skilled. You don’t wake up one day and decide you’re going to manufacture things well. And if you don’t respect the people who already know how to do it, you’re going to fail.

That’s the serious point behind the joke at the beginning. Manufacturing has human judgment at its core: knowledge built through experience, iteration, and failure over time.

In many ways, manufacturing looks less like pure science and more like an art form. It’s a lot like cooking.

Anyone can follow a recipe: “Crack two eggs. Add milk.” But then the recipe says, “Beat until silky.” What does silky actually mean? You don’t learn that from instructions, you learn it from doing.

Manufacturing works the same way. It’s not just about building systems; it’s about building the ability to observe, respond, and adjust: knowing when to intervene, and when not to.

Some of that is done through robots and software, and some of it is done by humans. The next phase of automation isn’t about stronger or faster machines, it’s about embedding judgment into the software that guides them.

Think of a musician warming up. You almost never see it live, and if you told someone to show up and watch a band do that, they’d think you were crazy.

Now think of Freddie Mercury warming up in front of 70,000 people at Wembley during Live Aid. That moment was legendary, not because it was rehearsed, but because it was responsive, instinctive, and completely in sync with the crowd.

That’s the difference between repetition and intelligence.

I believe a better way to approach innovation starts with two simple questions:

• What are you actually trying to do?
• And do you really need to do it?

That brings me to feedback loops.

Put a tray of muffins in the oven and they won’t all bake the same way. It depends on the shelf, the heat distribution, how full each cup is, and a dozen other variables.

Experienced cooks know their ovens, just like our engineer knew his machine.

Manufacturing works the same way. It’s not just about building systems. It’s about building the ability to observe, respond, and adjust: knowing when to intervene, and when not to.

The future of manufacturing isn’t fully automated factories run end-to-end by software. It’s a combination of baseline activities that can, and should, be automated, and a critical human layer that ties everything together.

Getting that balance right – between robots and people, automation and experience – is the real recipe for success.

Always fun when you can start writing by trying to decide between quoting George RR Martin or Sun Tzu’s version of the sentiment that change creates opportunity. This week, the UK’s new Employment Rights Bill cleared its final parliamentary hurdle and will soon be signed into law. As with all legislation there will be benefits both intended and unintended, and consequences both intended and unintended. From a manufacturing perspective it will undoubtedly force a major reset in the relationship between employer and employee. The A players in the industry will treat this as an opportunity rather than a threat.

Regardless of which side you are on as to the merits or drawbacks of the legislation, everyone seems to agree on one thing: manufacturing is hard.  It involves complex processes, dangerous machinery and punishing environments. Everyone agrees that there need to be protections for workers, the differences occur when you get to the specifics as to what and how. When a government like the UK takes a stand on how they see things, it isn’t done in a vacuum. Manufacturing occurs as part of a global economy and differences in regulatory environments create an uneven playing field in comparison to the US…China…etc.

Those concerned about the UK’s new legislation will go down the path of too much red tape and bureaucracy stifling innovation, dampening investment and harming the industry it is trying to help. Math is math. Increased labor costs have to be borne by someone. It either gets passed on to customers, absorbed by companies, or avoided by moving manufacturing to a lower cost jurisdiction or outsourcing. Before you assume this is a multinational issue you should note that 99% of the manufacturers in the UK are SMEs. This will have a material impact on their ability to compete, to grow/scale and even survive.

Life has been tough for the manufacturing industry. COVID hit harder on industries that can’t work remotely. They had shipping lane shutdowns, tariffs and trade wars, and now a major reset in their regulations regarding labour.

In the UK specifically, manufacturing has fallen out of the Top 10 globally, and the problem goes beyond volume as productivity is lagging. The IMF has highlighted that there is an increasing gap vs the US that has been widening since the financial crisis.

Commentators are increasingly seeing boosting productivity as key to kickstarting Britain’s economy (with similar sentiments being expressed in the US, Canada, etc).  A recent Reuters analysis called for a “supply side revolution” to reverse the decline in productivity growth.  I’ve advocated for, and have found a number of like-minded people that believe that, reindustrialization is the critical path towards rebuilding western economies.  This sits within the broader context of China’s plans to turbo-charge its investment in robotics, and our need to raise our game to remain competitive.

Business groups are looking to massage the final legislation/implementation, as they should. At its best that is a situation of making a bad situation, less bad. Visionaries need to embrace their inner Winston Churchill and “never let a good crisis go to waste.” Automation is an inevitability. Its current penetration is <3% because as an industry it has failed its customers. Large upfront costs, customers bearing all of the business risk, automating everything including things that shouldn’t be automated – is insanity. Thankfully we live in a world where startups, such as Launchpad, are changing the game. Use robots for what robots are good at. Leave humans to do what humans are good at.

This new UK bill is changing the equation when it comes to labour. The UK government’s impact assessment forecast was £4.5-5 billion per year in extra wages and compliance costs, as well as unmeasurable additional legal exposure and liability. This will disproportionately impact small businesses that don’t have, or have small, HR/legal departments. Plus manufacturing is a lower margin industry. With the new math, the UK’s manufacturing companies (mostly SMEs, as noted above) need to take a fresh look at automation…(hint: it will now pencil!)

This year, industry body MakeUK calculated that there are 55,000 long-term unfilled manufacturing vacancies in the UK, costing the country £6 billion per year. The same is true in the US where there are >600k open jobs, a figure that’s expected to increase to >2M by 2030.

The UK already couldn’t find labour to fill the positions it has, and now it has less money to do so. How much more a burning platform needs to exists before fully embracing robots to supplement human labour in the UK?

Everyone seems to have the same goal. Quality, safe manufacturing jobs. Bring in robots to do the high-risk, monotonous manufacturing jobs. Have humans do the higher-value jobs. The combined cost structure enables the UK to be globally competitive protecting existing industries/jobs and leading to a future with increasing investment and additional jobs.

Far from a challenge, the Employment Rights Bill should be a call to arms to UK manufacturers. It’s time to embrace robotics and automation, and step into the future. If you aren’t sure how to do it… just give me a call.

Today, the global manufacturing landscape is highly uneven. Different countries specialize in different components, and a significant share of critical manufacturing capacity has shifted to China, a country that is not a US ally but that nevertheless sits at the center of many essential supply chains.

Concern about this situation is growing in line with the realization that we need to strengthen and protect the US industrial base. In the near term, that means working more closely with allies and nearshoring key production. In the long term, it means strategically reshoring manufacturing capacity that is critical for national security and economic stability.

Over the last several decades, manufacturing in the US has gradually dispersed due to offshoring, trade liberalization and cost-driven decisions made over many years.  And as we discussed in a previous post, this erosion is also affecting domain knowledge.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US had 410,000 open manufacturing jobs as of October this year. Deloitte projects that the US will face around 1.9 million open manufacturing roles by 2033. This shortage will significantly constrain efforts to reshore and rebuild domestic production capacity.

At the same time, automation adoption is not keeping pace with demand. The International Federation of Robotics reported a 9 percent drop in US robot installations in 2024. This highlights a troubling mismatch. Manufacturers urgently need automation to address their labor shortages, but current solutions remain too slow, too costly or too rigid for widespread adoption.

Reversing this trend has become an imperative, and it requires smarter automation. This does not mean robots replacing humans. It means robots working with humans, taking on repetitive or precision-critical tasks so people can focus on oversight, troubleshooting and system optimization. In practice, automation enables skilled workers to build more, faster and with consistent quality.

All this matters because speed and flexibility have become strategic requirements. Whether it is consumer goods or national security systems, the United States cannot afford supply chains that are fragile or dependent on geopolitical rivals. Understanding the scale of this vulnerability is essential. Supply chain resiliency is no longer just an economic issue. It’s a national security imperative.

By Jon Quick, CEO, Launchpad

This week, we welcomed our 40th teammate to Launchpad. That’s a milestone I’m genuinely proud of – not because of the number itself, but because of what it represents: momentum, belief, and a growing group of world-class people choosing to build something meaningful together.

At 40 people, we’re no longer a scrappy experiment – but we’re not “corporate” either. We have real scale now. Real customers. Real pressure. And real responsibility. What hasn’t changed is our “why”: to reimagine manufacturing by getting the human-robot relationship right – so that robots in manufacturing can go from theoretical to real.

We’ve learned a lot getting here. Startups are supposed to be uncomfortable, and it has been. To steal a line from Edmond Dantès,

“Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you is what you do when the storm comes. You must look into the storm and shout ‘do your worst, for I will do mine!’”

You try, you fail, you try again. That constant loop of experimentation is ingrained into our DNA – and as we move toward 2026, it matters more than ever.

The macro environment is still tough: the global economy is fragile, geopolitics are tense, and capital is cautious. But one thing is crystal clear – Manufacturing is the backbone of economic strength and the countries and companies that modernize it fastest will win.

We believe – deeply – that reimagining manufacturing doesn’t just help companies. It revitalizes local economies. It creates gravity that leads to better jobs. It restores industrial leadership. It ensures economic independence, and when done right gives people leverage through technology.

From aerospace and defense to heavy industry to food & beverage, we’re seeing the same truth everywhere: when humans and robots work together the right way, output goes up – and so do opportunities. Cost-effective, flexible, AI-driven automation changes the equation.

At Launchpad, we’re earning a reputation for pushing the edges of what autonomous manufacturing can do – making factories faster, safer, and dramatically more adaptable. Hitting 40 teammates isn’t a victory lap. It’s a signal that we’re doing what we said we’d do when we raised our Series A and doubling down on the values that got us here: ambition, execution, humility, and relentless curiosity.

As we head into the holiday season, there’s real energy inside the company. While many businesses are slowing down, we’re gearing up. 2026 is lining up to be a breakout year – and we are laying the foundation for it today.

The best part?

We’re still just getting started, and according to Victor Hugo still young…

“Forty is the old age of youth; fifty is the youth of old age.”

This is more than an isolated labor shortage. It’s a cultural challenge that much of the western world now faces.

Manufacturing thrives when people believe that building things matters. For years, advanced economies treated manufacturing as something that could be outsourced without consequence. Production moved overseas, automation promised efficiency, and the identity of the builder slowly faded from public imagination.

Now, with supply chains under stress and geopolitical risks increasing, countries around the world are recognizing that industrial capacity is directly tied to economic resilience and national security. Many are now embarking on reindustrialization programs.  But rebuilding requires more than new facilities or equipment. It requires renewed meaning.

Young people need to feel excitement rather than nostalgia when they think about factories and engineering labs. Modern manufacturing encompasses robotics, autonomous systems, advanced materials, aerospace technology and climate innovation. It’s a sector where the future is being shaped. But that story has to be communicated clearly and in a way that feels real. 

We know this first hand because energy and enthusiasm for reimagining manufacturing is what we feel every day at Launchpad. Our team of young engineers, operators and founders view this sector as a frontier of innovation and are building its future.

Across the world, the next generation is searching for work that holds weight. Manufacturing offers exactly that. It strengthens supply chains, advances aerospace and defense, supports sustainable infrastructure and builds the systems that daily life depends on. When people understand the larger context of their work, they find purpose. Purpose is what keeps them committed.

Reinvigorating manufacturing is ultimately about restoring belief. It’s about creating a culture that values building, problem solving and meaningful contributions. When a society rekindles that excitement, it can build anything.

We’ve just had our first look at China’s next Five Year Plan.  While the details aren’t fully clear, it’s no surprise that self-reliance in technology is the major theme.  At first glance, this might seem like yet another example of China’s growing ability to outcompete the West, but the picture is far more complex.

China plays the long game. When they decide that technologies are strategic they marshall the resources to make them happen. We’ve seen this happen in EVs, solar, steel, rare earth minerals… etc. It’s looking like the global manufacturing industry is next – robotics in particular.

China has more robots than any other country. The latest statistics from the International Federation of Robotics show China at 54% of robot deployments, far outpacing everyone else globally. They installed 295,000 robots last year, almost 7x the number second-place Japan installed (44,500).

The data tells a story of China owning the industry… a clear leader and growing, while traditional powers like the US retreat (US installations fell 9% last year… in the UK the fall was 35%.) With China increasing both financial and political support to its manufacturing industry, it’s no wonder that some commentators are suggesting that it may come out of the trade war unscathed, or even stronger.

To think of the situation this way, however, is missing the full picture, like I did with my burst appendix in Guangzhou.  

In my role at Launchpad, I have the privilege of speaking with leading manufacturers of all sizes across multiple geographies.  In the next two weeks alone I will have met with multinationals and SMEs in the US, UK and Mexico, all of whom are building exciting and robot-ready products.  Our client base across the US and Europe is full of similar stories.

These companies all have the same goal. They are looking to harness AI to make their operations more efficient, flexible and cost effective. They all want robots, but they have to make sense. Nobody is ready to meaningfully increase costs to install robots, and they aren’t looking to bet their companies and careers on the operational risks of moving to full automation. They all share the fundamental understanding that, today, robots cannot fully replace humans, and shouldn’t try to. The win is in sorting out the tasks that they do well, making it so humans don’t have to. The companies that are successful with that will be the ones that reverse the downward trend in Western manufacturing that we’re seeing in the statistics.

China undoubtedly has industrial strength, and the second largest economy in the world (whose robustness seems to be up for constant debate). The one thing China doesn’t have is the world’s largest consumer market. And in a world with tariff and trade uncertainty it is looking to diversify its customer base, particularly in Southeast Asia.

But this does not mean it is immune from wider global issues – even with its enormous robot workforce.

Many Southeast Asian countries are reportedly considering imposing tariffs on Chinese imports. This region has, indeed, long been hesitant about allowing too many Chinese goods to flow in and suffocate local industries.  China’s exports to ASEAN nations rose 14.7% between January and August this year as more and more Chinese firms shifted their focus away from the US to safeguard against the trade war.   

But with this trend set to continue, Indonesia has, for example, just moved to impose its own three year tariffs on certain Chinese imports.  It wouldn’t be a surprise to see other countries follow suit.  Indeed, many ASEAN nations already have various measures in place. While robots will help China, they will also help every other industrialized nation. Robots done right will democratize manufacturing, providing each country with high-end capabilities and globally competitive cost structures.

So the picture is far more complicated than might at first seem.  China’s dominance in robot installations – while undoubtedly impressive – won’t be enough alone to solve its export challenges or improve its domestic consumption levels.  Seen from another perspective, in fact, this picture offers huge potential opportunities to manufacturers in other parts of the world.  

Even without the vast amounts of money that will be directed towards Chinese industry, it is possible to reimagine manufacturing and take advantage of the increasingly complex global trade situation.  At Launchpad, we believe that the future belongs to systems that can flex, learn and evolve.  Those companies that recognize this and act now will be in prime position regardless of trade wars, tariffs or geopolitical tensions.

China’s new Five Year Plan has clearly signaled their intent. It’s up for everyone else to see this as the wake-up call it is. As Sherlock Holmes would say, “the game is afoot.”     

From the moment we arrived, the show floor was alive with energy. Everywhere you looked, new technologies were redefining what’s possible, from advanced automation and robotics to data-driven quality systems. It was a vivid picture of where manufacturing is heading, and Launchpad was right at the center of it.

Our booth quickly became a space for genuine conversation. Engineers, operators, and manufacturers shared their challenges, including labor shortages, cost pressures and the complexity of making automation practical. Those discussions reinforced Launchpad’s mission to help manufacturers manage the optimal integration of humans and robots through AI-first technology and advanced robotics. By halving the time and cost of delivering automation, we are enabling firms to stay competitive while revitalizing local economies.

A clear theme across the show was the growing demand for automation that empowers people. Teams are looking for systems that improve precision, repeatability and safety while freeing their workforce to focus on higher-level problem solving. That mindset perfectly aligns with our vision of reimagining manufacturing and strengthening the communities that power it.

Launchpad was founded in 2020 with that vision in mind, and our recent Series A funding positions us to accelerate development and meet growing demand across the US, UK, and Europe. With support from world-class investors, we are expanding our teams in El Segundo and Edinburgh and continuing to advance AI-driven solutions that make automation faster, smarter, and more sustainable.

We left Rosemont inspired and energized, ready to build on new partnerships and continue proving that when human creativity and intelligent robotics come together, manufacturing becomes not only more efficient but more human.